By Andrew Walker, photo by Tom Casino/Showtime – Junior Witter 36-2-2-(21) lost his WBC light-welterweight World title tonight against Timothy Bradley 22-0-(11) at the Nottingham Ice Arena, Nottingham, England via a controversial split decision. The decision was controversial in the respect that although a close fight, Bradley clearly won the contest with his speed, stamina and aggression by at least two rounds on my scorecard. Incredibly one judge Franco Ciminale, scored the fight 115/112 to Witter! It was a close fight but that scoring was just plain scandalous and maybe the WBC should look at this for reference to that judge being employed for future title fights? Thankfully for Bradley and more importantly for the credibility of boxing the two other judges scored the fight correctly with Omar Minton scoring it 113/114 and Daniel Van de Wiele 113/115 both in favour of Bradley..
Witter started off well but by round three the younger Bradley was starting to have some success of his own and was outworking the champion catching him with some solid rights. Witter continued to try to confuse the challenger with his switch-hitting style but this was proving to be less successful then it had in the past with some of his previous opponents. Then in round six Bradley rocked Witter to the core with a devastating right hand sending the champion crashing to the canvas. To his credit Witter beat the count and survived the remainder of the round and the onslaught from the determined Bradley.
Witter actually had one of his better periods of the fight in the next round as Bradley recovered from the expenditure of trying to finish the fight in the sixth. In the eighth Bradley was warned for the use of his head (a tactic he is guilty of employing on a regular basis) and the fight took a turn for the worse with several clinches and general untidy work coming from both of the fighters.
In the final four rounds Witter began to tire and slow whilst you could see Bradley visibly grow in stature and confidence as he began to believe the victory and the WBC belt were his for the taking. Both men had received damage around the eyes during the fight but in the eleventh Bradley opened up a small cut above Witter’s left eye and this seemed to spur him on even more whilst Witter and his corner frantically tried to deal with it and the possibility of losing the title.
Bradley came out strong for the twelfth and final round and clearly won it and the fight defeating Junior Witter in his own back yard. The American and his camp must have felt they were going to be on the end of a BS decision after the first judges score was read out but the fear soon turned to joy as the remaining scores vindicated the excellent performance by the new WBC champion. For the twenty four year old Timothy Bradley the future looks prosperous and bright with some exciting potential match ups to be made in the future.
For Junior Witter the proposed big showdown and pay day against IBO and Ring magazine light-welterweight champion Ricky Hatton 43-1-0-(31) now looks increasingly unlikely. Without a belt to put on the line why would the “Hitman” even entertain giving his despised domestic rival a lucrative payday? Tonight’s loss could have cost Junior Witter a lot more then his WBC title.