The upcoming card topped by welterweights Shane Mosley and Andre Berto is really looking like a well stacked one. According to BoxRec, the latest fight to be added to the January 30th card is an intriguing light-welterweight match-up between former WBA 140-pound champ “Vicious” Vivian Harris and unbeaten Argentine Lucas Martin Matthysse.
The last time we saw 31-year-old Harris in action, the former titlist was being carried out of the ring. The victim of a hard, unintentional head butt in his August fight with Noe Bolanos, Harris was unable to continue seconds into the 2nd-round, the bout being declared a No-Contest.. Fans feared for the well being of Harris, but he later assured them he was feeling okay despite the nasty crack to the head he’d taken. Now, in his first fight back, the 29-3-1(19) warrior faces a big puncher in the thus far untested Matthysse.
The 27-year-old, who is the brother of the also big-punching Walter Matthysse, has a fine record at 25-0(23), but he has yet to meet a top name. Though he is perhaps a badly faded force compared to the fighter he was when he was beating guys like Diosbelys Hurtado and Oktay Urkal, Harris definitely represents a step up in class for the man from Buenos Aires.
Having boxed almost all of his pro career in his home country (with just two bouts taking place outside Argentina, both in The States and one a No Contest) not too much is known about Matthysse apart from the fact that he can bang at a certain level. KO wins over guys like Luis Jose (KO 2) and, last time out, Florencio Castanella (KO 4 in November of 2009) are all well and good, but can the unbeaten hitter take it to another level? The heavily tattooed fighter will get his chance to prove he can on Jan.30th.
A tough fight to pick, simply because we don’t know how much Harris has left any more than we know how good Matthysse is, the light-welterweight fight figures to be lively – if it indeed goes ahead. After all, you would have thought Harris would have been entitled to a slightly easier return fight after the nasty episode he had during his last ring encounter, and it is possible the 31-year-old could decline to take the fight at the last minute. Props to Harris if he does go ahead with the fight, though. Knowing he must win if he’s to avoid seeing his career at top level go under, “Vicious,” who, of course, can also crack pretty good himself, just might come out all guns blazing; attempting to put the less experienced man under fierce pressure.
Not the most reliably-chinned fighter, even in his prime years, Harris could walk onto something if he does take this approach. However, if he starts off slowly, looking to feel his way into the fight, Harris could find himself getting mugged by the younger, possibly faster man. Someone looks like getting stopped in this one, but the action promises to be good until that point.