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Timothy Bradley (22-0)
won the WBC Light-Welterweight title on
Saturday night from Junior Witter (36-2-2)
by split decision in Nottingham, England.
Witter came out boxing
from a southpaw stance in the first round,
parrying the jab of the orthodox Bradley.
Witter was out of range with his jab but
landed the occasional meaningful counter.
Bradley appeared to exclusively target the
body, landing left jabs with repetition.
Midway through the round Witter turned back
to orthodox and as he switched, landed with
a left/right combination. A close first
round, I gave it to Bradley. The second
session took a similar pattern, with Bradley
frequently scoring to the body. Witter
switched from southpaw, to orthodox, then
back to southpaw but continued to fall short
with his jab, while Bradley appeared to
start to get careless with his head. |
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Both fighters came out
aggressively in round five, particularly
Witter who appeared to have a sense of
urgency. Witter found it easier to parry
Bradley’s jab. Witter’s left-hand counter
punches to head and body dominated the
fifth. He switched to orthodox towards the
end and had further successes on the
counter. It was Bradley in the sixth that
showed the urgency, pressing forward with a
bounce in his step. Bradley landed with
power punches to body and head, dispensing
with his jab. Bradley started to find the
right hand to the head more frequently. As
Witter turned back to the orthodox stance, a
huge right hand from Bradley caught Witter
straight on the chin and went down hard at
the end of the round. Witter was up at the
count of eight, but looked on unsteady legs,
although the round was over.
Bradley came out in round
seven looking to finish the job, but Witter
held to try and clear his head. Bradley
dominated the first half of the round with
his come-forward aggression. Witter
gradually recovered and got back to his
switch-hitting boxing at the end of the
round, but it was another round for Bradley.
Witter came out looking more conventional in
the eighth and looked more effective, as he
kept his hands up boxing from an orthodox
stance. Bradley received another warning
from the referee for a head infringement and
Witter turned southpaw again and worked
effectively on the counter with the
left-hand. Bradley began to look tired as
the pace dropped, and Witter won the round.
Between rounds Bradley’s
corner told their man to watch Witter’s left
hand. Bradley came out looking more
confident in the ninth, and dropped his
hands slightly whilst he landed his own
counter punches. He also landed his jab to
the body with more regularity again, in a
tactical round, won by Bradley who had the
higher work-rate. Witter came out in the
tenth looking to make a statement, and held
his hands higher. Both boxers traded power
shots. Witter momentarily gets told by the
referee to keep his punches up. Bradley won
another round with cleaner punching, with
his right-hand and left-hook. It was a
similar story in the eleventh as Bradley
pressed forward and cut Witter over the left
eye with a right-hand. Witter boxed better
from the southpaw stance towards the end of
the round.
Brendan Ingle told Witter
in his corner to throw only straight shots
to Bradley’s head from orthodox. Witter did
just that in the twelfth and final round,
and boxed effectively on the counter with
his hands higher. Bradley looked tired in
the final round, but it appeared too little
too late for Witter. Judge Franco Ciminale
had a bizarre score of 115-112 for Witter,
overruled by Omar Minton who had it 114-113,
and Daniel Van De Wiele 115-113 for Bradley
giving him a split decision win.
Bradley said after the
fight “I worked hard my whole life to get to
this point and I wasn’t gonna let it slip
up”. Bradley also showed respect in saying
“He fought one hell of a fight, but I kept
the pressure on him” and welcomed a rematch.
Witter was philosophical in defeat and
expressed “I’m gutted, I still thought I did
enough to win” and proclaimed that he not
only will be back, but back as a world
champion. |
