By Keith Idec (photo by Tom Hogan/Golden Boy)
 
Vivian Harris doesn’t talk like someone who has won one of his last four fights.

The former junior welterweight world champion projects the confidence of a fighter who has been much more successful than Harris has been since he out-pointed Juan Lazcano in a WBC elimination match 3½ years ago in Las Vegas. The Brooklyn-bred contender from Guyana dismissed Victor Ortiz as an ill-prepared opponent while promoting their 10-round, 140-pound fight tonight in Los Angeles.

“I don’t think there is anyone going to stop me, especially Victor Ortiz,” Harris, 32, said. “You know what I mean? He’s a great young fighter coming up, but I think that he has a lot of doubts when it comes to himself. I don’t really think that he’s confident when it comes to beating people, getting there, to be where he’s supposed to be.

“He has  a lot of talent, don’t get me wrong. But you have to believe in yourself and I definitely don’t think he does. [Tonight] I’m definitely going to push him to that limit because I’m coming to win, like I always do.”

Handicappers haven’t given Harris (29-4-1, 19 KOs, 1 NC) much of a chance to win. They’ve installed Ortiz (27-2-1, 21 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., as about a 15-1 favorite in this battle between damaged former WBA belt-holders, one of three undercard encounters that’ll be broadcast by HBO Pay-Per-View before a junior middleweight main event that’ll pit Shane Mosley (46-6, 39 KOs, 1 NC) against Sergio Mora (22-1-1, 6 KOs) at Staples Center (9 p.m. EDT; $44.95).

“Vivian is a great fighter,” Ortiz said. “He [was] a world champion for a reason and I can’t look past him. He’s definitely dangerous.”

Harris can punch, as Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse learned during their four-round slugfest Feb. 20 in Mexico City.

Harris also has trouble taking punches from heavy-handed opponents, which was evident against Matthysse as well. Matthysse seemed to start taking control of that back-and-forth fight at the time it was stopped, but Harris deserved a rematch based on the controversial conclusion.

Matthysse (27-0, 25 KOs, 1 NC), who’ll instead face Zab Judah (39-6, 27 KOs, 2 NC) on Nov. 6 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., refused to fight Harris again after their fight was stopped somewhat prematurely by referee Gelasio Perez Huerta. Harris was still standing and ready to engage when Huerta halted the action at 2:44 of the fourth round.

Executives at Golden Boy Promotions promised Harris another meaningful fight once they couldn’t persuade Matthysse to accept a rematch, and they delivered.

Ortiz, 23, is ranked No. 1 by the WBA and the WBO. So if Harris has another tremendous performance left in him, he could find himself fighting for a junior welterweight world title again later this year or early in 2011.

Golden Boy Promotions — which represents Harris, Matthysse and Ortiz — also handles three of the consensus top five junior welterweights in boxing (Ortiz, Marcos Maidana and Amir Khan). England’s Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) will meet Maidana (29-1, 27 KOs) for Khan's WBA title Dec. 11 in Las Vegas, but the Ortiz-Harris winner would at least be in position to face the Khan-Maidana winner.

Maidana made Ortiz quit during the sixth round of their knockdown-filled WBA title fight 14½ months ago at Staples Center. He has won three bouts since then, by technical knockout against Antonio Diaz (46-6-1, 29 KOs) and Hector Alatorre (16-11, 5 KOs), and by unanimous decision against Nate Campbell (33-6-1, 25 KOs, 1NC).

On paper, the Campbell match clearly was the toughest of the three. While Campbell looked every bit of his 38 years during his one-sided, 10-round defeat to Ortiz, the left-handed Ortiz boxed in a more strategic, safer fashion against Campbell, who lost 100-89 on two scorecards and 99-90 on the third.

Ortiz definitely didn’t employ the aggressive, hard-hitting approach against Campbell that had served him so well before he lost to Maidana. Harris says he didn’t see the same fighter he seriously considered facing last March 7 in San Jose, Calif.

“The kid is ranked number one,” Harris said. “They put him at number one. I don’t think he earned it, but they put him there. … Like I said, I’m going to say it now, and I’m going to say it again at the fight, he doesn’t believe in himself. People believe in him more than he believes in himself. And I believe in him when he fights other guys, because he is a very good fighter. He just doesn’t believe in himself. He doesn’t have the courage. I know that and he knows that.”

Harris has plenty of questions to answer about his recent history, too.

Before the Matthysse mess, he settled for a no-contest against Mexico’s Noe Bolanos (21-5-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC). Harris was winning that nationally televised bout a year ago in Tucson, Ariz., but an accidental clash of heads caused vision and equilibrium problems for Harris, who was taken from the ring on a stretcher that night.

In his previous bout, Harris was nearly knocked out in the first round of an eventual sixth-round technical knockout win against Nicaraguan journeyman Octavio Narvaez (7-9-1, 4 KOs). If not for one particularly long count by referee Lindsay Page, Harris might’ve suffered a first-round TKO loss to an unknown, blown-up super featherweight in October 2008 in Lyndhurst, N.J., two towns away from Carlstadt, N.J., where Harris lives.

Once he survived that scare, he considered opposing Ortiz in his next bout. Ultimately, though, he turned down a proposed purse of $90,000 for facing the pre-Maidana Ortiz, more than twice what he’ll make for facing Ortiz a year-and-half later. Greek contender Mike Arnaoutis accepted that assignment, but Ortiz overwhelmed him and Arnaoutis (22-6-2, 10 KOs) didn’t make it out of the second round in their HBO “Boxing After Dark” opener.

Still, Harris isn’t intimidated by anything Ortiz offers.

“It really doesn’t matter to me,” said Harris, who owned the WBA’s super lightweight crown from October 2002-June 2005. “My goal is just come in and execute. I’m a different fighter than Maidana. I hit harder than Maidana. I’m a different fighter than Nate Campbell.

“I’m a far different fighter than Nate Campbell and the last two kids that he fought. I’m a sharp shooter. My sharp-shooting is definitely going to land. I’m not worrying about it. I know once I land, he’s got to question himself. I hope he doesn’t get flashbacks.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.