By Sean McDaniel: Former WBC light welterweight champion Junior Witter (40-5-2, 22 KO’s) will be facing 34-year-old British welterweight champion Colin Lynes (36-9, 12 KO’s) in a make or break fight for both guys on May 12th at the Hillsborough Leisure Centre, in Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK.

The 38-year-old Witter said this to Telegraph “This is it.” He continued with the Argus “Realistically, it’s the last chance for us both…I’ve always been the most avoided man in Britain and this is my way back out there.”

This isn’t Witter’s way back to the top. He’s aged and has lost hand speed and his reflexes look shot. He’s obviously just playing out his string before someone else beats him. He’s lost way too much of his skills and been beaten in four out of his last eight fights. The wins have come against weak opposition, as Witter hasn’t beaten a quality fighter since his win over a young Vivian Harris in 2007.

I have doubts to whether Witter can beat Lynes, and I don’t see Lynes as being any kind of world beater. It’s just that Witter is so shot that he’s going to really struggle against Lynes.

Lynes pulled off a surprising upset in his last fight against Lee Purdy last November, beating Purdy by a close 12 round majority decision. Lynes seemed to get control in that fight after Purdy was cut above his right eye from a clash of heads in the 7th. With blood leaking into his right eye, Purdy couldn’t see a lot of the shots that Lynes was hitting him with, and he no longer was fighting with the same kind of confidence that he was earlier in the bout. In the 10th, Lynes dropped Purdy with a big shot. Although he got back to his feet and continued fighting, Purdy looked beaten and no longer the confident fighter that had started the bout.

This is a winnable fight for Witter, but he’s going to have to be able to throw more punches than he’s been doing in the past. He can no longer get over on his hand speed and reflexes alone now that he’s almost 40 and has slowed down. Witter has got to take the fight to Lynes and try to at least average 50 punches thrown per round. He won’t be able to beat Lynes by throwing 15 to 20 shots and looking to not get hit. Witter needs to make changes in his game to make up for diminishing hand speed.