Witter gets Euro shot.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 25 Mar 2004, 13:23

Looks like Witters going to get a new 'kick start' to his career. A new promoter and maybe a new title. A win here should push him back up the World ratings.

I still think he will struggle to get a major title shot.

Junior Witter will fight Italy's Salvatore Battaglia for the vacant light welterweight title on 16 April.
Promoter Mick Hennessy won the purse bid and the bout will be Witter's first in his home city of Bradford.

The 30-year-old, already the British and Commonwealth champion at 140lbs, has won his last 12 fights within the distance.

Battaglia fought the highly-rated Oktay Urkal for the European crown in 2003, losing narrowly on points.

As well as the title, the winner's prize will be a ranking with all of the major sanctioning bodies.

Witter was recently demoted from the WBO's mandatory number one contender after he pulled out of a fight with Kelson Pinto because of injury.

The clash is expected to be shown on the BBC.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 26 Mar 2004, 08:42

Witter is not everybodys cup of tea but deserves this shot. Good for him changing promoter, Warren did not do the best by him at all.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 26 Mar 2004, 08:56

007 wrote:Witter is not everybodys cup of tea but deserves this shot. Good for him changing promoter, Warren did not do the best by him at all.

Witter had the opportunity to hit the big leagues under Warren, okay it wasn't the best opportunity but should have tried to do more than a survival job. Go to any American forum and mention the name Witter and they will still criticise and discuss that Judah fight in non-glowing terms. Not saying it was Witter's fault, but I can see why a promoter wouldn't rush out to use him.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 26 Mar 2004, 13:02

Also if Hatton beats Pinto that will just add ammuntion for all the Witter haters.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 26 Mar 2004, 13:37

Shock horror! I blame Warren. He was clearly using Witter for his own gains a bit like what King did with Eastman, he was always talking a good fight with Hatton but never made it. Instead why wasn't he getting Witter in line for a world title shot? He was busy feeding him lacklustre opponents, Witter seemingly improved during his unbeaten spell and to be fair he has still been in with a better fighter than Hatton ever has in Zab Judah and he also lasted the distance without being hurt, yes i know he clocked up a distance a marathon runner would have been proud of but he made it all the same.

This Battaglia who he is mooted to be fighting has a reasonable 21-3 record and has been a pro eight years, the fact he is willing to travel to England to fight indicates he is not a big pull over in his home country. His split decision loss to Oktay Urkal shows he is no mug and the fact the scoring was so close suggests he probably won the fight, after all ususally close fights warrant a tight majority score over in Germany. His 10 KO's is solid enough but i doubt he will have enough to trouble Witter who is probably heavier handed than Urkal and will be looking to get his man out of there, after all Battaglia who is the current Italian champion has been stopped before.

mrbassie · Post by **mrbassie** » 26 Mar 2004, 13:43

Feeding him lacklustre opponents and then publicly criticising him for fighting them

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 27 Mar 2004, 13:12

Yes find it hilarious Warren slagging off Witter's record when he was the one putting the fights on, that's him all over.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 27 Mar 2004, 13:16

Remember all that crap about Witter being in Hatton's fight contract? The reams of copy it generated at the time should have caused an outcry when the fight didn't happen. But there's nobody really brave enough - or rich enough - to take on Warren over these issues.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 27 Mar 2004, 13:18

There's been a lot of talk of Hatton becoming the mandatory for the WBC if he beats Pinto next week. If Witter wins the EBU title that should move him up the WBC rankings and then perhaps we'll see it. With Warren holding grudges though I doubt he will let the fight happen as Witter has left him, his big ego wouldnt stand for it.

mrbassie · Post by **mrbassie** » 27 Mar 2004, 13:44

Has he left him?

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 27 Mar 2004, 13:45

mrbassie wrote:Has he left him?

Yes. He's gone with Hennessy.

mrbassie · Post by **mrbassie** » 27 Mar 2004, 13:47

Good for him. I knew all about the purse bids thing of course, but I didn't know he'd actually left SN for good.

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 27 Mar 2004, 14:36

If they both keep winning it could be a really huge fight over here, what will it be, a 5 year build-up? It'll bring back memories of the Benn/Eubank days. Who knows, Hatton may even end up on the BBC too.

I'm sure he still wants the fight, and as his earning power increases he'll be able to force Frank to make the match.

Twinkle Toes · Post by **Twinkle Toes** » 27 Mar 2004, 15:09

Well to be fair, Warren did get him a big fight with Pinto, but Witter cried off. At the time everyone was saying that Warren was just trying to bump Witter off by making a fight against the supposedly dangerous Pinto.

It's ironic that Warren has now made another fight with Pinto, only this time involving his golden egg Hatton.

Far too many people have gotten sucked in with Witter, and his slavering mouth. Lets see Witter beat some credible opponents, and then we can start talking about him and Hatton in the same breath - Battaglia is a start.

{amateur} · Post by **{amateur}** » 28 Mar 2004, 01:04

The best thing Witter has got going for him is his name it is a very cool name imagine a fight night headlining "Ricky the Hitman Hatton takes on Junior the Hitter Witter seriously who wouldn't buy that fight.

Zhuge · Post by **Zhuge** » 28 Mar 2004, 02:35

I'm still hopeful that Hatton-Witter will eventually take place.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 28 Mar 2004, 09:33

I was chatting to one of the mods on the current scene and he was shocked by how much allegedly and Hatton himself were talking up Pinto, according to my unnamed informant he is no where near what he is being cracked up to be. Just as i suspected all along in fact.