HARRIS CAMP TO REVIEW MAUSSA FIGHT WITH WBA
27 Jun 2005
By Jake Donovan
Former WBA super lightweight champion "Vicious" Vivian Harris informed Fightbeat.com that his handlers plan to review his seventh round stoppage loss to Carlos Maussa with the WBA in filing for an immediate rematch. Trainer and manager Emmanuel Steward informed his fighter a few hours after the fight that Main Events attorney Pat English had planned to file a protest with the WBA, pending further review of the tape.
The matter which they want reviewed is Maussa's actions following his seventh round knockdown of Harris this past Saturday. After dropping Vivian with a perfect left hook to the chin, Maussa raced across the ring and launched a punch as Harris was sprawled out on the canvas. The punch initially appeared to land flush on Harris' head, while replays showed that the punch was at least partially deflected by the bottom rope.
What Steward and English want noted was not the effect of the foul, but the fact that an intentional foul was committed and went unnoticed by the referee and the New Jersey State Athletic Commission. The purpose for the potential protest is not to have the loss reversed, but to secure an immediate rematch.
"We're not even looking for Vivian to get his title back through all of this," explained Steward. "We want him to win the title back in the ring, and not in a courtroom. We know they won't overturn the verdict. We just want to review the tape with them, to see if in fact the punch landed flush or if he caught the bottom rope. The fact is that he committed a foul, regardless. Vivian already has a rematch clause, but the problem is that the WBA wants Maussa to defend against the mandatory (Souleyman M'Baye, who lost a July 2003 decision to Harris) first. We want the rematch, and will then agree to fight M'Baye immediately afterward."
Harris agreed with Steward's handling of the situation, and also doesn't expect nor wants a reversal.
"I'm just disappointed that I let all of my fans down," said a humbled Harris of his first knockout defeat in his young career. "I know that I blew a big opportunity, and just hope that I can somehow get another chance. We have a rematch clause, and I am definitely exercising it. Hopefully the WBA and Emmanuel and Main Events can watch the tape and then sanction an immediate rematch. I want to get my belt back, and will hopefully get that chance by the end of the year."
Should the WBA not overturn the decision, Harris will be forced to take an interim fight, and await the winner of a Maussa-M'Baye fight later this year. Maussa has already hinted that he is not interested in a Harris rematch, claiming the fight "is already in the past."
More to come...