Watching Junior Witter fight the unheralded Timothy Bradley last Saturday night I noticed something which made me wonder.

When in the clinches he employed to defend himself from Bradley's aggressive forward momentum, Witter often used whatever space he had to throw hooks to the head. These hooks were not punishing blows, they would certainly not have hurt Bradley and they also seemed to ineffective to score.

Witter is a very seasoned pro, he knows how to score rounds and this tactic seemed ridiculous when viewing the fight as Bradley was obviously exerting the more force and pressure.
So, why would a knowledgable pro throw these tapping hooks on the inside?
I realise it wasn't a great fight for Witter, yet he did this continuosly despite it's ineffectiveness. Why?

Would you score a tiny, chopping/tapping hook thrown from a clinch, against an opponent throwing much harder and numerous punches

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"Pain is Just the feeling of Weakness leaving the body."

+70

Dunno what that was about either...Spose he had to look like he was doing something though. Im more gutted for Witter cos i feel he should have had a shot at Hatton.

See everyone now going on about how they were write about Ricky not ducking Witter.Ricky just waited for someone else to do the job for him....Why didn't he do it himself (off topic but probably last chance i got to post today though)

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September is the night for the Jab.

In the days before the fight I mentioned a theory I had.

Witter is past his prime.
He took Bradley assuming that this obscure fringe contender wouldn't be enough to beat him and he would defend again.

Hatton was Witter's meal ticket. Witter didn't actually care about the fight. A win woiuld be great, but it was the money he was actually after.
The tilte and a few defenses was a great bargaining tool and he had the media eating from his hand.

As I said, Witter didn't care about the fight, he cared about the money he could make from Hatton.

I've always thought that anyway. I don't think he is past his prime just on that performance when he looked equally as bad against Lynes, Kotelnik and N'Dou

I'll have to admit here I never saw the Kotelnik fight.

The reason I'll say I saw him age was because of his reflexes.

Sure in any Witter fight of any year there are times where he would do nothing, but he would be defensively minded in those periods and his footwork and reflexes would keep him out of trouble allowing him to win rounds on inactivity!
Last Sat. the relexes and speed were faded and if you watch the knockdown in slow, his legs were very weighty.

All of this means that Witter Barked too much and didnt nothing on that fight with Bradley , right Donny?...............

I agree. Witter did nothing in my opinion. If it wasn't for home cookin, that fight shouldn't have been close. Only way he won rounds was if they give points for hugging. He must have been sparring with John Ruiz.

Right Macho!

Its something he does, yet another ploy to look like he's winning a fight 'look I dont have to hold on Im throwing punches' rather than actually getting on with trying to win it.

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When God said to the both of us "Which one of you wants to be Sugar Ray?" I guess I didnt raise my hand fast enough

Charley Burley

But in this instance it was completely futile and he knew it

Its always futile, doesnt stop him doing it.

Its kidology. Like I said on the night, I think most of the time he is trying to kid himself, no one else buys into it.

It's silly, really irratating too.

I just find him frustrating to watch.

Bradley studied Witter very carefully before the fight. He just simply did his homework that night and got a B+ grade.

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+81

He did the same thing against Judah.

I felt the Judah fight showed a Witter that was intimidated, not only out of his gameplan, but also out of any chance of victory.

Do you consider it a possibility that when Bradley "turned up the heat" and indeed volume after Round six, Witter was not able to cope mentally with the mental toll such a physical fight was having on him?