Vivian Harris: Witter Is A Good Fighter, But He's Not on My Level

By G. Leon

16/07/2007

Vivian Harris: Witter Is A Good Fighter, But He's Not on My Level

GL: Boxingtalk recently broke the news of your September 7 title fight with Junior Witter. Can you give us some thoughts on the fight now that it's a done deal? "I'm looking forward to fighting for the title again, the fight is set I've already been training, I've been training since a week after my last fight, and I'm going to be heading to Vegas later this week to open up my camp out there, enjoy the nice weather, put the work in go to England and come back with my title."

GL: Following your fight with Maussa, you told me you still considered yourself the best junior welterweight in the world. Now that you've worked your way back to the number one spot, do you view this title shot as do or die as far as the boxing world viewing you as an elite level champion?

VH: "I've already been world champion and I know this is a very important fight for me, but it's not do or die. I'm going to show up in the best shape of my life, ready to put on the fight of my life, so there's no dying. Losing is not an option."

GL: How do you think Witter has improved as a fighter since he fought Zab Judah?

VH: "I don't think he's improved at all. I think he's tried to add some new things and do some things different, but he's the same fighter. He's a good fighter and he's champion for a reason, but he's not an A level fighter."

GL: As you head into this fight, looking back, how valuable was the experience of fighting Urkal twice in Germany? 

VH: "It's not a big deal to me fighting somebody in their country, the fights with Urkal were good, but I already confidence in what I'm going to do, knowing that I've done it before gives me more confidence. Once you have a belt you're a world champion so should have no problem fighting anywhere in the world. I'm looking forward to coming out and getting booed, but I promise you by the time the fight is over there's going to be a lot more Vivian Harris fans in England."

GL: I look forward to seeing you in Vegas later this week, in the meantime is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

VH: "I want to thank all of my fans for sticking by me, pretty soon I'm going to England and I'm coming back home with the WBC belt looking to fight whoever the fans say is the best."

M

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