BROOKLYN, New York, CMC – Guyana’s former world boxing champion Vivian Harris is enraged over his loss to Argentina’s Lucas Martin Matthysse Saturday night and has described the referee’s decision to halt the contest as the “worst injustice” he has ever experienced.
The undefeated Matthysse was declared the winner by fourth-round technical knockout (TKO) when referee Gelasio Perez Huerta contentiously stopped the non-title welterweight bout after the Argentine had scored with a solid right hand.
Harris acknowledged that he was caught with a good punch but insisted in a statement on Monday that he was not badly hurt and was more stunned by the referee’s decision to stop the bout.
“We exchanged punches, I got hit with a right hand, I was not hurt, my legs were fine, I wasn’t dizzy,” said New York-based Harris.
“How in the world do you just stop a fight like that? Every single person watching could clearly see that I was fine,” he added.
The contest was a critical outing for Harris, who was badly in need of a win to revive his career. He now has just one victory in his last four bouts.
“I just wanted to let everyone know that what happened in Mexico City was by far the worst injustice that I have ever experienced,” Harris declared.
The bout was competitive prior to the stoppage and Harris believes it was still an open bout when the “premature” end came.
“The fight between me and Lucas Matthysse was a close and competitive fight from the start. In the second round, I hit Matthysse with a right hand that caused severe swelling around his right eye. I’ll admit that I lost the third round,” he said.
After taking the blow that triggered the referee’s decision, Harris went forward for a clinch with the South American.
He appeared shaken but not helpless when the referee intervened.
“I went to tie Matthysse up and out of nowhere Referee Gelasio Perez Huerta breaks us apart. He then tries to remove my mouth piece. At this point I still don’t understand what he is doing, and even Matthysse was unaware of what was happening. Huerta then waves his hands signalling the stoppage! I was in disbelief,” said Harris, whose ring record sinks to 29 wins (19 knockouts) against four losses and one draw.
Matthyse improved to 26-0 (24 knockouts) with the victory.
In October 2002, Harris became Guyana’s third world boxing champion – after Andrew Lewis and Wayne Braithwaite – when he knocked out Cuban Diosbelys Hurtado to win the WBA 140-pound crown. He successfully defended the title three times before losing it to Colombian Carlos Maussa.
