DESPITE being knocked out in his last fight, former WBA junior welterweight champion `Vicious’ Vivian Harris has no immediate plans of calling it a day in the ring.

The 36-year-old believes that he has much more left in him and would now ply his trade in the more “comfortable” welterweight division.
Harris received his 10th defeat (eighth by KO) on November 29 when he challenged Mexican Ramon Alvarez for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) North American junior middleweight title. The fight was stopped at 44 seconds of the seventh round.
“I had to go up in weight since no one in the welterweight division was taking me on. I was 151 pounds the night of the fight and he was 169. Even with all that I was outclassing him during the fight. I still have much left in me and I will be going down back to welterweight,” Harris announced.
He blamed his most recent performance on the condition of the ring in Mexico. “I was amazed at the condition of that ring. In my entire career as amateur and a professional I have never fought in a ring like that. The matting was very soft and it made moving around difficult. My legs were terribly fatigued and I really could not do what I wanted to. The ring took my legs away,” Harris explained.
“It took me four rounds to get accustomed to that ring. I was forced to walk through that fight and even with that I was able to hold my own. I think I was winning the fight when it was stopped.”
The gangly fighter was knocked down twice in the contest that was held in Mexico. “I was not hurt with the first knockdown. I stayed down at the second knockdown more because of fatigue in my legs. If you look at the fight you will see that there were moments when I was dominating him. I am a boxer and he is a fighter,” Harris added.
The Guyanese believed that the condition of the ring was a part of Alvarez’s team plan to maximise the Mexican’s chance of winning the contest. “They did what they had to do to protect their fighter.
“My team should have done the same to protect me. However, I accept the defeat the same way that I embrace my victories and I know that Vivian Harris is coming back stronger.”