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Bradford’s Junior Witter and Washington’s DeMarcus Corley have both predicted that their highly anticipated clash for the prestigious WBC world super lightweight title on the Hennessy Sports “World Honours’ event at the Alexandra Palace on Friday night will not go the distance.
The pair appear equally confident going into the contest – being shown live on Sky Sports – after highly successful training camps that have left them in the conditions of their career. They will trade bombs in the first WBC championship in the Capital for over six years.
“I have trained for 12 hard rounds, but I don’t expect it go that long,” said Witter earlier today. “He’s very awkward and he’s going to be hard to break down but I am training so that I can throw big shots right until the last bell if I have to.
“At some point as the fight draws on he’s going to get caught and he’s going to be in trouble. When that happens I won’t let him off the hook. That could be in the sixth round or the twelfth, I don’t know, but when it does the outcome will be the same.”
The 32-year-old Witter – a former British, Commonwealth and European champion – has been training, as always, at the famed Wincobank gym in Sheffield under the watchful eyes of Brendan Ingle and his sons Dominic and John. His long-time mentors have been pushing him to the limit.
“They know me inside out now,” explained the switch-hitting Witter. “I have trained with them for so long that they know exactly what drives me. They know exactly what buttons to push. If there is an area I come up in short in, they correct it.
“I have been training for this fight for 10 weeks properly and before that I was never out of the gym. My motivation is back. Every angle has been covered and I am in the shape of my career. I just want the fight to happen now. I haven’t been up for a fight like this since I fought Lovemore N’Dou last year.”
His full focus will be required. Southpaw DeMarcus “Chop Chop’ Corley is a former world champion who has mixed and hurt the world’s elite, including Floyd Mayweather Junior, Zab Judah and Miguel Cotto.
He is confident of hurting Witter. He is also confident of finishing the job.
“I expect this fight to be like a chess match,” Corley, who designs his own elaborate ring outfits, predicted. “For the first four rounds it will go up and down. Toward the middle of the fight he will make a mistake and between the 8th and 9th round the fight will be over because he will not be able to continue.”
This specific call will come as no surprise to those close to the charismatic “Chop Chop,’ who earned his unusual nickname as an amateur.
“We had gone out of town for the Silver Gloves in Mississippi,” Corley explains. “I was supposed to weigh 65 pounds. When we came back from dinner, I weighed 75 pounds. My coach said to me, “you sure chopped up that food.’ So from that day, “Chop Chop’ stuck with me.”
It seems highly unlikely that the Washington fighter will be coming in overweight later this week. Whilst he has shared the ring with some big names in the past, he regards this contest as his most important yet.
“My preparations have been very hard, but on the same token it has been a lot of fun,” he added. “I have had 2 of my (7) children in Vegas helping me prepare for the biggest fight of my life and that has given me a lot of motivation and determination to make this fight my very best.
“It will be a great honour to be crowned with the WBC title and if I never fight another day in my life one thing I will be able to know is that I was the World Boxing Council champion.”
The Hennessy Sports “World Honours’ event takes place at the Alexandra Palace on Friday 15th September. For the full bill and ticket information please visit www.HennessySports.com. Tickets priced £35, £60 and £125 are available from ticketmaster on 0870 060 1795.
