After giving Guyana the country’s third world title, Harris said: “I have been waiting for this moment a long time. I had this dream since I was a kid - winning a world title.”

Harris said he defeated Hurtado by cutting off the ring and his opponent could not get in to him.

“That messed the guy up. He could only fight one way,” Harris said.

The victory effectively could lead Harris to a contest with Kostya Tszyu, of which the new champion is confident.

“These guys can be beaten. You just have to stay focused,” Harris said.

Harris attributed his victory to his hard work, leading up to the fight.

The new champion started his ring career with the seemingly unknown Gordon’s International Gym run by Gordon Williams at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Guyana’s second world champion, Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite was under his charge, also.

“It is nice to get two (world champions) in about one week,” Williams told Chronicle Sport yesterday.

Asked what asset Harris had as a boxer, Williams replied: “He liked the game. You hadn’t to tell him to train.”

Williams recalled when Harris attended the-then Lodge Government School he used to go straight to gym from school and sometimes at midday. Also, when there was nothing to do in school, he would go to train.

“Sometimes we would train four hours non-stop. He was a boxing ‘turk’. He did not want to stop training,” Williams said.

Harris had one flaw that took about two months to correct, according to Williams.

“When he jabbed, his knees used to lock together. It was a habit,” Williams said.

The young boxer was hesitant about the sport but went into it because the family was involved - his father and two older brothers. He, however, was not so confident he could do as well as they, especially the world-rated Wayne Harris.

Williams laid the foundation, teaching him power punching, jabs, hooks and the basics and he used to spar with the son of a woman who worked at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall then.

“He used to dominate. He soon realised he had something special in him. He became perfect. No little boy his size could have beaten him,” Williams said.

Former Olympian Dillon Carew who copped his first national title under Williams, said the coach was good at instilling the basics.

National boxing coach Lennox Daniels told Chronicle Sport that after Harris was beating up everybody at the Under-16 level, his father Herman Harris took him to the Guyana Defence Force gym.

Daniels said he put the young pugilist to train with senior National boxers like Gairy St Clair. Harris migrated to the USA in the mid-nineties.

“He left with that kind of exposure. He had that preparation early in his career here,” Daniels said.

Secretary of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control, Trevor Arno, said the professional governing body was extremely proud because Harris became the third world champion with the present executive at the helm.

Arno disclosed that the board had contacted the boxer at the time of the weigh-in, expressing confidence of his clinching the title, but warned him not to make the opposing side get the better of him with their banter.

The boxing official said that the victories would make the board intensify it efforts to have other boxers reach that level by implementing programmes, such as promoting cards in the absence of promoters.

“If we wait until the promoters are in a position to stage cards, the game might die a natural death,” Arno said.