BoxRec

Harris hits the UK
31 August 2007



Vivian Harris arrived in England on Friday confident of beating Junior Witter for his WBC Light-Welterweight Title at the Doncaster Dome on Friday, 7th September.

After completing his training in Las Vegas, America, Harris is aiming to win a third world title fight in Europe after twice beating Oktay Urkal in Germany on the Hennessy Sports and GoldenPalace.com event.

"It's do-or-die time, nothing can stop me," he said. "I don't care about nothing, not the judging, not fighting in England, not Witter, nothing.

"I have trained hard and I am just going to go out there and do what I have to do to win that belt.

"I'm not a backwards fighter. I fight both ways. I throw straight punches, I don't throw roundhouse punches. I'm a technical fighter – I throw straight punches. That’s the advantage I have."

Hennessy Sports in association with title sponsors GoldenPalace.com Proudly Present

"Vicious Hitters" @ the Doncaster Dome Friday 7th September 2007.

Doors 6pm, Boxing Starts 6.30pm.

Ticket Prices:

· Premium Ringside £200 – Reserved with access to VIP Bar

· Inner Ringside £150 – Reserved with access to VIP Bar

· Outer Ringside £60 – Reserved

· Premium Unreserved (ground floor tiered) £50

· Unreserved (balcony) £40

For Tickets call the Box Office on: 01302 370777 or book via the web: http://www.the-dome.co.uk

12x3 WBC Light Welterweight World Championship

Junior Witter (Bradford ENGLAND) vs Vivian Harris (New York USA)

10x3 English Super Flyweight Championship

Robert Nelson (Bradford) vs Andy Bell (Doncaster)

10 x 3 Lightweight

Lee Meager (Salford) vs Laszlo Komjathi (Hungary)

6 x 3 Lightweight

Nadeem Siddique (Bradford) vs Tom Glover (Maldon)

4 x 3 Light Middleweight

Andy Butlin (Huddersfield) vs Ben Hudson (Cambridge)

4 x 3 - Light Heavyweight

Danny Grainger (Chesterfield) vs TBC

4 x 3 – Lightweight

Femi Fehintola (Bradford) vs Matthew Martin Lewis (Colchester)

Shocking undercard

TerribleTerry wrote:Shocking undercard

i agree why would you want to wast money on this card hennessy must be the greatest salesman in the world to be able to sell this to sky
but in all seriousness hennessy needs to put better undercards on this fight could be massive if he had a propper undercard

If you take into account the size of the venue and what Witter and Harris have to be paid, I doubt there is much money for a better undercard.

Hennessy usually puts on good shows, I will let this one undercard slide.

If Witter wins impressively then maybe bigger fights in the States ( Maliginnnniiinninniiiiii ) can happen.


Come on Witter!

1southpaw wrote:

TerribleTerry wrote:Shocking undercard

i agree why would you want to wast money on this card hennessy must be the greatest salesman in the world to be able to sell this to sky

Sports Networks did MUCH worse for years on Sky, week in week out.

SALFORD lightweight Lee Meager takes on Laszlo "The Rock" Komjathi of Hungary in a 10-rounder on the Junior Witter-Vivian Harris undercard in Doncaster on Friday (September 7).
Meager is rebuilding from a surprise British title loss to Jon Thaxton in Dagenham last December, when he had no answer to the strength and guile shown by the Norfolk man, a long-time light-welterweight, and dropped wide scores (and the title) on all three cards. Lee has his first fight since and, at 29, needs a good one. He says he wants to take out Komjathi, who went the full six rounds with Amir Khan last year before a sellout crowd at the magnificent King's Hall in Belfast and tagged Khan once or twice, although the Bolton youngster was always the busier and took a clear decision. The 32-year-old Komjathi also went the distance with Italy's Stefano Zoff in a European lightweight title bid in March 2004, dropping a unanimous decision. He moved up to light-welterweight and mixed it with the likes of Souleymane MBaye, Guiseppe Lauri, Andreas Kotelnik and Willy Blain. He's also been in with DeMarcus Corley in the States. He's been stopped a few times but tends to provide plenty of 'rounds', which Meager could do with.
Lee has boxed only twice in the last 16 months. He won the vacant British title in May last year with an impressive stoppage of previously unbeaten Ayr stylist Dave Stewart, flooring him in the fourth and piling on the pressure till the bloodied Scot was rescued two rounds later. But then came Thaxton. Perhaps the result wasn't such a shock. Jon looks awfully drawn at lightweight but blasted the normally durable Carl Allen in a round - the same Allen who held Meager to a six-round draw, although Lee outpointed the Midlander in a rematch and lost only to Thaxton and Danny Hunt in 23 fights.
The latter was booed by the pro-Hunt crowd in the first cross-promotional showdown between a Mick Hennessy fighter (Meager) and a F rank Warren fighter (Hunt) at York Hall three years ago. And probably the last. Meager opened a shocking early cut over Hunt's left eye and came close to stopping him in a brutally one-sided ninth with body shots. Yet referee Mark Green gave it to Hunt a round later (96-94). Promoter was, of course, the powerful Mr Warren.
A former double ABA finalist, Meager first came to the fore when he stopped former British and Commonwealth super-featherweight champion Charles Shepherd after seven rounds at York Hall in December 2003. He then lost his unbeaten record to Hunt in one of the fights of 2004 but proved his worth that night and went on to outscore Martin "Hurricane" Watson in a 10-round cracker in 2005 in Nottingham. Watson ploughed into the classy, heavy-handed Meager, who hurt his left hand but fired back with punches which always had a snappier feel about them. He also put in a big finish to make sure of the 96-94 verdict.
Lee proceeded to bust up Stewart for the British title vacated by Graham Earl.
A punishing fighter with a history of hand problems, Meager will do well to stop gutsy Komjathi but should work his way to a clear decision and a possible European title fight with holder Yuri Romanov.

I don't think the undercard is all that bad got an english title and remember that Khan fought the guy merger is against as chiefe support to a much poorer fight not so long ago.

Hope Witter does well and looks good if that is the case it will help him get a good fight in the US. Which he really needs cos Hatton ain't fighting him any time soon.

Bad undercard in fact shocking.

Small venue for a world title but worse still for Witter he cannot sell tickets to fill the venue so the promoter has to put on fighters from Bradford and the surrounding area to fill it for him.

I take no pleasure in saying this is the worst undercard I can remember for a genuine World title fight and I'm a Hennessy Sports fan. Some of the undercards Mick Hennessy put on in earlier years at The Alexandra Palace or Nottingham Arena were first rate. But this is poor. I sometimes think that if the headline fight is the only good fight on the bill, you'd better off stopping indoors to watch it. However I think Junior is badly neglected in this country and the fact this is the toughest opponent he has fought since Zab Judah makes travelling to Doncaster just about worth it. But only just.

scrap iron wrote:I take no pleasure in saying this is the worst undercard I can remember for a genuine World title fight and I'm a Hennessy Sports fan. Some of the undercards Mick Hennessy put on in earlier years at The Alexandra Palace or Nottingham Arena were first rate. But this is poor. I sometimes think that if the headline fight is the only good fight on the bill, you'd better off stopping indoors to watch it. However I think Junior is badly neglected in this country and the fact this is the toughest opponent he has fought since Zab Judah makes travelling to Doncaster just about worth it. But only just.

The Hatton-Tyszu undercard was pretty bad

Think the Lee Meager fight might be worth watching if the Lee of old turns up - We should see if he has put his loss to Thaxton behind him - Other than that and the main event the rest looks pretty mundane but we shall have to see - I know Donny is only an hour away but I will watch it on my 37" LCD with a drink and a fag - Not a big Witter fan so that will be good enough for me.

Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:

scrap iron wrote:I take no pleasure in saying this is the worst undercard I can remember for a genuine World title fight and I'm a Hennessy Sports fan. Some of the undercards Mick Hennessy put on in earlier years at The Alexandra Palace or Nottingham Arena were first rate. But this is poor. I sometimes think that if the headline fight is the only good fight on the bill, you'd better off stopping indoors to watch it. However I think Junior is badly neglected in this country and the fact this is the toughest opponent he has fought since Zab Judah makes travelling to Doncaster just about worth it. But only just.

The Hatton-Tyszu undercard was pretty bad

So was Hatton vs Maussa, Woods vs DeLisle II, and Woods vs Gonzalez.... A tad better (cause there were more bouts) but no real even 60:40 bouts.

Can any of you guys post a link to any video clips of Witter-Harris after the fight, please? It won't be shown here in the US. Thanks.

1southpaw wrote:

TerribleTerry wrote:Shocking undercard

i agree why would you want to wast money on this card hennessy must be the greatest salesman in the world to be able to sell this to sky
but in all seriousness hennessy needs to put better undercards on this fight could be massive if he had a propper undercard

You can't blame Hennessy. Sky only pay so much for fights and for a WBC Championship purses and costs are rather high and probably swallow Sky's dosh alone. The gate at the Dome is hardly large and Promoting is a business remember.

boxingchat wrote:

1southpaw wrote:

TerribleTerry wrote:Shocking undercard

i agree why would you want to wast money on this card hennessy must be the greatest salesman in the world to be able to sell this to sky
but in all seriousness hennessy needs to put better undercards on this fight could be massive if he had a propper undercard

You can't blame Hennessy. Sky only pay so much for fights and for a WBC Championship purses and costs are rather high and probably swallow Sky's dosh alone. The gate at the Dome is hardly large and Promoting is a business remember.

Is this conciliatory post the precursor to a slew of shit SN undercards I wonder?? Frank and his team have pulled their socks up in recent times – long may it continue.

Whilst the Witter card may make financial sense for the promoter, from the punter’s perspective it is very poor, especially for a GENUINE world title fight.

So what? When Hennessy goes skint trying to please the punters and losing money will you subsidise him?

Promoting, even with TV, is hard work financially and if you lot understood whet you talked about you may realise. Even with this show if Hennessy makes any profit to speak of I will be surprised.

Fighters take home the bulk of the cash not the Promoters.

boxingchat wrote:So what? When Hennessy goes skint trying to please the punters and losing money will you subsidise him?

Promoting, even with TV, is hard work financially and if you lot understood whet you talked about you may realise. Even with this show if Hennessy makes any profit to speak of I will be surprised.

Fighters take home the bulk of the cash not the Promoters.

Cry me a river BC - I am a paying punter and I expect some sort of substance to a world title bill - this lacks that and therefore I wont be spending my hard earned.

I hope Hennessey can make it pay, but he wont be doing it with my money - the bill isnt good enough to warrant the trip to Donnie for me.

Isn't that the idea?

The thing that wrangles me is that people on here constantly go on about making the best fight the best and "why can't this fight and that fight be made" - yet when they are you moan about the cost of the tickets and the undercard, you moan about the breaks in the action for TV and everything else including the cost of car parking and beer.

Quite simply, to make the best fights happen and give you what yuou want
the money has to be found from somewhere and ultimately the stay aways who won't even subscribe to watch their sport are the reason fights either can't be made, financially, or end up in Vegas. If football teams can't draw a crowd they can't get the Players to improve so it's a vicious circle and the public and fans are very hard to please.

You bang on aboy Hatton V Witter yet by Witter fighting to half empty halls and without you going to see him leaves his bargaining psoition somewhat weak.

Same again, no crowd, no income = no decent undercard.

I can certainly see you point BC, but if Hennessey is running this promotion at a loss and Witter (despite being a champion) still isn't marketable and still cannot sell a ticket. Then why go for the purse bids.

Why not at least see if the states will take to Witter, as the UK seemingly still have not.

As you said in your earlier post, it is a business after all.

It's an important fight for Hennessey if for no other reason that he has one guy with a world title. Big profit or not.

boxingchat wrote:So what? When Hennessy goes skint trying to please the punters and losing money will you subsidise him?

Promoting, even with TV, is hard work financially and if you lot understood whet you talked about you may realise. Even with this show if Hennessy makes any profit to speak of I will be surprised.

Fighters take home the bulk of the cash not the Promoters.

Good insight, how much do you reckon Sky would be putting up for Harris-Witter BC?

stujones wrote:I can certainly see you point BC, but if Hennessey is running this promotion at a loss and Witter (despite being a champion) still isn't marketable and still cannot sell a ticket. Then why go for the purse bids.

Why not at least see if the states will take to Witter, as the UK seemingly still have not.

As you said in your earlier post, it is a business after all.

They tried that when he fought N'dou, and Witter ended up getting booed out of the Arena remember?

It's obvious why the undercard is poor for this one, as stated above by BC and others, their simply is not enough money to go around to pay for a better one. Witter and Harris want paying a decent payday, and there won't be a big enough crowd to pay for more than they already are.

boxingchat wrote:So what? When Hennessy goes skint trying to please the punters and losing money will you subsidise him?

Promoting, even with TV, is hard work financially and if you lot understood whet you talked about you may realise. Even with this show if Hennessy makes any profit to speak of I will be surprised.

Fighters take home the bulk of the cash not the Promoters.

but why dont he put on a good undercard so he could have the fight in a bigger venue that would generate more money all round

The theory is okay but the reality is altogether different. The financial differences of operating in a large venue as oppose to a leisure centre sized venue are quite significant to both the promoter and the TV company. Costs go through the roof in comparison. The majority of fighters in the UK don't sell enough tickets to cover their own purse demands let alone their opponents so a big venue is risky without a sound and reliable fan base.

Hennessy won the purse bids to get Witter home advantage. No-one in the US would touch Witter and TV don't have any interest in him at all due to his boring style and his previous performances on both HBO and Showtime. The lack of US interest in Witter gives Hatton the excuse he needs to avoid fighting him. It's a vicious circle.

If Hennessy were to stage it in the States the costs and logistics alone would be horrendous. He's done the right thing by Witter no-doubt, but probably cost himself in the meantime.

Anyway, why can't Wellington back me up on this, he's the one who would know.