Should Junior Witter

[big lennox]

...move up and bash mathew hatton and thus force Ricky's hand into fighting him?

[DG.]

...move up and bash mathew hatton and thus force Ricky's hand into fighting him?

Matthew would run even faster than his brother.

[twenty six]

You know the score Lennox.
Ricky was never at any point going to give Junior a shot.
Sadly, Junior has played straight into his hands of late, thus justifying his decision.
Ricky will never ever say he avoided him - but that's exactly what he did.

[big lennox]

I was just playing devils advocate whilst a bit bored at work. I like Ricky, I really do -and I actually quite fancy his chances against the pacman.He definitely avoided Junior though. No one will ever convince me otherwise.

If Junior can get the WBC belt back then hopefully he can get a match against one of the lightweight stars moving up or even a rematch wtih Judah? Not beyond the realms of possiblity?

[jameswilson]

Junior just needs to get a fight. Id even say fighting on a Maloney bill against Olgesun (sp) is a viable option as both are highly rated by the WBC.

We thought Junior was getting an Interim title shot and now that doesnt look like materialising (unless purse bids are due soon and we havent heard about them) and likewise he was supposed to be going to Italy and unsuprisingly that didnt arise.

[twenty six]

Lennox,
I'm also a big fan of Ricky's but that doesn't change how I feel about his avoidance of Junior.
It's too late now.
Ricky would win convincingly.

[banjo]

The moment I saw Witter struggling against the likes of N'dou, Kotelnik, Lynes and Morua I knew Hatton would beat him and it just makes it all the more pathetic that he didn't fight him.

[big lennox]

Agreed.I think ricky, if he's really honest with himself, will know that he opted out of that one.

Juniors career has been a great source of frustration for me.On one hand, whenver he retires, he will do so as having been a british, commonwealth, european and wbc world champion, but he had it in him to acheive more than that.I just wonder if he has the stamina to compete at the very top again. I hope so. He deserves it to be so.

[twenty six]

Agreed Lennox.
In 10 years time when we're sat in a pub and a young kid starts shouting off about the great Ricky Hatton I will have to remind him about Junior Witter.
Sadly he will say Junior who ?
That's the reality of the fight game.
At his peak when Ricky avoided him, Junior would have taken his crown.

[big lennox]

I think you've called it absolutely spot on twenty six.

Hatton will go down in folklore and Junior will be remembered well by the fight fraternity only (this upsets me).

I think Junior would have KO'd him too.That run of 15 straight knockouts, when Junior's timing was just right would have done for ricky.

[observer1]

Too much risk, Too little reward.

Witter was too much for Hatton to take on considering Witter stood a pretty good chance of beating him.

Well, that's British fighters for yuo

[BABY BLUE]

...move up and bash mathew hatton and thus force Ricky's hand into fighting him?

Matthew would run even faster than his brother.

hahha so true. but this fight would never happen as ricky has a grudge towards Witter.

[banjo]

Too much risk, Too little reward.

Witter was too much for Hatton to take on considering Witter stood a pretty good chance of beating him.

Well, that's British fighters for yuo

Witter was British last time I looked

[teddy007]

Agreed Lennox.
In 10 years time when we're sat in a pub and a young kid starts shouting off about the great Ricky Hatton I will have to remind him about Junior Witter.
Sadly he will say Junior who ?
That's the reality of the fight game.
At his peak when Ricky avoided him, Junior would have taken his crown.

Could not of said it better myself

[observer1]

Too much risk, Too little reward.

Witter was too much for Hatton to take on considering Witter stood a pretty good chance of beating him.

Well, that's British fighters for yuo

Witter was British last time I looked

Talking about Hatton, and the British tendency to avoid major competion if there is little to no reward, yet bang on about how you faced everyone and ducked nobody

[banjo]

the British tendency to avoid major competion if there is little to no reward, yet bang on about how you faced everyone and ducked nobody

I think you'll find that is a worldwide disease, did Floyd Mayweather Jr. take on Hatton because he was the toughest fight out there? Of course he didn't he fought him because he is a name, he is popular and most importantly he'd bring more money to the table than Cotto and Margarito combined yet not even half the risk. There's loads of other examples of this throughout boxing history all over the globe.

[mickeyb]

Hatton would've beaten Witter (who is terribly romantised on here, and fringe world class) whenever they fought imo. But it would've been risky, he would've probably looked bad, and it would've earned him little recognition beyond the hardcore UK punter (who, lets be honest, are not the market that pay Hatton's bills).

So he ducked him. Hey ho - time to move on.

Witter should pack it in if he's not going to get a WT fight, or at least an eliminator. He should certainly think about getting new promotion because, as much as I generally like Hennessy, if you compare the opportunities he's got Witter with, say, the opportunities FA got Woods, Junior seems to have got the short end of the stick.

[ArtOfWar]

I don't think Witter would have beaten him at all, but I would have rather seen Hatton fight Witter than a lot of his other opponants.

[Spud]

...move up and bash mathew hatton and thus force Ricky's hand into fighting him?

Yet again - Whats with the obsession with Hatton other than of course - money?

To keep yourself in the frame you have to bring things to the table - unfortunately at this stage - Witter will not interest Hatton in the slightest.

Junior simply had to hang onto his WBC title to have any other chance and in addition winning one of the other straps would have done him no harm whatsoever.

I feel Witter's biggest problem is not just to get his promoter to get him a fight - but at this stage it has to be the right fight not just the cheapest option!!! - Witter needs to travel if necessary to fight a world champion or certainly an extremely high ranked one - p*ssing around by fighting European standard opponents is doing his cause no good whatsoever.

[big lennox]

Spud

At one point, long before hatton was taking on (and getting beat) by the mayweathers of the world, Junior was riding high, and that Hatton chose not to face him says a lot, I feel.If he thoguht witter was easy pickings he would have taken the fight and made a statement by blowing him out.But, he clearly did'nt think that was gonig to happen so took on the steveie smiths and deniis pedersons of the world

[DG.]

Hatton robbed the british fans of the biggest fight since Eubank vs Benn.


Thanks!

[Spud]

Spud

At one point, long before hatton was taking on (and getting beat) by the mayweathers of the world, Junior was riding high, and that Hatton chose not to face him says a lot, I feel.If he thoguht witter was easy pickings he would have taken the fight and made a statement by blowing him out.But, he clearly did'nt think that was gonig to happen so took on the steveie smiths and deniis pedersons of the world

Hey mate - I agree when both fighters were just hitting the headlines then that would have been the time to have got them in the ring - especially when they were at SN - however Junior Witter has not exactly been fighting in headliners himself has he? - I have a lot of respect for Junior Witter - I think he is a hugely talented fighter and he really needs to get the thumb screws on his promoter and demand a make it or break it fight!!!

Its only the dangerous fights that will suffice for Junior - he needs to f*ck the meaningless fights right off and take some risks and again I will repeat it is his promoter who needs to secure those fights!!!

[DG.]

I was the biggest critic on these forums when Hatton was avoiding witter all those years ago. Spud was criticising it too, back when he worked for hennessy.

the fact is, Hatton shamelessly ducked Witter. And I'm talking about when he fought the likes of Smith/Pederson/Vilches/Oliviera/etc.

Nobody can deny it.

Witter didn't do himself any favours by being so inactive and that's always been his problem. Hatton would beat him today imo, but Witter would have stood him on his head a few years back and he knows it.

I am sure he does.

[whicker]

Did Witter fight recently? If so I missed that one totally.

[Spud]

Hatton would beat him today imo, but Witter would have stood him on his head a few years back and he knows it.

I was sayin the same thing a while back - I defintely think Ricky beats him comfortably now - Ricky is the most improved of the 2 now - as yep a while back I thought Junior could have stood Ricky on his head - but as with Ricky I honestly thought Junior had some very easy fights which made him look better than he was.

I will keep saying it - Junior needs a dangerous fight and needs it now - if he cant get it then he should ask for his contract back and f*ck to a promoter who can produce that fight for him - he no longer has time on his side.