Timothy Bradley

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.

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.

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).

By Michael Lieberman: As WBC light welterweight champion Junior Witter prepares for next week’s battle against #1 ranked challenger Timothy Bradley (21-0, 11 KOs) at the Nottingham Arena, in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Witter, 34, hasn’t given up on his foremost goal of facing Ricky Hatton in the near future. However, with that goal in mind, Witter is hoping to defeat Bradley, 24, in an impressive fashion, so much so that Hatton will be forced to fight him rather than to continue to ignore him like he’s done in the past three years. Witter, however, needs to not look past Bradley, who is a hard-hitting knockout artist and perhaps the best rising star in the junior welterweight division.

It’s a credit to Witter that he’s chosen to face Bradley rather than ducking him like many fighters tend to do when faced with an equally tough challenger like him. Witter, though, has never ducked a tough opponent in his career, instead opting to fight the hardest fights possible in order to further his career and learn from it in the process. Bradley has many of the same attributes that Witter has, such as blazing fast hands and an excellent air tight defense. However, Bradley hits much harder than Witter and has true one-punch power. Though Witter doesn’t hit nearly as hard as Bradley, he makes up for it by his unorthodox punching style, which makes him capable of throwing punches from all angles when his opponents least expect it.