BoxRec

For anyone who didn't get the chance to see it, but want the result: Witter wins a UD (115-114 twice and 117-111, I think I heard.)

Did not look impressive: Little urgency, no signs of his recent power. And Kotelnik did next to nothing for the first 5 rounds, other than cover-up. Witter booed at the end of the fight, Kotelnik not bad, but nothing that great either.

That's the quick report, I'm back to watching Froch-Barney now.

Thanks for the update, I'm ITVless at the moment :(

Hopefully not all ITV bouts are on ITV2.

Both of them came into the ring looking a little dry, Witter never really landed (or threw for that matter) anything big, Kotelnik lost all the early rounds waiting behind his guard and then came on in the second half when he was able to time Witter.
Kotelnik looked good, good defence, good counter puncher, as I said both of them looked a little off from the start, not many hard ones going in (as the Bishop said to the choir-boy) Witter didn't look as quick as usual nor did he ever appear to be looking for the ko. Maybe the hand problem in the back of his mind?
Not a bad fight, very little fire works but a pretty good chess match for those of us who kinda like them.
Witter nicked it by a point or two though I wouldn't really complain about a draw.

I might be in the minority - but I thought there should have been a new European champion. Didn't score the fight but if I was going on feeling then Koetlink won.

I wouldn't have disagreed with a draw myself, Stu. But I also wouldn't argue with a one point decision either way.

One thing is for sure though: Witter is no closer to a shot at Hatton. I don't like to hoist a man by his own petard, but Witter, given his own comments of the last weeks, has asked to be judged at that level. And he's fallen short. Kotelnik was decent, but nothing that special, at least not in my eyes.

I have to say that ITV were right to stick this one on ITV2. And not just because of the fights: Holdsworth needs some time to get used to the fact that he's actually commentating live, to an audience. And McKenzie falls short as a 'colour man', compared to Watt or Nelson.

We may have all given SKY stick over the years, but comparing tonight and last night's Altrincham bill, I'd say that ITV have some work to do, in terms of quality, even though I welcome the national exposure.

However, all that aside: It was great to hear the old ITV 'Fight Night' tune again. Let's hope this is the start of something good.

states wrote:I wouldn't have disagreed with a draw myself, Stu. But I also wouldn't argue with a one point decision either way.

One thing is for sure though: Witter is no closer to a shot at Hatton. I don't like to hoist a man by his own petard, but Witter, given his own comments of the last weeks, has asked to be judged at that level. And he's fallen short. Kotelnik was decent, but nothing that special, at least not in my eyes.

I have to say that ITV were right to stick this one on ITV2. And not just because of the fights: Holdsworth needs some time to get used to the fact that he's actually commentating live, to an audience. And McKenzie falls short as a 'colour man', compared to Watt or Nelson.

We may have all given SKY stick over the years, but comparing tonight and last night's Altrincham bill, I'd say that ITV have some work to do, in terms of quality, even though I welcome the national exposure.

However, all that aside: It was great to hear the old ITV 'Fight Night' tune again. Let's hope this is the start of something good.

I agree, I will never criticise Sky for their presentation apart from the graphics and music they currently adopt for their Friday Night Fights.

Something I noticed with both the Setanta PPV and the ITV show (both live bills so far) is that Sky use better mics. At some time it was a struggle to hear over the crowd - no matter how intense the atmosphere in Sky bills it is easy to hear them.

Witter looked bad tonight but he nicked it 7-5 imo - the first 6 and the last were all Witter rounds.

Good Big TEchnical Counter Punchers give Witter problems. He has stamina problems. He was easy to tag with his hands low. He tended to throw 1punch at a time. He didn't have as much movement as I'd like to see.

I don't think that was the usual Witter in there he didn't look at his best and we all have off-nights. I think I've overated Witter in the past BUT he still has the stye to possibly beat Hatton but he'd need to be better than tonight.

If he was in with Cotto or Zoo tonight he'd be well beat and maybe KO'd

states wrote:....I'd say that ITV have some work to do, in terms of quality, even though I welcome the national exposure.

Agreed, but I thought it was pretty encouraging compared to past efforts from various non-Sky Sports channels. The most encouraging thing though is that a full 2 hours was scheduled, and that ITV will use their available channels to get it out live.

I had 114-114 and thought Witter was a bit lucky to hang on to his title, I thought he won the first 5 rounds and the last round.

Good to see ITV back in boxing, although they can improve on the choice of commentator's, although I liked the presenter (Matt Smith ??) he seemed to know what he was on about.

Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:Witter looked bad tonight but he nicked it 7-5 imo - the first 6 and the last were all Witter rounds.

Good Big TEchnical Counter Punchers give Witter problems. He has stamina problems. He was easy to tag with his hands low. He tended to throw 1punch at a time. He didn't have as much movement as I'd like to see.

I don't think that was the usual Witter in there he didn't look at his best and we all have off-nights. I think I've overated Witter in the past BUT he still has the stye to possibly beat Hatton but he'd need to be better than tonight.

If he was in with Cotto or Zoo tonight he'd be well beat and maybe KO'd

A fair assessment, I'd say. But he'd need to be a LOT better, if he wants to beat Hatton, in my opinion. I gave him the benefit of the doubt against N'Dou, given that it was the first time he'd been 12 rounds in a long time, but he's got to be ready to work all night against Hatton. He didn't show anything like enough urgency tonight, against a fighter that threw next to nothing for 5 rounds.

Witter really needs that Golden Boy link to come up trumps and deliver him a biggish name fight in the U.S. next, or I can see him going nowhere for another 12 months at least.

I actually scored it 114-115 to Kotelnik, but it did seem Witter looked more like the winner so I hae no problem with the results. Junior needs to wake up though if he was shocked by the closeness of the cards - for about 5 rounds he was hitting nothing but gloves and Kotelnik was the only one landing, however rarely.

I think i am in danger of buying into the Witter hype, before this fight i starting believe he could be a tough opponent for Hatton but after i think the reality is he wouldn't be, aybe he would pose a few problems for the early rounds like Magee did but i could not see him lasting the distance, he looked knackered last night and Kotelnik landed minimal body punches. Witter is not on the level of Mayweather and Cotto either like he suggested afterwards...it is all pure hype.

I was abit gutted about Witters performance i'd been hyping Witter up to all my mates saying that he'd be a force very soon, and the first time most of my mates get to see Witter fight he has a stinker .

He got the win just imo. He seemed to run out of gas a little. Could be a big problem if he fights Hatton.

How did Froch look?

RobD wrote:How did Froch look?

Okay, did the job. Again looked leaky in defence but Barney's lack of power was a huge factor.

Froch is huge for the weight but is lazy sometimes in offence and in defence, punchers like Lacy and Calzaghe would like to face Froch.

I don't want to sound too negative it was a decent win (116-112 on my card) and he did a far better job than Thomas Ulrich did.

stujones wrote:

RobD wrote:How did Froch look?

Okay, did the job. Again looked leaky in defence but Barney's lack of power was a huge factor.

Froch is huge for the weight but is lazy sometimes in offence and in defence, punchers like Lacy and Calzaghe would like to face Froch.

I don't want to sound too negative it was a decent win (116-112 on my card) and he did a far better job than Thomas Ulrich did.

I don't think he has the reflexes needed to carry out that hands down style of his. Quite agree he would have a bit of a problem against Calzaghe or Lacy. Have to like the fact he does appear to want to face the best.

Witter got lucky, Kotelnik lost about 5 rounds then won almost all the rest...i had it 116-114 for Kotelnik...117-11 for Witter is just plain bullshit...M'baye would beat Witter imo

Raff The Frenchman wrote:Witter got lucky, Kotelnik lost about 5 rounds then won almost all the rest...i had it 116-114 for Kotelnik...117-11 for Witter is just plain bullshit...M'baye would beat Witter imo

Don't judge him on one performance. Don't forget his fight against the reasonably highly rated N'Dou.

I had Witter winning 115-114, not one of his better performances but I thought Kotelnik was pretty useful. That guy is a potential top 10 guy at this weight if not already - so I think you have to bear that in mind - this was no walkover fight.

Unprofessional as it sounds perhaps Witter would be better motivated and prepared for a big fight he did seem flat in this one even during the early rounds which he was winning easily. I think he's the sort of guy that will produce his best when he is pushed into doing so, he seems to lose concentration when he gets ahead in fights as he has done in both is last 2. That said the 12 rounds on both occasions can only have done him good after the string of early wins.

I look forward to seeing who they get him in with next.

stujones wrote:I might be in the minority - but I thought there should have been a new European champion. Didn't score the fight but if I was going on feeling then Koetlink won.

I haven´t seen the fight but most of the people in the german forum who watched the fight are talking about a "robbery"