A Blessing in Disguise or Just Another Stroke of Bad Luck?

With British light welterweight Junior Witter’s latest chance to crash the world stage apparently up in smoke, a question begs asking. Is Witter lucky that the prospective fight against Australia’s Lovemore N’dou fell through in a tangle of boxing politics and misconceptions or did the man from Bradford, England miss out on the perfect opportunity? After WBC number two contender Gianluca Branco declined to face number three Witter, number four N’dou agreed to step in and face the Englishman on the under-card of this weekend’s big middleweight contest between champion Bernard Hopkins and his challenger Howard Eastman in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the bout has been called off; with N’dou dropping out after learning the fight was not an eliminator for the WBC mandatory challenger position. Witter will likely still see action at the Staples Center but against who is not known as an official opponent has yet to be announced.

Witter, the reigning European and Commonwealth titlist as well as the former British champion, has been trying since June of 2000 to make the boxing community forget his late notice debacle against then IBF titlist Zab Judah. Although at the time Witter had a decision over former world title challenger Jan Bergman under his belt, “The Hitter” was completely unprepared to face Judah. Using negative tactics that basically involved running around the ring and occasionally throwing a potshot or two, Witter lost a unanimous decision. True, the Englishman was a late replacement opponent but unfortunately, the bout was about as high profile as it gets, coming on the under-card of Mike Tyson’s maniacal first round knockout of Lou Savarese in Glasgow. In the US, Showtime viewers watched from their homes as Judah chased Witter around the ring for twelve monotonous rounds.

As bad as that performance was for his career, since that time Witter has gone on a tear of absolutely epic proportions. fifteen fights, fifteen victories, with every single one ending early, along with four title belts acquired. While a lot of those fifteen opponents have been obscure, there has been some decent European operators including Giuseppe Lauri, Salvatore Battaglia and Krzysztof Bienias. None of them proved able to handle Witter’s reincarnation as a Naseem Hamed-like awkward southpaw bomb thrower.

It hasn’t all been roses for Witter during his successful run, however. The thirty-year old declined on two separate occasions to face the then undefeated Brazilian Kelson Pinto in WBO eliminator bouts, preferring instead to pursue the European title. These actions promptly got Witter thrown off the roster of Frank Warren’s promotional company Sports Network, one of the world’s largest and most successful boxing organizations. Without missing a beat, the southpaw hooked up with rival firm Hennessy Sports, run by the London based Mick Hennessy.

Many in Britain looked forward to the proposed Witter – N’dou match-up, as the Bradford man has stirred genuine world title hopes among his countrymen. By putting together the impressive win streak, coupled with his constant badgering of domestic kingpin Ricky Hatton for a fight, Witter had thrust himself into the public eye. With N’dou’s pullout, Junior Witter yet again finds himself on the outside looking in as another possible career defining opportunity goes up in smoke.

The other side of the coin is that we may have seen a repeat of sorts of the Witter – Judah episode if the N’dou fight had come off. The recipe for disaster was not far away as some of the same ingredients were there as in the earlier world title experience. There was the same late replacement factor and although it was N’dou who entered into the picture at the last minute, the effect would be similar. Witter wouldn’t have an opportunity to fully prepare for a difficult world-class opponent.

Also, the gulf in grade of opposition was lurking just as it had been for the Judah fight. Witter had fought just about no one of note before he took on the Brooklyn based IBF champion and it’s evident that he found the jump in class too much to handle. This time around Witter has more experience and has faced better opponents than in his pre-Judah career but none of his victories during his win streak came against anyone resembling a top-notch fighter.

Lovemore N’dou has been found wanting in the times he’s stepped up and participated in world title fights but not by much. Who can forget the scene of N’dou stalking Miguel Cotto late in their fight, literally laughing as the highly regarded Puerto Rican’s much feared power shots bounced harmlessly off his granite jaw. N’dou also gave southpaw Sharmba Mitchell the scare of his life as the Australian transplant repeatedly nailed the hard to hit American with long right hand leads and crisp left hooks. These performances came against two of the most highly respected light welters in the game.

Could Witter have pulled it off and upset the favored N’dou in a high profile situation that would have likely guaranteed him a world title shot in the near future? Or, would Junior have cracked under the pressure of the moment and N’dou’s experienced efforts? We’ll never quite know unfortunately. Hopefully Witter and Mick Hennessy will secure a high profile contest as it’s not everyday a British fighter claws his way out of the domestic scene and onto the world’s stage. Ideally, Junior Witter will get his shot at redemption, as in the sport of boxing surely everyone deserves a second chance.

Richard Eberline can be reached at richardeberline@fastmail.fm