Maurice Harris

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Maurice Harris, born February 21, 1976 as Wilbur Maurice Harris, is a light heavyweight turned heavyweight boxer with a record of 20 wins, 14 losses, 2 draws, and 10 knockouts. Nicknamed "Mo Bettah," Maurice is best known for being the first man to have defeated WBO heavyweight champion Serguei Lyakhovich, defeating Lyakhovich by knockout in the 9th round of their fight at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ, USA on June 1st, 2002. In addition, Maurice also upset several other notable heavyweights on their way up, including Jeremy Williams (boxer) and David Izonritei.

Maurice turned pro at 16 as a light heavyweight in 1992. Although his record resembled that of a journeyman, Harris went on a seven fight winning streak in 1998-99, culminating in a fight on HBO with undefeated Derrick Jefferson. In what was labeled as the 1999 Ring Magazine knockout of the year, Harris was devastatingly KO'd by a vicious shot from the power punching prospect. Among his other notable fights, Maurice lost a disputed decision to Larry Holmes and a clear-cut unanimous decision to former heavyweight champion Chris Byrd. Maurice recently returned to the ring in 2006 after a three year layoff.

One of the more bizarre boxing accomplishments of Harris's career was his triumph at the Thunderbox Heavyweight Tournament in 2002 called "Fistful of Dollars" in Atlantic City, NJ. The round-robin event consisted of eight Heavyweights doing battle in three, three-minute rounds for a purse of $100,000. The event featured Derrick Jefferson, Ray Austin, Jeremy Williams,Tony Thompson, Gerald Nobles, Harris, Tim Witherspoon, and Israel Garcia.