By Jake Donovan
With Ricky Hatton looking to give the welterweight division one more try (and a career-high payday in return), the world's top two junior welterweights were faced with one of two choices. They could either tread water, and hope that he is chosen first if/when Hatton, win lose or draw, returns to 140; or they can man up and face each other.
Junior Witter and Vivian Harris, two fighters who've never shied away from a challenge, agreed on the latter, with the bout slated for September 7 in Doncaster, England.
A matchup between the two best challengers in the division would gain more notoriety during any other stretch than the one boxing is presently enjoying. As early as three months ago, Kelly Pavlik and Edison Miranda were praised for fighting each other when both could've just as easily awaited separate shots at middleweight king Jermain Taylor.
As it turned out, Pavlik-Miranda would not remain an anomaly, instead jumpstarting a trend that has taken over the sport – the best fighters facing one another, mainly for financial compensation, but also for bragging rights.
Yet all we've heard from the boxing industry in regards to Witter-Harris… is crickets.
Those in the industry have responded favorably to the aggressive matchmaking approach that has taken over the sport. Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler are rightfully praised for agreeing to square off in what is the most significant matchup in the history of the super middleweight division. Fans are already salivating and debating over the many potential outcomes that come with the forthcoming welterweight showdown between top contenders Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley. In a genius stroke of scheduling, the bout precedes the highly anticipated superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton.
What fans, writers and those in the know don't stop to ponder over, is the major upside – financial and historical – that comes with each of those bouts. Hatton is earning far and away the biggest payday of his career. As mentioned earlier, the winner of Calzaghe-Kessler becomes a part of boxing history. Cotto and Mosley both enjoy mega paydays AND the promise of a future superfight, assuming the winner meets the winner of Mayweather-Hatton. All of the bouts will enjoy major TV coverage in one form or another.
A Witter-Harris matchup doesn't come with any such guarantees. No earth shattering paydays. No promise of Ricky Hatton waiting in the wings for the winner. Hell, they're not even dangling the proverbial carrot in front of either fighter's face. Not a single stateside network willing to step up and pick up the rights to air the bout.
All Witter and Harris get for their troubles is an alphabet trinket, and a pat on the back for being willing to fight each other.
The tagline for the bout is "Vicious Intentions", playing on Harris' nickname (Vicious), as well as Witter's long-ignored intentions of proving he's the best and willing to take on all comers. Perhaps a more befitting title would be "Vicious Neglect", a subject matter both fighters have become far more accustomed to over the course of their careers, spending much of the decade on Boxing's Most Avoided list. Both spent a significant portion of their careers being neglected by their promoters in favor of what they deemed to be more marketable – though not necessarily better – fighters, before signing with promoters who gave a damn.
Harris, who moved with his family from his native Guyana to the Flatbush section of Brooklyn at age 15, spent much of his early years, and even a good piece of his prime, buried on non-televised portions of Main Events-promoted cards. His misfortune was fighting not only for the same promoter, but in the same weight class, as Arturo Gatti.
While Main Events went out of the way to prolong Gatti's career, Harris was left with the task of taking on the fighters nobody else – including Gatti – expressed little to no interest in facing. Wins over Jose Luis Juarez, Diosbelys Hurtado and Souleyman M'Baye would look good on any fighter's resume, but much like the falling tree in the vacant forest, it's hard to confirm a bang when there's nobody available to bear witness. Of the three, only the Hurtado fight was aired on TV (Showtime). Only credit to Harris was replaced with revisionist claims of Hurtado – a significant favorite heading into the fight - never being any good to begin with.
In the same year where Gatti made more than $3 million to face the likes of Gianluca Branco and the severely undersized Leo Dorin, Harris was twice dispatched to Germany to face Oktay Urkal, an ordinary but tough contender best known for giving then-divisional leader Kostya Tszyu a major scare earlier in the decade. Harris came home victorious on both occasions, but to little fanfare, and still no guarantee of fighting in front of an American viewing audience anytime soon.
In all fairness, Harris was given a way out of obscurity when Ricky Hatton became mandatory challenger to the alphabet title he possessed at the time. Only the bout fell apart at the negotiating table. Harris was unhappy not with what was offered, but the amounts his team planned to extract before the paycheck would make its way to his pockets. Hatton's promoter (Frank Warren) was unwilling to allow the bout to go to purse bids, where he'd have to pay well beyond what he believed to be fair market value in order to bring the bout to England. Instead, he had Hatton give up his mandatory status.
Witter could only wish he could be in position to even negotiate a Hatton fight. Long ridiculed for his embarrassing showing in a last-minute accepted assignment years ago against Zab Judah, Harris' former stable mate and sparring partner, the Bradford-based slickster decided to change up styles while angling for a fight with countryman Hatton.
The plan worked, at least on paper. Witter rattled off fifteen straight knockout wins following the Judah debacle, none lasting longer than five rounds. Skeptics claimed Witter's streak to be littered with soft touches, but were forced to back off a little after back-to-back 2nd round knockouts over respectable Euro contenders Salvatore Battaglia and Krzystof Bienias.
Next came the biggest test of Witter's career, post-Zab – a stateside bout against divisional gatekeeper Lovemore N'Dou. Though his knockout streak came to an end, Witter didn't fail to disappoint, twice putting the normally durable N'Dou on his bum en route to a unanimous decision. The win was supposed to guarantee Witter a shot at then 140 lb titlist Floyd Mayweather. All he got instead was neglected.
Meanwhile, Harris managed to slink further into obscurity. With no fights on the horizon, the only way Harris was able to make the news was when he opted to sound off on those he believed to be avoiding him. A scheduled HBO appearance against Mohammed Abdullaev fell through after a promised $200,000 payday mysteriously turned into $100,000 well before Harris could even grab a pen to sign the contract.
A planned fight with Arturo Morua, whose face first style was tailor-made for Harris, was scrapped after Morua suffered a deep gash in an ill-advised tuneup bout on HBO's now defunct Boxeo de Oro series just two months before he was to face Harris. Replacing Morua was the man he had defeated four months prior, Carlos Maussa.
Harris accepted, just wanting to fight anyone, especially in a co-feature slot to the highly anticipated Mayweather-Gatti PPV. Finally, a high-profile stage on which to perform. Only the move proved disastrous. Harris found Maussa's wide-open defense far too inviting, and punched himself out after two rounds. Running on fumes for the remainder of the bout, Harris eventually succumbed in the seventh, eating a left hook that sent him to the canvas, and then a right hand while he was down. He struggled to make it to his feet, but was unable to beat the count. Years of awaiting the spotlight down the drain in less than 30 minutes.
What's worse, Harris' own promoter, Kathy Duva, was overheard by several in the media as being relieved of the turn of events. So much so, that Main Events never bothered to pursue the rematch clause in his contract.
Just the opposite was going on in Witter's world. His promoter, Hennessy Sports, was celebrating their guy being the number one contender for two separate sanctioning bodies. All of that nearly dissipated in July 2005, when Witter received a major scare – and perhaps the benefit of the doubt in just enough rounds to emerge victorious – against tough-as-nails Andreas Kotelnik.
Realizing that none of the other titlists would look their way anytime soon. Team Witter agreed that one final tune-up was necessary before preparing for a title shot in 2006. That came against Colin Lynes, who came with anything but a competitive fight plan on his mind. Witter danced as hard as he could to give the crowd a thrill, but Lynes played keep away just enough to last the distance and stink out the joint in the process.
2006 was a year of redemption for Harris and a year of rejoice, preceded by patience, for Witter. Harris reunited with Gary Shaw, as the two enjoyed a solid relationship before the latter defected from Main Events in 2002 to begin his own promotional company. His return bout was against perennial spoiler Marteze Logan. The bout was off-TV, but this time with the assurance of the next one receiving network coverage. Harris made an impressive debut under the GSP banner, pitching a shutout over a man coming off of back-to-back major upset wins.
Oddly enough, it was a business decision by Witter that led to a major opportunity for Harris to return right back in the mix. When Witter agreed to face DeMarcus Corley in a bout for a vacant title, his mandatory slot became available atop another sanctioning body's list. As a result, an elimination bout was ordered between Harris and Mike Arnaoutis, who at the time was undefeated but largely untested. The winner would be in position to contend for a fight with Miguel Cotto.
Normally known for uncensored self-promotion through the media, Harris instead changed gears. He was thankful for the opportunity, respectful of his opponent, and solely focused on training for the biggest break of his second career. Instead, it was the usually reserved Arnaoutis who provided all of the trash talk, at least through translator and manager Mike Michael, who's never at a loss for words, unfavorably or otherwise, when it comes to any of his fighter's opposition.
Arnaoutis' bark came back to bite him in the ass, as he suffered a nick during training less than a month prior to the bout. Mixed reports surfaced as to what exactly happened during an untimely training session. All that was confirmed was the Greek's being unavailable to face Harris in the July edition of HBO's Boxing After Dark.
Harris settled on former titlist Stevie Johnston, and was able to remind the world of the power and skills he possessed. Four knockdowns led to a seventh round stoppage. What it didn't lead to, was a fight with Cotto, who instead bolted to welterweight.
Left behind was his spurious trinket, only it wasn't Harris who challenged for the vacant title. Instead it was Arnaoutis, who dropped a decision to Ricardo Torres in a disappointing stinker.
Stinker couldn't begin to describe what took place in the September bout between Witter and Corley. Only, much the Lynes bout eleven months prior, Witter came to party, only to be stuck with an unwilling dance partner. Witter's underrated power made a major impression on Corley, who was in serious trouble in the fifth before electing to dance and pose his way out of harm's way for the remainder of the bout. For the second straight fighter, Witter came in with a bang, but forced to leave with a whimper, even if victorious both times, and every time since his lone loss to Judah in 2000.
He was given a chance to redeem himself, and restore his earlier claim as a noted puncher, when Arturo Morua resurfaced to the title picture. Morua traveled to England to take on Witter earlier this year, only to catch the worst beating of his career before submitting in nine.
Three weeks later, Witter's eyes were fixed on Las Vegas, as he paid astute attention to the HBO-televised bout between Vivian Harris and Juan Lazcano. The winner was slated to fight the Brit – that man would be Harris in a fight where both fighters enjoyed highs and lows. Harris boxed like a dream in the early going, seemingly well on his way to a stoppage or a very lopsided win. Only he elected to mix it up in the middle portion of the fight, allowing Lazcano to effectively employ his mauling tactics, which Harris and others in his camp characterized as blatantly dirty. Lazcano eventually lost a point late in the fight, though Harris banked enough rounds to take the fight on all three cards.
While Harris and Witter had their sights set on one another, Hatton had moved up from and right back down to the division in less than a year. His one shot at welterweight proved near disastrous, barely escaping with a decision win over unheralded Luis Collazo. He reappeared at 140 earlier this year, only to win a stinker against Juan Urango before coming back strong this past June to stop Jose Luis Castillo with a single liver shot in the fourth round.
With Castillo out of the way, Harris and Witter knew that their bout would provide the most formidable challenger for Hatton, assuming of course a winner comes out of their September bout and Hatton decides to once again make his welterweight trek a one-and-done deal.
The winner easily becomes the best available man to face the man. Only if history is any indicator, the man won't be around, or pay enough attention, to give either Witter or Harris the opportunity to prove their respective doubters wrong.
Instead, both are left with a fight merely for bragging rights as the division's and perhaps all of boxing's most neglected.
Jake Donovan is a former member of the BWAA. He is currently licensed as a manager, promoter and judge (ABC certified), and is a member of the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. He may be reached for questions and comments at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
