On Vivian Harris: "Vivian Harris, he was talked about as a great fighter, which I always thought he was. I just figured, hey, if you're gonna be a good boxer, or fighter, why not fight the best of the best? Put him on the floor and on the canvas, which was kinda funny to me, because I wasn't supposed to do that. Then I floored him again. Then he gets up, and I closed the show with a little short right hook. Everybody was kind of stunned. It was a good fight, good fighter, but I still know there's a lot of great fighters out there."
Scott's Take: This is complete nonsense that assumes you know absolutely nothing, and I don't mean in the Roger Mayweather-style "people don't know shit about boxing" sense (because compared to Roger Mayweather, I agree most of us don't know shit about boxing), but that you basically do not watch boxing at all. I'm sorry, but no. I cannot allow this to exist without crapping on it. If you think Mike Tyson is the best heavyweight ever, this is a quote you might buy into. You can even hear in Lampley's call here ("Fourth knockdown of the fight. And Caiz has seen enough.") that this was a nothing fight, and it was never going to be anything more than Ortiz taking a weathered scalp that Golden Boy signed specifically to feed to other fighters.
Vivian Harris was talked about as a "great" (maybe good) fighter about a decade ago. By the time Ortiz fought him in 2010 on the absurd Mosley vs Mora show, Harris was dunzo. Vivian Harris was nowhere even remotely near "the best of the best" when Victor Ortiz fought him. What kind of crap is he selling here? And who does he think he's selling it to? And why did they choose this joke of a fight in the first place? Nobody was "kind of stunned." No, not even kind of. And in case you think this is tune-changing, here's our recap of that fight:
Victor Ortiz met no resistance for the third straight fight, knocking out a mentally and physically shot Vivian Harris in the third round tonight at the Staples Center.
Harris (29-5-1, 19 KO) went down three times in the second round and was knocked out at 45 seconds of the third round by Ortiz (28-2-1, 22 KO). Harris clearly had nothing tonight, and looked like he didn't even want to be there. He landed one punch in the first round, which was as competitive as he got.
... Golden Boy has been exceptionally careful with Ortiz since the Maidana fight, rebuilding his reputation while hoping nobody notices that they're pretty much hand-picking what are easy fights. That he demolished Harris is no more a surprise than that he beat Alatorre, and he'll surely find the waters choppier if he gets back in with a top fighter. Ortiz is talented, but still rather unproven, and that's just the way it is.
As for Harris, he needs to retire. He's been knocked out hard too many times now.
He's talking about a hand-picked, showcase, rebuilding, tune-up sort of fight like it was some big achievement. It wasn't. And three months later when he got back in with a top fighter, he struggled again. Golden Boy has done an amazing job glossing over the Peterson fight.
As far as it being a "good fight," the first round featured a man in the audience shouting, "SOMEBODY HIT SOMEBODY!"
On Andre Berto: "The Berto fight, I was just kinda tired of everyone always pushing me aside. All the 140 pounders didn't give me a shot. Nobody. So I said, hey guys, I'm moving up to 147. I want Andre Berto. After Andre Berto, I want Floyd Mayweather. I knocked him down, but it wasn't like it was over. I knew he was gonna get up with a lot more anger and a lot more power. Sixth round, I got knocked down by Berto. After that, I was like, OK, now I'm gonna have to prove it, that I put him on the canvas. Then all of a sudden he comes at me, tried to rush me, I kinda go against the ropes almost for like a split second. I come off with a left hook. Then I saw the opening again, another left hook. I put him on the canvas, except I put him down pretty nice. I felt that he felt my power. And then, next thing you know, it was, whoa, Victor's got some kind of courage, he has some kind of heart. Maybe he is OK at boxing. But all I could think about was, hey, I'm the new WBC world champ. I don't care. You knock me down, it's alright, I'm fine. Then I get up, and all I could hear was, 'the new. The new WBC world champ.'"
Scott's Take: This is fine since it's just Victorspeak (like, whoa, hey, I was like, then I said, etc.) and does pretty accurately address the fight, but once again, what the hell world does he live in where nobody at 140 was fighting him? Once again, this news to everyone who was at 140 pounds. Lamont Peterson had just fought Ortiz and battled him to a draw in a fight where Ortiz sort of fell apart. Ortiz being matched with Berto was, in some ways, a last chance from GBP to get Ortiz over the bumps. And Victor rose to the occasion and showed what he can do. Kudos to him. But no, he was not ducked at 140, no matter what he says.