Junior Witter – To Be Or Not To Be



On the 18th of January 1997, Junior Witter (aged 22) began his professional boxing career fighting Cameron Reaside. He drew that encounter after the 6th Round. Not the desired start to a career in combat sports but better than a loss, for sure.

Before competing for a shot at any known boxing title (vacant WBF Light Welterweight Title, 1999), Junior notched up 12 successes, winning mainly via way of Points Decisions, with only one TKO to his record.

However, Junior’s successes in the ring earned him an early title shot for the worldly renowned IBF Light Welterweight Title, against Zab Judah in 2000. Prior to this bout Witter had fought 17 fights. The bouts were regularly six rounds in duration, with Witter going that distance on many occasions. He had attempted to go the full distance of 12 rounds once before in 99, but prematurely TKO-ing his opponent, Malcolm Melvin, in the 2nd Round. This ceased him the opportunity to test his endurance over a 12 round period.

The fight with Judah went the distance. Zab took the win with an unquestionable points lead over Witter. But to his credit Witter had already accomplished a great feat even though losing his chances to take the IBF title. If he had captured this belt his career may have been open to question, as with inevitable opponents such as Kostya Tszyu on the horizon, Witter may not have held the steady position he has in the sport at present.

Before these two fighters took one another the distance for the IBF, Zab was a fighter with a marginally impressive record compared to Witter’s own. He had racked up 23 bouts before meeting Junior, and fighting an experienced war horse like Micky Ward (who had 39 fights prior to his bout with Zab) along the way. From his record, Zab was clearly the more confident and experienced fighter between these two men, but he only managed to enforce so much of his in-ring experience on Witter when they met.

Since his loss to Judah, and leaving his world title dreams on hold, Junior has built up a steady string of successes through the early part of 2000, up to the present day (06). He has captured the BBBofC British L.W.W Title, the European (EBU-EU) L.W.W Title, and the Commonwealth (British Empire) L.W.W Title. His record now sports an impressive variation of TKO’s and KO wins over 15 in-ring encounters. But, since then, Junior has had to face harsh criticism with regards to his last three performances against Lovemore N’dou, Andreas Kotelnik, and Colin Lynes.

Success and victory in the ring are not always a way of gathering a sound reputation. So far Junior’s efforts to seal some form of boxing legacy have practically been ignored. With recent news that he has been given the opportunity to fight for the vacant WBC L.W.W Title, it appears as though Witter and his management team are finding it fairly difficult to secure a reasonable fan base to support this 32 year old fighter, a man clearly at the peak of his boxing ability, and possible success.

Recent efforts to attract budding boxing fans from the United Kingdom, and possibly the United States, have been subject to unorthodox methods by employing the use of a recent internet craze, Myspace (www.myspace.com), to build some form of following to support Witter in his latest title clash.

It upsets me as a fan of British boxing talent to learn that a fan base barely exists. But, in my experience viewing the sport of Boxing, it appears as though the success of Ricky Hatton may have over shadowed the career endeavours of Witter to date. This may be down to the fact that Junior continuously taunted and challenged Hatton at times (especially in his early career highlights) when victory should have been praised and respected, instead of sidelined and challenged by Witter himself.

I believe Junior wished to open up the same doors as Hatton had managed to do for himself, but Junior wanted to use Hatton as a key to his own career path ways, and Ricky was not willing to comply. In Hindsight, these efforts to get Hatton to step up and face Junior may have been seen as nothing more but disrespectful acts of abuse, at unnecessary times. So Junior may be to blame for the current perception held over him, and the fact he is largely ignored by the British public, but times may change soon, dramatically.

The WBC belt is a prestigious title in the world of boxing. It is also a fact that no British Light Welterweight fighter has ever won this title. Is Junior Witter about to seal his own legacy and open those path ways to opponents that may have dodged him and his talents in the past? Only time will tell. On September 15th 2006 we will know for sure, but what will be Junior’s career path from then on, and how will this collide, clash or interfere with a great known British fighting talent known as, Ricky the hitman Hatton.

The crux of contention is whether Witter will, or should, face Hatton in a future match up whereby either opponent could bring a respectable title position to the table, and for the taking. Aside from politics with regards to televised rights, big payday or bad payday, whether the public craves the fight or not, are all arguments that may soon arise.

If Hatton succeeds in his bid to recapture the IBF, and Witter claims the WBC title, a match up between these two fighters may no longer go ignored. Hatton will always be a difficult fight to secure though, considering his stature as a fighter is greater than Witters. Maybe there is nothing to gain by facing Witter other than a statement to Witter himself that Hatton will always be Britain’s number one L.W.W fighter. But fighters these days do a great job protecting their best interests, and Hatton’s interests at present are focused solely on sealing his in-ring legacy, hunting down the likes of Jose Luis Castillo, Miguel Cotto, and ultimately Floyd Mayweather Jr, for big paydays and scalps to his record. This may pose as a problem for Witter in the future.

I honestly believe Witter needs the Hatton fight. Hatton on the other hand may not need or desire the same contest. Success or failure, whatever may come of these two fighters, they may not need the fight as I’m sure Witter would prefer, but soon we shall see whether the fans of British boxing demand for this fight to be made or not.

How do we perceive the possibility of this match up being made? Who wants to see Witter step into the ring and face a man he has professed to being capable of defeating? If the opportunity were to arise, would we prefer Ricky to do battle with Witter, and put his American dreams on hold? Let us hear what Boxing Fans truly think.