By Cliff Rold

Before Welterweight Antonio Margarito and every-weight Paul Williams took up the mantle, Jr. Welterweight Vivian Harris built some traction as boxing’s ‘most avoided fighter.’  It wasn’t a claim made without reason.

Granted a shot at the WBA 140 lb. belt in 2002, Harris decimated veteran Diobelys Hurtado in two rounds before beginning what looked like a substantial title reign.  Defenses against solid foes Soulemayne M’Baye and twice against Oktay Urkal built his reputation and his confidence.  The week of Floyd Mayweather-Arturo Gatti in June 2005, he was slated for the primary support slot in a showcase bout with the average Carlos Maussa.

Harris knew it.  He spent most of the week talking about the best ducking him, about Mayweather ducking him, and about the opportunities he deserved. 

Harris was promptly stopped by Maussa seven rounds.  The burgeoning reputation was gone.  The fighter has been here and there since.

He certainly hasn’t been short of chances and made the most of some of them.  Over six months from 2006-07, he made two winning appearances on HBO stopping former Lightweight titlist Stevie Johnston and former contender Juan Lazcano to set up a chance at a second title.  Traveling to the U.K., he fell short in a seven rounds of a good fight with then-WBC titlist Junior Witter.  It would be Witter’s last truly good win.

Harris thinks there are still some good wins left in him.  Making his first nationally televised appearance in the U.S. in over two years, the now 30-year old Harris (29-3-1, 19 KO) tops the bill on this week’s ESPN2 Friday Night Fights against Mexican journeyman Noe Bolanos (20-4-1, 12 KO). 

Harris was recently signed by Golden Boy Promotions with the scuttlebutt being he’s a mark for Victor Ortiz, a younger and more marketable talent in need of some rebuilding after quitting against Marcos Maidana in June 2009.  The tenor of the speculation is one of skepticism and not without reason.

In his last outing, the rigors of over a decade in the ring and the big losses to Maussa and Witter appeared to be having an effect.  Facing the inexperienced Octavio Narvaez, then 7-4-1, at Welterweight, Harris hit serious turbulence.  As reported by BoxingScene’s Mark Vester last October:

Harris was rocked bad by journeyman Octavio Narvaez (7-5-1, 4 KOs) and hit the floor not once, but twice in the first round. Very few in attendance thought Harris would even make it out of the first round. He boxed in the middle rounds and caught Narvaez in the sixth, dropping him and obtained what many in the crowd felt was a premature stoppage. The crowd voiced their displeasure with the ref's call to stop the fight.

Harris has put the shaky outing behind him and is excited to be back on U.S. television. 

“Feels good.  I’m always happy to fight among my people, the big fans, the American fans.  I’m always happy to do that.”  

Harris is also fine with the role Golden Boy may have in mind and wonders why being signed as a possible foe for Ortiz could be seen as anything less than positive.  “People who are not boxing people are not educated.  Anybody would want to be signed to get into any big fight.  If that’s what they did, that’s better for Vivian Harris.  All I have to do is get past whoever I have to get past…I won’t be the first or the last to prove everybody wrong.” 

Where others see Harris being brought in to play the set up then, Harris sees what could be great opportunity.  “If it’s the case, who cares?  The main thing is the fights I want.  I been wanting all the fights with the top guys in my division.  I just want to get in there with them and leave it up to me to beat them.”  There is reason for some to be skeptical about Harris’s long term chances.

Between the Witter loss and the Narvaez controversy, Harris was out of the ring for over a year and laid the blame on his previous handlers.  “I had a promoter, Gary Shaw, who was acting like a little kid.  Doing what he want to do and treating people how he want to treat them…he just put me on the shelf.  But can’t nobody keep you down; you can only keep yourself down.  That’s why I’m not down.  I’m always gonna’ be up.  No one can keep me down.  I’m the only one who knows my destination…that’s gonna’ be champion of the world.”

Whether Shaw was the problem or not, given Harris’s reputation for being difficult behind the scenes, is debatable.  The destination he is pursuing is not.  Harris is already looking past the possibility of Ortiz not at a particular fighter but the opportunity to regain a particular belt.

“The opportunity is my WBA belt.  That’s what I want.  It was taken from me wrongfully,” Harris asserted, referencing the end of the fight with Maussa.  In the bout, Harris jumped out to an early lead before Maussa began to build a head of steam behind hard right hands.  Early in the seventh, it was a left hook which told the tale.  Harris was caught at mid-ring and stumbled towards the ropes settling face down.  Maussa chased and threw a right hand while Harris was on the deck.  Replays didn’t show substantial contact but the shot did touch the back of Harris’s head and Harris failed to beat the count.  Then trained by Emmanuel Steward, an attempt was made to lodge a protest but it didn’t get far. 

Whether the foul was a serious reason for the loss or not, Harris uses the grievance to fuel him.  “I didn’t lose my WBA belt on a legal scale.  I lost my WBA belt wrong.  I was hit when I was on the ground.  I got dropped earlier.  I did…and no one stood up for me.”  Citing the number of times the belt has changed hands since he held it (five men have held the bout since, including Maussa), Harris didn’t specifically call out current titlist Amir Khan (21-1, 15 KO) of Britain.  “Whoever is gonna’ have my WBA belt when it’s time for me to fight for that championship, I will get my WBA belt.  I don’t care who it is.”

Turning his attention to Bolanos, Harris was measured in his approach.  “I got a good trainer, Tommy Brooks.  We been watching some tapes, I been watching some stuff.  Like any time, I come to fight and we just got to stick to the game plan…use the jab a lot and make the fight our fight.” 

Harris insisted he won’t look to get outside himself with the chance for a spotlight this Friday.  “I don’t consider that I have to bust my balls to definitely go get a spectacular knockout.  I just go there and do what I have to do and any time I fight and win my fight it ought to be a spectacular win for Vivian Harris.”

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com