Harris offers to step in!

[elveiel]

come on lee the wbu has always been worthless, the brit. common and euro are much more respected here, imo anyway, i'd rather he was in quality international 10 rounders for no belt against the opponants than 12 round wbu bollocks, maybe that way once people generally agree he's a higher level than euro champ then he could of got a legit shot quicker or at least fought more top ten names in elimination matches (interim would maybe be slightly acceptable ala mitchells situation)

The good thing with the WBU belt is you dont have to fight **** mandatorys(unless you want too )!! The common and EU belts have **** contenders, imagine if Hatton had to defend agianst Fred Kinuthia or Krzysztof Bienias.

And say what you about the WBU but its the hardest belt to get if your not a Warren fighter!!

The WBU is and probably always will be a **** title, but its ok for a young pro.

[dino]

fights in europe mean nothing...until they come to america and beat some real competiton

[WidowTaker40]

Harris has to accept the short end of the purse as he is NOT a draw, can not sell out a 3000 seat arena in his HOMETOWN and has not been marketed by any network. Tsyzu, on the other hand, is as popular in the U.S as he is in Russia and Australia, has sold out 30000 seat stadiums and generates HIGH ratings whenever he fights.

Harris priced himself out of the Hatton fight because he wanted to dictate terms when he has no leverage for the aforementioned reasons. He has to understand that outcome of negotiations is predicted on bargaining power, since Harris has none he must let Tsyzu determine the split and accept it, provided it is fair.

[Sir_Jose]

Phillips was a perfectly legitimate opponent considering Hatton's track record up until that point. He DID come on strong against Mitchell or ... wait, maybe I'm mistaken and I'm living in the 'world according to Jose', I simply hallucinated the second half of that fight? Do not put words in my mouth.



Once again stop putting words in my mouth, I never once said world champions, i said ex-champs.

Does this ring any bells?:



Hence my need for you to define the word 'champion'.



What i said was, a win over Harris would garner credibility amongst the hardcore boxing fan bases, The casual fan who makes up the actual revenue for fights knows nothing about Harris, therefore beating him would do very little to raise his profile amongst that audience. In turn it would do very little to boost the demand for bigger fights.



I take it that sarcasm is above your station? The reference to hanging it over his mantlepiece was a remark intended to reflect my disdain towards belts in general i.e. all it would be good for is decoration.



Hopkins fought Carl Daniels post Tito and 4 wins later had beaten Oscar De La Hoya, THE biggest draw fighter in boxing outside of the heavyweight division. Now maybe Hopkins isn't a name that everyone in the world recognises, but that is more of a reflection on the popularity of the sport as opposed to Hopkins fame within it. Relatively speaking Hopkins has become one of the biggest names in the sport. Winky isn't quite as well known but you certainly cant compare Harris's obscurity to that of Winky Wright, who recently turned down $4 million to fight Tito.



You've got me there. I apologise. Even the dumbest of people dont deserve such ignorance.



HBO drew its highest audience figures for a heavyweight fight in over six years from Lewis/Klit. 3 of Vitali's last 4 fights were broadcast on HBO Pay-per-view. Your comparison of Vitali K to Harris in terms of notoriety is beyond dumb, it's ludicrous. The mere fact that VK has headlined a PPV card puts him on a completely different plane to Harris. Your attempt to use poor buy figures as an argument is paper thin as that has a higher implication moreso on the sport's mainstream demise as opposed to a fighter's popularity. Vitali isn't a great fighter but he's the best that we've got at the moment in the most popular division meaning that he's a KNOWN fighter.

Dont be so foolish.



You're not hearing me, I could easily imagine any of those fights on PPV. The fact that they wouldn't receive top billing is completely irrelevant as there isn't a fighter in the division capable of singlehandedly supporting a PPV card. My point was that those fighters' popularity would warrant the huge payroll required to match make between 2 of them on the undercard of a PPV.

If Harris were to meet any of those fighters it would be a draw to hardcore fans alone. The headline event would inevitably have to burden the weight of attraction. In order for Harris to appear on a PPV card he'd have to fight someone in the same situation as himself, unknown and willing to accept a 'reasonable' figure to fight him (regardless of their credentials.) for example m'baye, who met that criteria and fought Harris with third billing on the Mayorga/Forrest PPV.

You shouldn't expect popular fighters to accept low purses when they can generate far higher incomes from fighting guys of equal economic stature. It just doesn't happen. Even Cotto backed out of his fight with Harris.

Financially, Harris is a dud. For whatever reasons, he's failed to set the fans' imaginations alight. Dont get pis*ed off with Hatton because Harris doesn't pose an attractive proposition, get pis*ed off with your country for not fully appreciating one of it's champions.

The fact that you would even try and justify Vince Phillips as being a credabile opponent just shows how in love you are with Hatton.

No one is putting words in your mouth jr. When you use a term like "Ex-Champ" people just asume you mean a World Champion not some **** bag of an orginization the the IBA or WBU. Those belt donrt make you "Champion"

Here let me spell it out for you Champion= WBC, WBA, IBF. Now please go of on one of your dumbass rants about how belts dont mean anything to you.

I find it funny that you have stated time and time again how worthless the belts are, but refer to guys like Tackie and Olivera as "Ex-Champs" when it fits your cause.


You keep bringing up the casual fan as if people here even know who the **** Ricky Hatton is. As if casual boxing fans in America are gonna tune in to see a Ricky Hatton fight once they hear his name is on the bill.

Saying that a win over Vivian Harris would do little to boost demand for bigger fights is flat out laughable, but then again your entire stance on this isssue is aswell.

What does Bernard Hopkins fight DLH have to do with his drawing power?...Oh thats right not a damn thing.

please dont bother you've already shown me what kind of person you are and thats someone who would stoop as low as rascism the second there losing a debate.

3 of Vitali's last 4 fights on PPV you say? well thats news to me and anyone else who has HBO and the entire boxing world. He has had 1 fight on PPV and the rest have been on HBO Championship Boxing. Flex the boxing knowledge a little more killer.

I never said they were on the same level of poluarity I said niether were draws and guess what NIETHER ARE. Yes Vitali has headlined a PPV card and it was as big a failure as there has ever been in the history of the sport. By comparision MAB/Morales3 two jr Lightweights sold upwards of 350,000 PPV buys, sold out the arena and the man who is thought to be the best heavyweight in the world sold 150,000 with about 7,000 tickets sold and some web sites reporting that PPV figure to be closer to 80,000. Oh but that right he's such a big draw.

You're not hearing me, I could easily imagine any of those fights on PPV. The fact that they wouldn't receive top billing is completely irrelevant as there isn't a fighter in the division capable of singlehandedly supporting a PPV card. My point was that those fighters' popularity would warrant the huge payroll required to match make between 2 of them on the undercard of a PPV.

The-Dumbest-****ing-Statement you have made so far. You go on about how a match-up with Harris would get nothing and how a fight with Mayweather, Cotto, Mitchell or Gatti could be a PPV and now this ****??

Well if its not headlining a PPV then what does it matter? You think being on an undercard of a PPV means anything? Why dont you go look at the undercards of some of the latest PPV's.

Mayorga vs Forrest2 wasn't even a PPV kid. Jesus Christ do you think every fight shown in the states is a PPV?

The most popular fighter you guys have had you had in the past 10 years Naseem Hamed knew he had to come to America even if he could draw massive crowds by staying home. Do you know why he did that? becuase he along with everyone else in the sporting world knows if you can make it here than the money you will make will be 10x that of the money you are making now.

Hatton is content to be a big fish in a small pond and his fans are foolish for buying it.

[Nautilus]

Upon reading that the Tszyu-Hatton superfight has appparently fallen through, WBA super lightweight king "Vicious" Vivian Harris has spoken on the subject. "Kostya did the right thing. As a fellow world champion, he has earned his way to the top. He should be respected. I understand completely how he feels, as Warren/Hatton showed the same disrespect to me and my belt in negotiations earlier this year" said the 26-year-old champion. "Kostya deserves that kind of money, and at 35 years of age, he's paid his dues. Let me take care of Hatton first, as we're both 26, I have the world title already, Hatton should fight me now and Warren should show champions some respect, he can't protect Hatton forever and at this rate he's damaging Hatton's reputation. People are laughing at Hatton over here (USA). Kostya is a true champion and I respect him, I'd love to fight him and I am willing to go through Hatton first. The winner of Harris-Hatton can fight Tsyzu in a unification superfight" Harris also said he'd fight Hatton in Manchester for a third of what Tszyu turned down (reportedly Tszyu turned down a $5 million offer). "Just get the money right, and I'll go right into Ricky's backyard and fight him, I'd even fight him in his living room, if Warren shows a little respect."
Thursday, December 30 2004

Harris is cool.

[elveiel]

fights in europe mean nothing...until they come to america and beat some real competiton

[IMG]http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~yuana/******.gif[/IMG]

[diz82]

Harris is a joke

Harris turned down $750K to fight Hatton and now he says he'll fight him for a third of the $5m offered to Tszyu which works out at over $1.6m. Who the fcuk does Vivian Harris think he is asking for $1.6m for a fight?? Bear in mind that Harris' hightest payday to date is $350K for fighting in Germany. If Harris was willing to fight in Germany TWICE for $350K then he's a joke for calling Ricky Hatton scared after he turned down $750K to fight Hatton. Harris should realise that he has very few actual fans and this is where a money is generated. Harris is a joke for the way he's acted and talked about Hatton.

[diz82]

Jose??

Hatton is content to be a big fish in a small pond and his fans are foolish for buying it.

Hatton has said many times that he will fight anyone, anywhere. Thats not debatable. He wants to fight the best, the real world champion Kostya Tszyu instead of just being happy with a belt. The reason the Tszyu fought is being talked about for Manchester is because thats where the money is for this fight. There is little attraction and Money for the fight in the states so the only options are Australia and Manchester where over 20,000 seats would be sold without a problem. Showtime turned down Australia as a venue due to time differences being too great so Manchester is the only option available for the fight. If the money was available foe the fight in the US then Ricky would be there 100%. Also its funny how Tszyu has turned down an offer which is 3 times his highest ever purse! Really sounds like Kostya thinks Ricky would be an easy fight!

[elveiel]

Hatton is content to be a big fish in a small pond and his fans are foolish for buying it.

I dont think Hattons content, he's had public bust ups with Warren about the situation. The only people content with the situation are the part time boxing fans who dont care who Hatton fights, i wouldnt be suprised if Warren's more content with the situation than anyone.

[RobbieD]

Gotta love all these "world champions" who are treated like Gods in the States but who actually never travel the world too. When the Gatti's, Mayweather's, De La Hoya's, etc of the world start traveling to other countries (and I don't think for a second they should if they can get better deals in the States) then maybe then there is an argument about Ricky Hatton or any British fighter not travelling. Until then, it's garbage.