By Nate Anderson: In the latest news, Devon Alexander (17-0, 10 KOs) will fight Junior Witter (37-2-2, 22 KOs) for the interim World Boxing Council light welterweight title. No date has been set for this bout as of yet. This fight, which was made known on Steve Bunces’s Boxing Hour show earlier today, is the result of WBC light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley battling Kendall Holt, the WBO champion, on April 4th.
Junior Witter
Hatton Has Unfinished Business With Witter and Bradley
By Scott Gilfoid: Whether Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) ends up fighting both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2009, I think Hatton’s career will be forever tainted unless he steps it up and gives both Junior Witter (37-2-2, 22 KOs) and Timothy Bradley (23-0, 11 KOs) at some point in time. Hatton, for obvious reasons, would be better off fighting them sooner rather than later, because he’s now 30 and his many ring wars are starting to show their effects on him.
Latest Boxing News: Witter Stops Castro
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.
Is Witter Washed Up?
By Eric Thomas: While watching former WBA super welterweight champion Junior Witter (36-2, 21 KOs) struggle in this past Saturday’s bout with Timothy Bradley, I got a general sense that Witter, 34, is past his prime and should really strongly consider ending his career. He looked well past it and his advanced age seems really has nothing to do with my thoughts on this. Many fighters still can fight effectively well past 34, Lennox Lewis, a prime example of that. But, in Witter’s case, he looked old and slow from the very get go, struggling with both his timing and his speed against the younger, stronger Bradley.
I’ve seen many of Witter’s fights and have been a big fan of his for many years, and for that reason I kept out hope for him that he would somehow eventually start fighting like his old self and take over the fight. The problem was, this isn’t the same fighter that I’ve come to know in the past. Witter’s speed was largely gone and his defense, once impregnable and nearly flawless, was wide open for pretty much anything that Bradley chose to throw his way. When Witter was dropped in the 6th round by a badly telegraphed right hand from Bradley, that pretty much clued me in that Witter just doesn’t have it anymore.
Junior Witter: “No Way Am I Retiring”
By Aaron Klein: After last Saturday’s split decision loss to undefeated American Timothy Bradley (22-0, 11 KOs), a fiercely determined vowed to fight on, saying “I’m still going to carry on, no way am I retiring after that,” Witter said. “There’s a lot more in the tank. There are better nights for me to come and Junior Witter will be back – as a world champion.” To be sure, Witter, 34, still seems to have a lot in the tank based on the closeness of the fight against Bradley. If not for his tiring out in the last three rounds of the fight, Witter would have won the fight. Even then, Witter still came close to getting a draw.
The loss, however, does have a big impact on Witter’s career because he now is no longer in the running for a potential bout with Ricky Hatton. It was a long shot at best regardless of whether or not Witter won the fight, because Hatton had shown zero interest in fighting him all these years when Witter was winning constantly. Now that he’s lost to Bradley, obviously Hatton will use this as an excuse to side step Witter for the remainder of his career.
Bradley Defeats Witter
By Eric Thomas: WBC light welterweight champion Junior Witter (36-2, 21 KOs) lost a narrow 12-round split decision to undefeated American challenger Timothy Bradley (22-0, 11 KOs) at the Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, in Nottinghamshire, England, on Saturday night. Witter, 34, was knocked down once in the fight after getting hit with a big sweeping right hand in the 6th round. Witter trailed in the first half of the fight, looking four of six rounds. He then rallied and appeared to win rounds seven though nine. After the 9th round, however, Witter faded badly and allowed Bradley to retake command of the fight.
In turn, Bradley would go on to win the remaining rounds 10 through 12. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 114-113 for Bradley and 112-115 for Witter. I personally scored it 115-113 for Bradley. I had hoped that Witter would win the fight because I wanted him to continue exerting pressure on former light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, who has been reluctant to fight Witter for some reason. With this loss, this now gives Hatton an even better excuse not to fight Witter. Though I highly doubt Hatton will get anywhere near the new champion Bradley, who like Witter, would box circles around Hatton and very likely knock him out like Floyd Mayweather Jr. did in their recent championship bout in December.
Bradley Upsets Witter
With the poise of a seasoned veteran, Palm Springs, California’s Timothy ‘Desert Storm’ Bradley made the most of his first world title shot Saturday at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England, decisioning highly regarded hometown hero Junior Witter over 12 rounds to win the WBC junior welterweight championship of the world.
Scores were 115-113, 114-113, and 112-115 for Bradley, who used a sixth round knockdown of Witter to help earn the victory.
New SHOWTIME for Super Channel: Witter-Bradley
Hennessy Sports in association with GoldenPalace.com can announce important news… Canada’s only national pay Television Network Super Channel will now be televising the WBC Super Lightweight Championship of the world between Junior Witter and Timothy Bradley Jr. at the Trent FM Arena Nottingham at a new revised time of 10.45pm ET/PT. Super Channel will also be showing the International Super Middleweight contents between the WBC # 1 Rated Super Middleweight and mandatory challenger Carl Froch versus Poland’s undefeated and tough Albert Rybacki.
How Long Will Hatton Ignore Witter?
By Chris Williams: Though many boxing scribes still feel that former IBF light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (43-1, 31 KOs) is the best fighter in the light welterweight division, he’s beginning to get diminishing support among many fans for his steadfast refusal to fight WBC light welterweight champion Junior Witter (36-1, 21 KOs), who has been calling him out for the past two years without luck. Hatton has said that he doesn’t want to fight Witter because of the way that Witter is constantly calling him out in the press.
However, if Hatton has kept his eyes open in the sport during his career, he’d have seen that this is how it’s always done. That is, when one fighter wants to fight another fighter, particularly one that is more popular than them, they talk to the press and call out the fighter by saying something negative about them in one way or another. Hatton, for all his excuses about not like having Witter calling him out, did just that when he made negative comments in the media about Floyd Mayweather Jr. before they decided to fight one another. Mayweather, in turn, responded to Hatton with his own war of words. Shortly after that, the two agreed to fight. So, Hatton’s feelings of not liking what Witter is doing by calling him out seem to equate to something else, more likening to him just not wanting to fight him period regardless of what Witter is saying or not saying about him personally.
Boxing News: Witter-Bradley On Showtime
ShoBox: The New Generation returns to the United Kingdom on May 10, 2008, with an outstanding world title showdown and a promising undercard bout featuring two undefeated prospects..
On a special Saturday night edition of the popular, prospect-oriented SHOWTIME boxing series, World Boxing Council (WBC) Super Lightweight Champion Junior Witter will defend his crown for the third time when he takes on WBC No. 1 contender Timothy Bradley at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England (same day tape delay at 10:45 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME).