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By Jake Donovan..Maxboxing.
It was a little over five years ago when Showtime decided to air a doubleheader tape-delayed from England. In the main event was a rising undefeated junior welterweight named Ricky Hatton, who was looking at his toughest test at the time in facing faded, but still respectable Vince Phillips.
The idea, it seemed, was for Hatton and Witter to win separate showcase bouts before perhaps squaring off later in the year. It was a budding rivalry between the two, but perhaps needed more time to marinate. Hatton was coming into his own as a star, while Witter’s popularity was a work in progress.
“He’s nothing but a boil in me arse,” was Hatton’s reply when asked at the time of his thoughts on his UK rival. “If it means getting him out of the way before bigger fights, I have no problem doing so.”
Five years later, Hatton captured and still reigns as the linear junior welterweight champion. He’s no longer undefeated, after having suffered a knockout loss at welterweight against Floyd Mayweather Jr last December. He’s still on top of the 140 lb. mountain, and remains by far his nation’s biggest boxing star.
Five years later, Witter is still winning and waiting. And he remains a boil on Ricky Hatton’s arse.
For those less familiar with the aforementioned April 2003 card, this weekend’s bout with Bradley will be the first time in eight years that most stateside fans will get a look at Witter (36-1-1, 21KO). The pride of Bradford, England has come a long way since that night, where he accepted a title fight against then undefeated Zab Judah on nine days notice.
The decision to jump at the opportunity to grab a world title fight sounded better in theory than it played out in reality. Witter wound up looking like a 17-fight novice (15-0-2 heading into the fight) who took a fight on short notice, suffering his first pro loss in an absolute stinker.
It is that fight that still resonates in the mouths of critics to this very day, most of whom have yet to since see Witter in action. It means little that he would go on to knock out his next 15 straight.
It was more of the same when he surfaced in the states in 2005, when he contested Lovemore N’Dou for the right to become mandatory challenger to the very alphabet title in his possession at present day. Witter’s 15-fight knockout streak was halted, but the win still ranked among the very best performances in his career to that point. Witter scored two knockdowns and braved an injured mitt to close strong and take a well-earned unanimous decision in Los Angeles.
The show parlayed into an international relationship between Golden Boy Promotions, and Hennessy Sports, a UK-based promotional outfit that has represented Witter since 2004. Such a union should’ve been a good thing for Witter, who believed he would have a home the next time he would travel stateside.
Instead, it was more empty promises. His win over N’Dou didn’t even make the evening’s “in other action” highlight reel (Kingsley Ikeke somehow did), despite the fact that Witter was far more impressive against Australian-based divisional gatekeeper than the likes of Miguel Cotto and Sharmba Mitchell before him. Nor did it register with boxing fans, who continued to adopt a “see-it-to-believe-it” mentality in downplaying Witter’s achievements.
A close points win over Andreas Kotelnik in his follow up bout five months later was met with far more criticism than praise. Like all of Kotelnik’s non-wins, it was a decision that could’ve went either way, but where a close Witter win was probably the right call. Witter detractors used the close verdict to suggest that his knockout streak was inflated, and that as he upgrades his competition, he looks increasingly ordinary.
Unlike other fighters, who get the benefit of the doubt when the fighters they conquer go on to achieve bigger and better, Witter gets little credit to this day despite the fact that Kotelnik presently ranks among the world’s best junior welterweights.
Instead, his performance was compared to the most recent accomplishment of his archrival Ricky Hatton, who was a month removed from a career-best 11th round stoppage over longtime junior welterweight kingpin Kostya Tszyu. Never mind that Witter was fighting the type of opponents nobody else wanted to face; that Hatton was able to shake loose his critics with a single win left reason to suggest that Witter would never win over his detractors.
It certainly didn’t happen a year later, even with Witter scooping up the first major alphabet title of his career. The resurging Brit entered the vacant title fight with DeMarcus Corley coming off of an 11-month layoff, but was still able to sprint out to an early lead, including a point where he had the American in serious trouble midway through the fight. It was Witter’s deceptive power that had Corley stinking out the joint over the second half of the fight. By night’s end, the scoring was academic, but the blame for the fight failing to entertain was dumped on the shoulders of Witter, accused of lacking a crowd-pleasing style unlike – you guessed it, countryman Ricky Hatton.
But it was his knockout win over Vivian Harris eight months later that finally forced the boxing world to stand up and take notice.
Witter entered the fight as a slight favorite, but former titlist Harris was very much considered a live underdog. Harris also had plenty of critics to disprove and demons to exorcise, as he was still picking up the pieces left over from his June 2005 meltdown against Carlos Maussa. Three straight wins followed heading into the September ’07 showdown with Witter, including his last two bouts carried by HBO.
Several critics anticipated a stinker, believing that Witter would fight to avoid Harris’ superior reach and potent straight rights. He proved his skeptics wrong in more ways than one, standing and trading with – and through the first three rounds, dominating the action against – Harris. The first six rounds proved to be a fever pitched battle, in fact one of the year’s better fights to that point, but with the lion’s share of the action controlled by Witter. The seventh would produce and crowd-pleasing ending, with Witter drilling Harris to the canvas and nearly out of the ring, with Harris removed from his senses as the referee counted him out.
For the first time in years, Witter had a performance to turn to that couldn’t be overshadowed by Hatton’s most recent accomplishments. Hatton was coming off ff a 4th round knockout of Jose Luis Castillo, though the end was preceded by three rounds of hook-and-hold, and Castillo was ultimately dismissed as a shot fighter. Harris was believed to be on the downside himself, but very much given at least a puncher’s chance going in. What very few believed that Witter would be the one to produce a knockout, much less in an entertaining, never mind exciting, fight.
It was with that win that elevated him to #2 with a bullet in the junior welterweight division, with only its linear champion Hatton rightfully ranked ahead of him. No longer could his winning streak – 21 and counting – be ignored, especially after Hatton suffered the first defeat of his career, falling way short against Floyd Mayweather last December in Las Vegas.
Hatton’s popularity barely suffered a scratch even with the knockout loss to Floyd: the 50,000 or so fans who gobbled up tickets to his comeback fight (May 24) the first day they went on sale is proof of that. But in a sport where “what have you done for me lately” predominately determines one’s in-ring success level, Witter finally has room to gloat without taking too much heat in return. No longer was his years-long stalking of Hatton merely viewed as a lesser-known product attempting to piggy back off of the success of the far more popular fighter; finally, this rivalry had teeth.
The only thing Witter didn’t have – was a fight.
He thought he would be returning to the states for the first time in three years, to face Demetrius Hopkins this past March on HBO. The bout was to serve as the co-feature to what would become a Fight of the Year contender in Joel Casamayor’s come-from-behind knockout of Michael Katsidis. Instead, it hit the scrap heap after Demetrius fell out of favor with Uncle Bernard and Golden Boy Promotions, claiming to have never seen a contract or heard from those supposedly handling his career.
The bout was supposed to help mark time while Witter awaited his next mandatory challenger. But much like his fight with Hopkins, an eliminator to determine who would next face the Brit would also fall apart, when Jose Luis Castillo failed to make weight for his March 8 matchup with Tim Bradley.
While the Hatton showdown remains his most desired fight, Witter can take solace in the fact that he goes one up on his countryman this month. Whereas Witter enjoys exposure on Showtime, Hatton’s next bout – an optional defense against Juan Lazcano on May 24 – airs on Versus, marking the first time in two years that cable giant HBO will have passed on one of his fights, though the plan is to bring him back in September against Paul Malignaggi, who appears in the co-feature.
But so long as Witter leaves a lasting impression this weekend, whatever Hatton does later this month, and even in September, will matter little in the minds of most. Because despite his greatest efforts to insist otherwise, Hatton will be forced to recognize what everyone else has finally realized.
No longer does Hatton get to play the “he needs me more than I need him” card. Not while Junior Witter is still winning, still waiting and, after all of these years, a much bigger boil on his arse than ever before.
It was a little over five years ago when Showtime decided to air a doubleheader tape-delayed from England. In the main event was a rising undefeated junior welterweight named Ricky Hatton, who was looking at his toughest test at the time in facing faded, but still respectable Vince Phillips.
The idea, it seemed, was for Hatton and Witter to win separate showcase bouts before perhaps squaring off later in the year. It was a budding rivalry between the two, but perhaps needed more time to marinate. Hatton was coming into his own as a star, while Witter’s popularity was a work in progress.
“He’s nothing but a boil in me arse,” was Hatton’s reply when asked at the time of his thoughts on his UK rival. “If it means getting him out of the way before bigger fights, I have no problem doing so.”
Five years later, Hatton captured and still reigns as the linear junior welterweight champion. He’s no longer undefeated, after having suffered a knockout loss at welterweight against Floyd Mayweather Jr last December. He’s still on top of the 140 lb. mountain, and remains by far his nation’s biggest boxing star.
Five years later, Witter is still winning and waiting. And he remains a boil on Ricky Hatton’s arse.
For those less familiar with the aforementioned April 2003 card, this weekend’s bout with Bradley will be the first time in eight years that most stateside fans will get a look at Witter (36-1-1, 21KO). The pride of Bradford, England has come a long way since that night, where he accepted a title fight against then undefeated Zab Judah on nine days notice.
The decision to jump at the opportunity to grab a world title fight sounded better in theory than it played out in reality. Witter wound up looking like a 17-fight novice (15-0-2 heading into the fight) who took a fight on short notice, suffering his first pro loss in an absolute stinker.
It is that fight that still resonates in the mouths of critics to this very day, most of whom have yet to since see Witter in action. It means little that he would go on to knock out his next 15 straight.
It was more of the same when he surfaced in the states in 2005, when he contested Lovemore N’Dou for the right to become mandatory challenger to the very alphabet title in his possession at present day. Witter’s 15-fight knockout streak was halted, but the win still ranked among the very best performances in his career to that point. Witter scored two knockdowns and braved an injured mitt to close strong and take a well-earned unanimous decision in Los Angeles.
The show parlayed into an international relationship between Golden Boy Promotions, and Hennessy Sports, a UK-based promotional outfit that has represented Witter since 2004. Such a union should’ve been a good thing for Witter, who believed he would have a home the next time he would travel stateside.
Instead, it was more empty promises. His win over N’Dou didn’t even make the evening’s “in other action” highlight reel (Kingsley Ikeke somehow did), despite the fact that Witter was far more impressive against Australian-based divisional gatekeeper than the likes of Miguel Cotto and Sharmba Mitchell before him. Nor did it register with boxing fans, who continued to adopt a “see-it-to-believe-it” mentality in downplaying Witter’s achievements.
A close points win over Andreas Kotelnik in his follow up bout five months later was met with far more criticism than praise. Like all of Kotelnik’s non-wins, it was a decision that could’ve went either way, but where a close Witter win was probably the right call. Witter detractors used the close verdict to suggest that his knockout streak was inflated, and that as he upgrades his competition, he looks increasingly ordinary.
Unlike other fighters, who get the benefit of the doubt when the fighters they conquer go on to achieve bigger and better, Witter gets little credit to this day despite the fact that Kotelnik presently ranks among the world’s best junior welterweights.
Instead, his performance was compared to the most recent accomplishment of his archrival Ricky Hatton, who was a month removed from a career-best 11th round stoppage over longtime junior welterweight kingpin Kostya Tszyu. Never mind that Witter was fighting the type of opponents nobody else wanted to face; that Hatton was able to shake loose his critics with a single win left reason to suggest that Witter would never win over his detractors.
It certainly didn’t happen a year later, even with Witter scooping up the first major alphabet title of his career. The resurging Brit entered the vacant title fight with DeMarcus Corley coming off of an 11-month layoff, but was still able to sprint out to an early lead, including a point where he had the American in serious trouble midway through the fight. It was Witter’s deceptive power that had Corley stinking out the joint over the second half of the fight. By night’s end, the scoring was academic, but the blame for the fight failing to entertain was dumped on the shoulders of Witter, accused of lacking a crowd-pleasing style unlike – you guessed it, countryman Ricky Hatton.
But it was his knockout win over Vivian Harris eight months later that finally forced the boxing world to stand up and take notice.
Witter entered the fight as a slight favorite, but former titlist Harris was very much considered a live underdog. Harris also had plenty of critics to disprove and demons to exorcise, as he was still picking up the pieces left over from his June 2005 meltdown against Carlos Maussa. Three straight wins followed heading into the September ’07 showdown with Witter, including his last two bouts carried by HBO.
Several critics anticipated a stinker, believing that Witter would fight to avoid Harris’ superior reach and potent straight rights. He proved his skeptics wrong in more ways than one, standing and trading with – and through the first three rounds, dominating the action against – Harris. The first six rounds proved to be a fever pitched battle, in fact one of the year’s better fights to that point, but with the lion’s share of the action controlled by Witter. The seventh would produce and crowd-pleasing ending, with Witter drilling Harris to the canvas and nearly out of the ring, with Harris removed from his senses as the referee counted him out.
For the first time in years, Witter had a performance to turn to that couldn’t be overshadowed by Hatton’s most recent accomplishments. Hatton was coming off ff a 4th round knockout of Jose Luis Castillo, though the end was preceded by three rounds of hook-and-hold, and Castillo was ultimately dismissed as a shot fighter. Harris was believed to be on the downside himself, but very much given at least a puncher’s chance going in. What very few believed that Witter would be the one to produce a knockout, much less in an entertaining, never mind exciting, fight.
It was with that win that elevated him to #2 with a bullet in the junior welterweight division, with only its linear champion Hatton rightfully ranked ahead of him. No longer could his winning streak – 21 and counting – be ignored, especially after Hatton suffered the first defeat of his career, falling way short against Floyd Mayweather last December in Las Vegas.
Hatton’s popularity barely suffered a scratch even with the knockout loss to Floyd: the 50,000 or so fans who gobbled up tickets to his comeback fight (May 24) the first day they went on sale is proof of that. But in a sport where “what have you done for me lately” predominately determines one’s in-ring success level, Witter finally has room to gloat without taking too much heat in return. No longer was his years-long stalking of Hatton merely viewed as a lesser-known product attempting to piggy back off of the success of the far more popular fighter; finally, this rivalry had teeth.
The only thing Witter didn’t have – was a fight.
He thought he would be returning to the states for the first time in three years, to face Demetrius Hopkins this past March on HBO. The bout was to serve as the co-feature to what would become a Fight of the Year contender in Joel Casamayor’s come-from-behind knockout of Michael Katsidis. Instead, it hit the scrap heap after Demetrius fell out of favor with Uncle Bernard and Golden Boy Promotions, claiming to have never seen a contract or heard from those supposedly handling his career.
The bout was supposed to help mark time while Witter awaited his next mandatory challenger. But much like his fight with Hopkins, an eliminator to determine who would next face the Brit would also fall apart, when Jose Luis Castillo failed to make weight for his March 8 matchup with Tim Bradley.
While the Hatton showdown remains his most desired fight, Witter can take solace in the fact that he goes one up on his countryman this month. Whereas Witter enjoys exposure on Showtime, Hatton’s next bout – an optional defense against Juan Lazcano on May 24 – airs on Versus, marking the first time in two years that cable giant HBO will have passed on one of his fights, though the plan is to bring him back in September against Paul Malignaggi, who appears in the co-feature.
But so long as Witter leaves a lasting impression this weekend, whatever Hatton does later this month, and even in September, will matter little in the minds of most. Because despite his greatest efforts to insist otherwise, Hatton will be forced to recognize what everyone else has finally realized.
No longer does Hatton get to play the “he needs me more than I need him” card. Not while Junior Witter is still winning, still waiting and, after all of these years, a much bigger boil on his arse than ever before.
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