Ringside Boxing Report: Junior Witter – DeMarcus Corley
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After years of frustration, Junior “The Hitter” Witter captured the WBC Light Welterweight crown in front of a star studded crowd at the Alexandra Palace in North London with a scrappy 12 round points win over Washington DC’s DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley on a Hennessy Sports promotion.
For the first time in his career Witter, from Bradford, England, enjoyed large support from the 2,000 strong crowd but he failed to dazzle against a tricky opponent who didn’t seem to have much ambition. But Witter was a clear winner and this was reflected in verdicts of 118-112, 117-117 and 116-113; all for the new champion.
Corley, who looked mean and fired up during the ring introductions, never really got going and landed only 57 punches. Witter did slightly better with 86, but over 12 rounds of boxing, the accuracy of both boxers was pretty poor, resulting in a bad spectacle for the crowd.
The contest looked like it was going to be explosive as both opened up briefly early on, exchanging right hands, but things soon dissolved into Witter popping out the occasional jab followed by right hand, or left hook, depending on which stance he was in. Still, the Bradford man had control of the first round which was important early on.
Witter just about edged the second round by being a bit busier but was tagged by a big overhand right by Corley, who was looking to counter punch.
Round three was slightly closer, with both landing some hard counter right hands but in the fourth, Witter decided to play mind games with the American by standing in a statue-like pose. But the tactic did him no favours as Corley began to time his punches better and caught Witter with some solid right hands, which shaded him the round.
The fifth was to prove the most dramatic of the night as Witter, caught flush with a straight right hand, responded instantly with one his own which badly hurt Corley, affecting his equilibrium and causing his legs to do a silly dance. Witter jumped straight on him and bundled the Washington fighter to the floor where no knockdown was rendered.
Junior was unable to follow up with a stoppage and the fight tuned into a very dull contest as Corley, having felt the power of his opponent, barely did anything for the second half of the fight. Witter just did enough to nick each round for a wide decision win, which was thoroughly deserved, but it did not help raise his profile. Witter goes to 34-1-2 (19) while Corley’s record now stands at 31-5-1 (17).
The fact that Witter now holds the WBC crown is a major achievement for a fighter so badly criticised for his late notice challenge to Zab Judah in 2000, but he needs a devastating performance badly to keep the interest. In fairness, Witter thrives when faced with an attacking fighter and his last three opponents have been anything but.
Witter has a real chance to be the number one in the division and everyone would certainly welcome fights with WBA beltholder Souleymane M’baye, ex-world titlist Vivian Harris, WBO Champion Miguel Cotto and obviously a showdown with his arch rival in Britain, Ricky Hatton.
So the Witter story continues, but how it unfolds from here remains to be seen.
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Unfortunately, the undercard failed to serve up anything memorable as rising prospects John Murray and Darren Barker both laboured in their 10 round title matches.
Murray, 18-0 (9), kept hold of his WBC Youth Super Featherweight title in a hard fought battle with tough import Moebi Sarouna, 16-4 (9), of Togo. The fight was an up close battle but with little excitement. Murray looked heavily bruised after the contest and if he wants to beat Ricky Burns next month in an eliminator for the British title, he will have to raise his game should that fight take place.
Darren Barker looked very poor in a scrappy points win over rugged Hussain Osman, 13-13 (5), for the Southern Area Middleweight title. The action was messy and fight just plain boring but Barker, 12-0 (7), did enough to win fairly comfortably. Referee Ken Curtis scored the bout 98-93. In general, Barker tends to receive high praise, but he doesn’t seem to have much quality and I don’t think he will make the step up to British title class.
Fight of the night also turned out to be upset of the night as underrated bantamweight Shinny Bayaar bashed up undefeated prospect Andrew Singh Kooner, 4-1 (2), before knocking him senseless in the third round. Kooner, who had big support, was over matched against Bayaar, 9-4-1 (3), who himself has been matched hard throughout his career.
The native Mongolian cut his opponent badly early on and a huge right hand bomb sent Kooner crashing to the deck in the third and despite beating the count, the Kettering man was in no shape to continue and the contest was rightly stopped despite some loud booing.