Scoring Punches; The Witter fight

[donnydarkoIRL]

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

[Tins06]

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)

[donnydarkoIRL]

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)

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.

[ono]

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)

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

[donnydarkoIRL]

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.

[Macho]

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

[killersheep]

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

He did the same thing against Judah.

[donnydarkoIRL]

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

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?

[killersheep]

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

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?

I think mentally Witter had lost this fight before it began, you could see he was not 100% focused to begin with and by the time the knockdown happened. Bradley was absolutely correct when he said Witter was thinking of Hatton. I think Witter trying to gain his mental center was a lost cause. How often does this happen, a fighter ignores the fight in front of him and gets clowned.

I think Witter also has a bit of Judah syndrome, where has shown he can't adjust. He's great when everything is working for him, but he can't stop himself from falling apart.

[ICB]

Witter wasn't throwing any punches to score, he had no work rate at all it was ridiculous. He didn't fight like a champion at all, Bradley wasn't that good either IMO.

[No Contest]

Witter looked flat. That was the crappiest I've seen him, after about halfway through his punches were weak. His stupid snake charmer jab was about one of the dumbest things I've seen in the ring next to Litzau's frog leap. Just makes em look stupid doesn't do anything, and isn't effective. It's just a wannabe Sugar Ray Leonard impression IMO.

[DaxxKahn]

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

Those are more out of frustration then anything....Some guys use them on the inside to rattle a guy and deter him from being in the clence...some guys will keep hitting the same spot so after a while it becomes tender and a good place to target....Wittert though was not doing that....He just wanted to land something...anything...The whole fight was UGLY to be honest....Witter just did nothing?....I don't understand why...he could have won that fight had he moved more and just kept jabbin...hell that is the only punch he needed that night...the first 3 rounds he looked great almost as if this was going to be an education then he just fizzled out....