Last Saturday night on HBO's Boxing
After Dark, former junior welterweight champion "Vicious" Vivian Harris
crushed Stevie "Little but Bad" Johnston in the hopes of setting up a dream
matchup between he and Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton.
Harris, who reminds me a bit of Thomas Hearns because of his freakish size, stands about
5-foot-11, has a 74-inch reach and somehow can shrink his body to the 140-pound junior
welterweight division. Harris has been clamoring for big bouts since 2002 when he won the
WBA and IBA light welterweight titles, which is why he changed promoters and joined forces
with Gary Shaw. But fighting Harris is simply too risky for most.
Compare Harris' physical attributes with some of the elite names of the junior
welterweight and welterweight divisions:
- Ricky Hatton - 5-6
- Luis Collazo - 5-9
- Carlos Baldomir 5-7
- Zab Judah 5-7
- Floyd Mayweather 5-8
Harris towers over these guys by three-to-five inches in
height and has a two-to-seven inch reach advantage. If Harris works more on his jab
and fights tall, all of these guys would have hell trying to beat him.
Harris said that fighting Hatton at a higher weight isn't even a problem:
"We can fight at 147, where you hold the WBA title, or at 140, or even in
between. The weight doesn't matter. I just hope you don't make me wait."
After several hard fights, Team Hatton feels it's time to take an easy fight, let Hatton
recuperate his strength. Hatton will be taking on Otkay Urkal, a boxer Harris beat twice,
in December on American soil. According to Boxrec, Ricky's newly acquired WBA title is on
the line.
Johnston, meanwhile, has decided to return to his natural fighting weight of 135 pounds,
back to the lightweight division he dominated for four years, rather than continue giving
up too much size and strength to the world's top-rated super lightweights.
"I'm too little to fight at 140," Johnston realized after losing to
Harris. "After the fight I hydrated and still only weighed 147 pounds with my
clothes and shoes on."
Duddy KO'd By NY Heat
Oh yeah, it's hot out here. Today it's about 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity.
Recently, NY's electrical and gas company, Con Edison, was KO'd for about 10 days in the
Astoria area of Queens. Many people lost their livelihood, due to no backup generators and
damaged stock. My prayers go out to those people.
The NY heat claimed another victim -- John Duddy. He was forced to pull out of his fight
with Carlos Bojorquez due to dehydration.
"John is doing fine now," said Irish Ropes advisor Jim Borzell, "but trying
to do his road work and train at Gleason's during the New York hot spell affected his
health and his training.
"John is disappointed for his fans expecting the Vegas fight," added Borzell,
"but there is no way he could be ready to go on Aug. 10. We look forward to a big
fall fight in September in New York for John."
Ya'll Must've 4-Got!
If you did forget, last Saturday the "shutout" king Roy Jones Jr. decided to
remind you that in his prime he barely lost a round. Roy Jones outclassed "The Boxing
Prince" Badi Ajamu by taking 10-11 rounds in their WBO/NABF title matchup in Boise,
Idaho.
Matchmaker/Promoter Jake Donovan weighs in:
"For all intent and purposes, the bout ceased being competitive by the second round.
Ajamu came out strong, employing a strategy similar to that of Glen Johnson, to whom he
has often drawn comparisons. It worked for about half of a round, before Roy settled in
about midway through. From there, it was all Roy. "
Welcome back, Roy. Now will you please retire!
10 Seconds
Jaidon Codrington returns to NYC to face the music. After his 18-second KO loss to
Allan Green, "The Don" hasn't fought in NY (Codrington fought over half of his
bouts in NYC). Codrington had two fights in places requiring GPS to locate -- but now
Team Codrington feels ready to show its face in the Big Apple.
You might want to check out "Andre Rozier Is Wreaking Havoc" by Zachary
Levin: http://fightbeat.com/article_detail.php?AT=130 which tells the story about
Codrington's trainer, Andrew Rozier.
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