Harris scored a sensational second round technical knockout over Hurtado on Saturday night to capture the WBA title.

Harris’s victory comes within eight days of compatriot Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite win over Italian Vincenzo for the World Boxing Council (WBC) cruiserweight crown. "I'll give him a rematch," the new champion said. "I'm happy he gave me a chance to fight for the title."

With a knockdown of Kostya Tszyu on his resume, Hurtado came in with his sights set on other titles. Making the first defence of the crown he won in May, he entered the ring wearing a jersey and helmet of the expansion Houston Texans, hoping to win over the crowd at The Pavilion at Reliant Park.

Harris was not impressed. In the last minute of the first round, he scored with a pair of left hooks that stunned Hurtado and had the crowd roaring for him.

"He's a good fighter, but he has only one way of fighting - going to the left," Harris said. "I made him go to the right. I just caught him. I knew I hurt him in the first round."

"I felt his left hook, but it didn't hurt me that much," Hurtado said through an interpreter. "I was in good shape."

The bout didn't last much longer. Just 43 seconds into the second round, Harris put together a left hook and a straight right hand that knocked Hurtado into the ropes and down. Referee Laurence Cole immediately stepped in and stopped the fight.

"I could have been able to keep fighting, but I respect (the decision)," Hurtado said. "His job is to protect the fighter."

Now resident in Brooklyn, New York, Harris improved to 22-1-1 with 16 knockouts. He has won six straight fights.

Perhaps looking ahead, Hurtado fell to 35-3-1. The Cuban defector who lives in Miami won the strap with a seventh-round knockout of Randall Bailey in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was 7-0-1 in his previous eight fights.

Hurtado's previous losses were to Tszyu and Pernell Whitaker.

Although the fighters once trained at the same gym, there clearly was some bad blood between them. After Friday's weigh-in, Hurtado spat on Harris. The two refused to touch gloves after receiving Cole's instructions.

"Tell him don't spit again. It got me more strong," Harris said.

"I don't believe that (it fired him up)," Hurtado said. "Everybody's trying to be a world champion."

Harris had promised to beat the spit out of Hurtado after the ugly pre-fight altercation that saw a brawl break out between the two camps. Both fighters were separated by members of their respective camp.

Hurtado, a former Cuban amateur star who defected to the United States in 1994, had boasted of being the best junior-welterweight and had said before the bout &#x201CI like giving guys like Vivian a shot at my title to prove that I can beat the best out there.”

He boasted that he was looking at some of the bigger names out there - maybe a rematch with Tszyu or even a fight against Vernon Forrest.

Harris, however, did not plan to be so accommodating.

Harris declared then: “I’m going to win these belts,” (Hurtado’s WBA IBA belts). “I remember one time I was supposed to fight Antonio Diaz for the IBA title but I lost to Ray Olivera, so that let me know that wasn’t the right time for me. So for me right now, I think this is the time for me to win both of the belts.”

Harris suffered his only loss in February 2000 when he was out-hustled over ten rounds by Ray Oliveira in Oliveira’s backyard of Cranston, Rhode Island. Later that year, Harris won on all three judges scorecards against Ivan Robinson, but came away with a draw due to New Jersey’s now abandoned consensus scoring system

He told Fightnews he learned a lot that will help him in his loss to Oliveira. “I’m coming up against a fighter who reminds me of Oliveira in how he moves around the ring, bobs, and stays active in the ring." He said he would come this time with a different game plan.

Hurtado’s only losses, prior to Saturday night, came in previous world title shots. In 1997, he dropped WBC welter champ Pernell Whitaker twice and was leading on all cards when a desperate ‘Sweet Pea’ went for broke and scored a spectacular eleventh round KO. The following year, Hurtado had IBF Jr welter champ Kostya Tszyu on the deck twice, but eventually succumbed to Tszyu’s vicious body attack in round five.

In a featherweight bout on the undercard, 2000 Olympian and Houston native Rocky Juarez remained unbeaten with a unanimous 10-round decision over former WBC super-bantamweight champion Hector Acero-Sanchez.

Fighting for the second time in less than eight weeks, Juarez improved to 13-0 with nine knockouts. Acero-Sanchez fell to 41-9-3.