BoxRec

It has been reported up here, that a proposed fight between Witter and Olusegun, pencilled in for 8th November 2008 has fallen through due to Olusegun's pay demands.
Allegedly he wanted twice the purse that Williams or McDermott were being paid, prior to that fight falling through.
If it had gone ahead, how would you have seen the fight going ?

Olusegun on points I'd say, unless Witter could recapture anything of the form of September 07 against Harris.

Why do you think he priced himself out then NEBF ?
Surely this was his chance as much as Junior's redemption.

Am very surprised at Ajose pricing himself out of the fight. Where else is he going to get a fight with as high profile a fighter, slightly long in the tooth and imo a good style matchup to boot. Would have been a risk but I can't see too many routes opening for Olusegun

Olusegun is WBC No3, not sure what he's done to warrant that high a ranking, but should move him into an eliminator quite soon.

don't know mate...Olusegun's still unbeaten right?? maybe he thought if there's a chance he'd lose , lose some marketability etc..than better make sure you get well paid for it.

Point taken though about needing to make his mark.

I didn't even see Witter Bradley, but the reports were that Witter was disappointing, although Bradley was maybe just better, he's still got that belt hasn't he?, but I've always rated Witter , and I think there must have been something in the reports that he just didn't fight well that night.

As for Olusegun, I didn't see him versus Nigel Wright either!! I seem to remember reading that either one or both of them didn't really seize the initiative. I do however set a lot of store in Olusegun beating Nuumbembe, even though admittedly Nuumbeembe was weight drained.

In a nutshell...I'm pitting Witter's recent defeat to Bradley, against Olusegun being younger and possibly more than a tad sharper over 12 rounds, and tough. Hence PTS 12.

Old bones Ian wrote:Olusegun is WBC No3, not sure what he's done to warrant that high a ranking, but should move him into an eliminator quite soon.

Who gets made mandatory will be interesting to see. Sanctioning bodies do seem to like former champs, and Witter is ranked #2. There are some unheard of fighters in the top 10 who Hennessy may be able to get over and pass as an eliminator and WBC international title fight. And Id imagine also Witter may be able to fall back on a European shot against the top 10 rated Branco, who (while I havent looked) I dont think has a fight scheduled and may be persuaded to come to England to fight.


Edit - Branco does have a fight upcoming.

If you saw Bradley's first defence, you'd know just how poor Witter must have been to have lost to Bradley in the first place.

Witter is pretty much finished at world level in my opinion, which is a damn shame considering how dedicatd he is to keeping in shape, and being around the game.

witter just didnt apear focused at all that night though he did have a few fleeting moments i think he can come back id like o see a kotelnik rematch

Adamj1987 wrote:witter just didnt apear focused at all that night though he did have a few fleeting moments i think he can come back id like o see a kotelnik rematch

Nah out of all the champions I think Kotelnik is the last Witter should be going for. Also now Kotelnik has a title and a German promoter he wont be fighting outside of Germany or Ukraine.

I think had this come off, it was an astute bit of match making by John Ingle.
I believe the plan was to follow this up with a European challenge in January 09.
Anyone any suggestions of who he should fight between now and January ?

Twinkle Toes wrote:If you saw Bradley's first defence, you'd know just how poor Witter must have been to have lost to Bradley in the first place.

Witter is pretty much finished at world level in my opinion, which is a damn shame considering how dedicatd he is to keeping in shape, and being around the game.

I don't understand this statement. I thought Bradley was excellent against Cherry. Composed, with excellent strategy. I think Bradley will emerge as a very hard to beat champion he barely allowed Cherry to land a shot.

I know Cherry isn't a world-beater but he's no mug and punches hard.

Yeah I was very impressed with Bradley too, he's not spectacular, he's not flashy but he does everything right and he will be very hard to beat.

He showed his peformance against Witter wasn't a fluke. Whilst Witter was fannying about, Bradley was doing the basics right which won him the fight.

The_Don1 wrote:Yeah I was very impressed with Bradley too, he's not spectacular, he's not flashy but he does everything right and he will be very hard to beat.

Spot on, good assessment IMO.

It was interesting to here Bradley say that he's studied all the top fighters at 140 and 147 in depth and has plans for all of them, if all his plans are as good as his 'Junior Witter Plan' then he could do well

I think Junior would have stopped him.

Theres some Olusegan yes man on ESB who claims he's ducked Ajose so he probably did ask for unrealistic demands.

Even an unmotivated Witter KO's Ajose

If Wright didn't gas, he could of won as his pressure using the jab was giving him success.

Suggested opponnents for Witter:-

Ashley Theophane
Lenny Daws

Brian Moore wrote:Suggested opponnents for Witter:-

Ashley Theophane
Lenny Daws

Isn't Theophane down to fight Judah still?

Judah's ducked him.

DavidPayne wrote:Judah's ducked him.

Anymore information on this?

DavidPayne wrote:
I don't understand this statement. I thought Bradley was excellent against Cherry. Composed, with excellent strategy. I think Bradley will emerge as a very hard to beat champion he barely allowed Cherry to land a shot.

I know Cherry isn't a world-beater but he's no mug and punches hard.

We'll see, I find him dull as dishwater - He does the basics well, but I don't think it's going to be enough to beat the big names in the division.

I think the people who favoured Witter so much, are looking to make a case FOR Bradley at any opportunity, and the usual suspects have surfaced in this thread to confirm it :)

Max Molyneux wrote:Even an unmotivated Witter KO's Ajose

If Wright didn't gas, he could of won as his pressure using the jab was giving him success.

I agree I've seen nothing from Olusegun to think he'd even trouble the likes of Witter or Hatton, I wouldn't fancy him against Lynes or Barnes either.

As for Junior I think people are only going to face him if they have no choice, he's blown his best chance at the big paydays now he's lost his WBC belt. And as already mentioned he's hardly kept himself active fighting just 4 times since beating Colin Lynes over 3 years ago.

Twinkle Toes wrote: We'll see, I find him dull as dishwater - He does the basics well, but I don't think it's going to be enough to beat the big names in the division.

I think the people who favoured Witter so much, are looking to make a case FOR Bradley at any opportunity, and the usual suspects have surfaced in this thread to confirm it :)

No I think your enjoying rubbing salt in the wound and jumping on Bradley being poor to degrade Witter. Come on the kid won every round, even if it was only Cherry, who was in good shape and could bang

Witter's seems likely done on the world level, his punches were horribly telegraphed and his jab was poor. Witter has a long road back and fighting once every 6 months against TBA is not the way back

BUT Bradley has excellent defense and counter punching skills with good speed. His power is repectable. He isn't an offensive demon, but flashyness isn't always what wins fights

Out of interest who at 140/135 do you pick to beat Bradley? I don't think theres many that stand a good shot. He'll probably unify with the Holt-Torres winner, and I pick him over both of them. I'd also pick him over Malignaggi in a close 1. I think Hatton could beat him by outworking and outmuscling him, but he'd be tricky as hes technically better than Hatton. But Hatton is going after Delahoya/Pacquaio/MArquez next and possibly retirment after. A rematch between Witter-Bradley would be closer, both likely improve.

Maybe Witter should have gone into Prizefighter, more money than he was having for his title defences