By Nate Anderson: Former World Boxing Council (WBC) light welterweight champion Junior Witter (37-2-2, 22 KOs) easily defeated a badly over-matched Victor Hugo Castro (29-5, 12 KOs), stopping him in the 3rd round of a scheduled 10-round bout on Saturday night at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, in London. Witter, 33, knocked Castro down twice – once in the 2nd with a big left hook to the body, and then a final a time in the 3rd with a hard left-right combination to the head that sent Castro to the canvas where he landed with both legs doing the splits. Referee Mark Green then moved in and halted the bout at 1:10 of the 3rd round.
For Witter, it was his first fight since losing his WBC light welterweight title to American Timothy Bradley in a 12-round split decision loss in May. In that fight, Witter was knocked down by Bradley in the 6th round and had trouble with his super hand speed and power all night long. Against Castro on Saturday night, however, Witter had it easy, as Castro had very little power or speed to speak of and was hopelessly outclassed before the fight even started.
Witter came out flat-footed in the 1st round, looking slow and somewhat lethargic as he threw slow labs without much speed or power on them. His hand speed appeared to off, as well as his timing, but it still mattered little because Castro was little more than a 3rd tier fighter if that. Indeed, Castro appeared to be the sacrificial lamb brought into get Witter back on the winning track without putting him in too much of danger.
At that, Castro did his job well, because he hardly threw any punches in the first round and spent most of the time walking around and taking hard shots from Witter. For his part, Witter jabbed frequently, looking for spots in which he could throw hard body shots. However, like in his previous fight with Bradley, Witter left himself open quite frequently for counter shots from Castro, who nailed Witter several times with some tasty punches.
Lucky for Witter, Castro rarely let his hands go because if he had thrown a few more shots, he may have been able to plant Witter like Bradley had done. In the second round, it was all Witter as he jabbed Castro at will with his slow, weak jab. Near the end of the round, Witter began opening up with hard hooks to the body, and produced a knockdown after hitting him with a hard left to the midsection.
It looked for a second that Castro wouldn’t be able to beat the count, but somehow he dragged himself off the canvas. The round ended shortly after he got up. It’s doubtful that he would have been able to escape the round if there had been anymore time left on the clock, because he was in bad shape after getting up.
In the 3rd round, Witter went after Castro with an angry intensity, pounding him with combinations to the head and body. Castro looked like he wanted no part of Witter, and before long, Witter dropped him with a hard left-right to the head. Castro hit the canvas with both legs doing the splits.
He winced in pain for several seconds and then got up slowly. However, referee Mark Green had seen enough, and stopped the fight at 1:01 of the round. Afterwards, Witter said “I’m back in the game… I’m ready for a title shot…everything is back.”