{"id":13247,"date":"2011-07-21T09:37:33","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T13:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=13247"},"modified":"2011-07-21T09:38:15","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T13:38:15","slug":"boxing-news-maurice-harris-ready-for-big-heavyweight-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=13247","title":{"rendered":"Boxing News: Maurice Harris Ready for Big Heavyweight Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>USBA heavyweight champion Maurice \u201cSugar Moe\u201d Harris\u2019 often tumultuous boxing career is back in a good place, after he redeemed himself last Saturday in Atlantic City, when he stopped Derric \u201cThe Shaolin Fist\u201d Rossy in the 12th round at Resorts Casino Hotel. Harris (25-15-2, 11 KOs) was coming off of a disappointing loss by third round to Tony \u201cThe Tiger\u201d Thompson (36-2, 24 KOs) in May, shown live on ESPN Friday Night Fights in their IBF Box-Off.<\/p>\n

Rossy (25-5, 14 KOs), rated #15 by the IBF, served as a litmus test for Harris, a 35-year-old whose major claim to fame is winning the 2002 Thunderbox Heavyweight Tournament, defeating Thompson in the $100,000 finale, as well as defeating world champion Sergei Liakhovich. The New Jersey fighter found himself at the crossroads once again, facing possible retirement if he lost to Rossy, the former Boston College football standout who had previously defeated WBO champion and 1988 Olympic gold-medal winner Ray Mercer (DEC12) and world title challenger Carl David Drummond (DEC10).<\/p>\n

\u201cI never looked at the fight like that,\u201d Harris said, \u201conly as another challenge, another fight. I don\u2019t focus on something like that (in a career-ending fight) because I always need to focus on my opponent and our fight. I did show resiliency when I needed to win. It was a good win, one of my top five, but I was only about 70-percent of what I can really be. I hadn\u2019t been 12 rounds since last August. I was still a little rusty. You can do that (12 rounds) in the gym but it\u2019s not the same as in a fight. I did feel good going into the fight and afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris dropped Rossy in the sixth, led by two rounds going into the 12th, and finished the show in impressive style. The veteran had worn-down Rossy and eventually trapped his tiring opponent on the ropes in the 12th, decking him again with a three-punch combination, an overhand right to the chin serving as an exclamation point. Rossy got to his feet but Harris moved in to finish him, backing Derec onto the ropes again, and unloading a four-punch combination against his defenseless opponent. Referee Earl Morton halted the action at 1:35 of the final round.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fight proved that Maurice\u2019s last one was a fluke.\u201d Harris\u2019 promoter Mario Yagobi (Boxing 360) commented. \u201cHe couldn\u2019t respond right after getting hit with so many illegal hits behind the head. I said that before this fight and still believed in Maurice. He was the stronger, bigger guy who showed a lot more skills than his opponent. Rossy came to win. He was in great shape, at 225 pounds, and had a six-pack stomach. Maurice showed his experience, dropping him the sixth, and finishing with a 12th round knockout. Rossy was banged up; his face had a lot of bruises and welts. From the eighth or ninth round, he looked like a beaten fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last two rounds were my strongest,\u201d Harris noted. \u201cI caught my second wind. I knew one good assault would close the deal. I hadn\u2019t had a knockout in a long time (2002 vs. Liahkovich). I thought I had him out in the sixth, but he stayed right in there until the last round. I hit him with some good combinations. He fell and got up, but I knew he was finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Thompson fight is still in the back of my head. We\u2019ve both won once and I\u2019d like a third fight to settle things. I won\u2019t get over it until we do. I wish him luck in his fights but, even if it\u2019s sparring, I want to fight him again. He didn\u2019t fight the best Maurice Harris but, then again, neither did Rossy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because Harris, rated #9 by the IBF, fought an optional defense against Rossy, Maurice has a mandatory coming up against a challenger to be determined. Chazz Witherspoon is the #1 rated USBA challenger, followed in order by Steve Collins, Cedric Boswell, Antonio Tarver and Michael Grant.
\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USBA heavyweight champion Maurice \u201cSugar Moe\u201d Harris\u2019 often tumultuous boxing career is back in a good place, after he redeemed himself last Saturday in Atlantic City, when he stopped Derric \u201cThe Shaolin Fist\u201d Rossy in the 12th round at Resorts Casino Hotel. Harris (25-15-2, 11 KOs) was coming off of a disappointing loss by third […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[105,319,488],"class_list":["post-13247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-boxing","tag-heavyweight","tag-maurice-harris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13247"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}