`Vicious' Vivian Harris is not perturbed about going defending his title in England against an Englishman. In fact the World Boxing Association junior welterweight champion relishes the idea of fighting Englishman Ricky Hatton in his own back yard. "I'm ready to die and he is not. It is as simple as that. I train hard and expect tough fights. Hatton has never seen nor will ever see anyone like me. After this test, he will confess that I'm the best," Harris said from Florida yesterday.
Hatton, undefeated in 36 fights and the once-defeated Harris are scheduled to do battle on October 2 in Manchester.
The fight will be shown on Showtime and it will be the first time Harris will have US television since winning his title in October 2002. He said going to England was hardly likely to faze him since: "I went to Europe before to defend my title. He [Hatton] is the one who will feel the pressure. I'm not worried at all about where I'll fight him. Wherever I fight is my home. I'll go to England and make it my home."
Hatton is the holder of the lightly-regarded World Boxing Union (WBU) title and has won 26 fights via knockout.
"He is the one who will be fighting at home and wanting to look good in front of his home crowd. He will have to prove himself.
All that talk about him being a body puncher is just trash," said Harris who will be making his third defence of the title.
"I'm focused and I'm ready to go. At the end of the fight I'll still be the champion. I'm training very hard."
Harris acknowledged that he will be making much more that the US$300,000-odd he collected for defending against Oktay Urkal on April 17 in Germany but stopped short of quoting the figure. The WBA champion will remain with father Herman and Lennox Blackmoore, the two who took him to Germany earlier this year, as trainers. Harris has been calling out Hatton since stopping Diobelys Hurtado in the second round to win the title. However, it was only last week that promoter Frank Warren announced that the deal had been sealed.