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Perfect left hook gives Colombian WBA belt
25/06/2005
By Scott Shaffer
Another world title changed hands in the 140-pound division on Saturday, but the winner and loser were both light years away from the man of the evening, Floyd Mayweather. In the final co-feature from Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, Carlos Maussa claimed the WBA title by knocking out Vivian Harris in the seventh round with a perfect left to the jaw. Perhaps as stunned as anybody to find himself on the verge of a world title, Maussa ran after Harris and tried to land a punch to the head of the now fully horizontal Harris. Thankfully, the lower ring rope seemed to deflect the punch, saving Maussa's win from controversy and Harris from further injury. Harris was not, however, spared the boxer's ultimate embarrassment of getting knocked out by a hard-hitting but ultimately ordinary fighter. The Guyanese ex-titlist did himself no favors by talking a ton of smack over the last couple of years (especially on this website), and with this surprisingly weak performance, his credibility must now go into full rehabilitation mode. With none of Harris' recent fights televised here in America, it was hard to get a handle on exactly where the WBA junior welterweight titlist stood in his weight class. Most experts saw Harris as a boxer so dangerous that not even his world title made him a risk worth chancing. No less than Manny Steward, arguably the sport's premier trainer, though enough of his future to invest a big signing bonus in Harris' future.Send questions and comments to: boxingratings@yahoo.com