BoxRec

http://www.boxingtalk.com/pag/article12653.html

June 26, 2007

WITTER-HARRIS SEPTEMBER 7 IN UK!
By G. Leon

Boxingtalk has been informed that WBC junior welterweight champion Junior Witter will make the mandatory defense of his title against former WBA 140 pound champion "Vicious" Vivian Harris. Harris promoter Gary Shaw stated he had "no idea" if the fight would be televised in the United States. (2:25PM EST)

Good to hear. Hopefully Junior gives us a big performance. Can Witter live with those hard, straight punches?

Yes Witter will win, come on Junior

I will be there for that one
Thats a great fight
Witter wins this one

If he does He has to be considered for a Hatton fight
or a Mosley fight
He deserves a big one
Good luck Junior

Harris will lose and he will be amazed as he Is outboxed by the art that Is Witter.

Harris to KO Witter in the 7th, you heard it here first. Then look for Hatton - Harris early next year if no Mayweather bout comes off.

Anyone who gets KO'ed by Maussa ain't Ko'ing Witter.

You know that the Maussa fight was a freak fight that happens once every few years. Harris only seemed to train for 2 rounds. After that he imploded and even I probably could of KOed him in that condition.

He won't let that happen against Witter.

Well Judah couldn't KO a green Witter so how would Harris KO Witter?

Why won;t he let It happen against Witter?

Well, Witter was on his bike against Judah. He never mixed it up, he just wanted to go 12. Stinking out the joint in the process, setting his career back years.

Harris isn't a known puncher, but he carries respectable power and has pretty fast hands. I think he has a good style to do damage to Witter. His style is also more attractive to judges I think.

And although he picked up a world title recently, I think Witter is 2 years past his prime and has degraded into a 5 round fighter. During that streak of stoppages he had, that was his prime, but he failed to fight anyone of note during it.

As for why Maussa syndrome won't strike Harris again? This is Harris last chance to get in amongst some pay days. He priced himself out of fights against the likes of Ricky Hatton in the past and he knows that Witter is a tougher fight than Maussa and he'll train for 12 gruelling rounds because of it.

Harris when he is fighting fit is a force to be reckoned with, the Maussa situation was just a major example of what happens when you underestimate and look past opponents whilst not preparing properly.

The Harris that shows up against Witter on fight night will be a different kettle of fish and I think he'll want it more.

Harris shouldn't be underestimated. He stopped Urkal away from home, which is more than Cotto or indeed anybody else has been able to do. You should also remember that for the Maussa fight he overtrained to the point where he weighed in at 136, and amazingly LOST 2 pounds to 134 in the ring. He won't be making mistakes on that kind of scale this time.

Yeah I think people should really stop bringing up the Maussa fight when refering to Harris v Witter. Like a bit of a fool he thought he'd wow the crowd and get him out of there in the 1st, didn't, and then his complete lack of prep caught up with him. I reckon Malignaggi could probably have taken him out when Maussa did he was in such bad shape. That Harris was unrecgonisable from the one who stopped Urkal and it should be a very good style matchup against Witter. Very 50/50 fight against the 2nd and 3rd best in the division. Surely unless Hatton fights Mayweather or Cotto next it should be the winner of this?

Katon! wrote:Well Judah couldn't KO a green Witter so how would Harris KO Witter?

Why won;t he let It happen against Witter?

Witter fought to survive in that bout, that's why. What if Witter is behind and has to go looking for Harris?

Harris is talented and dangerous. But he's made numerous miscalculations in his career. How about breaking Urkal's nose and getting outboxed like a clueless novice rest of the way (1st fight, though admittedly he was way better 2nd time). How about pretty much punching himself out numerous times and getting outworked a bit by Lazcano (who he hammered early and was looking intimidated)...vs Maussa, it may have been the occasion, it may have been that he didn't know what to do with a weird style and superior size/reach.

Either way that wasn't the first or last time he showed big flaws.

dookus wrote:Harris shouldn't be underestimated. He stopped Urkal away from home, which is more than Cotto or indeed anybody else has been able to do. You should also remember that for the Maussa fight he overtrained to the point where he weighed in at 136, and amazingly LOST 2 pounds to 134 in the ring. He won't be making mistakes on that kind of scale this time.

According to boxrec he was 139

Definetly, Harris is a flawed fighter, has a lot of the physical tools, but the mentality isn't there, but those kind of guys on any given night can suddenly find the mindset to put in a big performance, and this really is his last chance.

Kind of like Buster Douglas, an above average fighter with good speed, a good jab, and excellent boxing skills, who more often than not underperformed, probably because it didn't mean enough to him, until of course, he met Mike Tyson.

I'm not sure which version of Harris is going to show up, but the best version, I think, is capable of beating Witter, unless Witter is going to show better form than he has of late.

Anything can happen in this fight, could be a corker, could be a very technical fight (borefest), could be an early round ko either way, could be a UD either way. Its very hard to predict and a true 50-50

I lean towards Witter being the better ring general and that making the difference. He needs to be at his best against Harris though

It would be a travesty if this isn't on US TV when its number 2 and 3 at 140 squaring off. I wonder how many other number 2 and 3s in the world squaring off wouldn't get shown

On the topic of Harris hes another Steward fighter who has both brutal 1 punch KO power and the sort of chin/stamina problems that see him been taken out. See HEarns, Lewis, Wlad, McCellan - typical Steward style fighter

Excellent news that the fight is taking place, I was getting abit worried.

Hopefully some more deatils will be relaeased soon, i.e. location and TV, hopefully in the UK and Sky

Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:Anything can happen in this fight, could be a corker, could be a very technical fight (borefest), could be an early round ko either way, could be a UD either way. Its very hard to predict and a true 50-50

I lean towards Witter being the better ring general and that making the difference. He needs to be at his best against Harris though

It would be a travesty if this isn't on US TV when its number 2 and 3 at 140 squaring off. I wonder how many other number 2 and 3s in the world squaring off wouldn't get shown

Shaw sounded very hopeful, didn't he - when asked, he replies "I have no idea!"

If there is any kind of profile for this fight, and if it's a good fight, it would be nice to see the winner earn a crack at Hatton. On the prinicple that Hatton is #1 at the weight and those 2 are probably #2 and #3, if nothing else.

Who has the best recent opponents

Witter - Ndou, Kotelnik, Lynes, Corley, Morua

Harris - Johnston, Lazcano

Witter probably but theres not that much in it and before that Harris has beat Ukral, Hurtado and Mbaiye

Autobarn wrote:

Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:Anything can happen in this fight, could be a corker, could be a very technical fight (borefest), could be an early round ko either way, could be a UD either way. Its very hard to predict and a true 50-50

I lean towards Witter being the better ring general and that making the difference. He needs to be at his best against Harris though

It would be a travesty if this isn't on US TV when its number 2 and 3 at 140 squaring off. I wonder how many other number 2 and 3s in the world squaring off wouldn't get shown

Shaw sounded very hopeful, didn't he - when asked, he replies "I have no idea!"

If there is any kind of profile for this fight, and if it's a good fight, it would be nice to see the winner earn a crack at Hatton. On the prinicple that Hatton is #1 at the weight and those 2 are probably #2 and #3, if nothing else.

I wonder how many times in history we will have a universally acknowledged 1 and 2 in any weight class

Cannibal wrote:Well, Witter was on his bike against Judah. He never mixed it up, he just wanted to go 12. Stinking out the joint in the process, setting his career back years.

Harris isn't a known puncher, but he carries respectable power and has pretty fast hands. I think he has a good style to do damage to Witter. His style is also more attractive to judges I think.

And although he picked up a world title recently, I think Witter is 2 years past his prime and has degraded into a 5 round fighter. During that streak of stoppages he had, that was his prime, but he failed to fight anyone of note during it.

As for why Maussa syndrome won't strike Harris again? This is Harris last chance to get in amongst some pay days. He priced himself out of fights against the likes of Ricky Hatton in the past and he knows that Witter is a tougher fight than Maussa and he'll train for 12 gruelling rounds because of it.

Harris when he is fighting fit is a force to be reckoned with, the Maussa situation was just a major example of what happens when you underestimate and look past opponents whilst not preparing properly.

The Harris that shows up against Witter on fight night will be a different kettle of fish and I think he'll want it more.

Don't you think Witter's hungry to win too?

Half of you used that 5 round excuse when he clowned Corley too.

He's doing more rounds recently so he's got used to It surely.

Katon! wrote:
Don't you think Witter's hungry to win too?

Half of you used that 5 round excuse when he clowned Corley too.

He's doing more rounds recently so he's got used to It surely.

Yes Max what people are unaware about Witter is the fact he never had fights over 6 rounds so the first few times it happened against Ndou/Lynes/Kotelnik

He has looked more calculated and better paced recently despite not being as devastating

Neither of them have looked exactly scintillating recently, but you'd have to think they'll both be up for this one. It's pretty much 'loser has nowhere to go', given their respective lack of a fanbase. I do think it's going to be shockingly dull. It'll be interesting to see what happens if Harris manages to land one of those straight rights early, Witter hasn't faced a decent puncher in a while.

Of course, it's easy to say that the Maussa performance was a one-off, but as they say, if it's happened once, it can happen again... But if Harris comes in with the right frame of mind, Witter will have to be on the top of his game, and prepared to work harder than he did against Corley, which was not really a clowning, more a solid showing against an opponent that offered next to nothing. Harris at his best is not going to allow Witter to stand stock still for 20 seconds at a time.

Still, I think Witter may well be able to frustrate Harris enough to win on points.