Airing now on Showtime Extreme: Timothy Bradley vs. Junior Witter - May 10, 2008

:shock: Good point.

He was already worn a bit ragged but you can add Yusaf Mack to your list.

Heading in against Froch he was coming off recent victories over fellow slightly-past-it outer-fringe contenders Sheika & Griffin, and had been surprisingly competitive with Cloud. Froch mauled him and he's 0-3 since.

 

Heck, some folks commented that Groves seemed "ruined" in his lukewarm comeback showing with Rebrasse. :think

The only guys to lose to Froch and not undergo some kind of severe downward spiral are Pascal & Magee. Both very tough nuts. (Pascal made of iron both mentally and physically; Magee with a glass jaw but resilient of heart)

 

Yeeeah...Esch vs. McNeeley is more your speed, huh Farmy? :hey

 

Not only did this mark the start of Bradley's rise to star-dom, it spelled the abrupt end for Witter as someone relevant.

Not only was he favored over Bradley for his much deeper résumé (including that long unbeaten streak that included several good names) and for being too cagey and complex for the young American challenger, seen as "too basic" - he recently had made a big statement with his knockout of Vivian Harris. A successful defense over Bradley (or Castillo, as it was meant to have been...and Witter did have the ability to outbox the sliding El Temible) riding that momentum would have nudged him closer to being able to pressure his long sought-after domestic rival Hitman Ricky Hatton into signing the dotted line. Because of Bradley's triumph, Witter's incessant call-outs never again had to be taken remotely seriously by Hatton.

 

Sacrificed at the Bradley altar.

 

Wait, you were there too? :blood

A little Eiffell Tower action? :hey

 

He was. Maybe the hungriest of his career so far.

(I wouldn't call it "hunger" versus Provodnikov, so much as stupid macho posturing and the juvenile feeling that he needed to prove something... and in Marquez, which I consider a fine performance, he was more focused and disciplined than in those early Witter and ShoBox days, a product of his improvements over the years, but I wouldn't say he was as hungry. I don't even think he was as "up" mentally either time with Pacquiao as he was in his Transatlantic journey in 2008...)

 

Not as good as watching it on a 50" screen in HD, but passing fair quality for YouTube:

• [yt]oQmA3m4ueFA[/yt]