Witter will be back in the ring on February 19th in Ontario, TO - facing 18-1-2 Victor Puiu, a locally-based Romanian. This will be Witter's first prizefight in the year and a half since retiring - literally - after being stymied by Devon Alexander over 8 rounds (claiming aggravation of an old left hand injury halfway through). He recently called out Matthew "Magic" Hatton following the middling Mancunian's third round KO of Roberto Belge; Matthew's brother and promoter Ricky Hatton had indicated some mutual interest in making the fight, but the younger Hatton has gone on to the greener pastures of a date with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Witter has fought at welterweight several times dating back to the start of his career in 1997 - mostly knockout wins and mostly low-level opposition save for his recent third-round victim, Argentine gatekeeper Victor Castro in 2008...which stands as Witter's last professional victory to date. Puiu has actually made the welterweight limit of 147 lbs only once since 2005, competing most often as a light middleweight - and recently dropped out of a scheduled 154lb bout with Montreal prospect Antonin Decarie for reasons unknown (and was substituted with Irving Garcia, who stepped up and unexpectedly held Decarie to a MD). There is no fight video or tale of the tape available on Puiu, but here he is (far right) with his pal and countryman Lucian Bute: This content is protected We can deduce that he's at least 4" shorter than his nation's pride, who stands 6'2". Puiu is therefore maybe around 5'9" or 5'10". In any event, he's bigger than Witter who would certainly not even stand taller than Bute's shoulder at only 5'7". For further perspective, here he is weighing in against the 6'0" Ulises Jimenez: This content is protected He looks, yeah...about two inches shorter. 5'10" seems right. Despite a weathered countenance, Puiu is actually five years Junior's junior. The revolution will not be televised.
FWIW, Puiu nearly knocked out Paul Clavette in the third round of their 8-round encounter...only to have Clavette hop on his bike and pedal away to a narrow majority decision win. Clavette would later be stopped for the first and only time of his career by Ronald Hearns, who took six rounds.
I would have laughed this off as a joke had it not been posted by IB. He'll do nothing at 147. Maybe they should line him up against a 147 lb. "Magic Man."
I think it was an arm or elbow injury. Thanks for the update, IB. Big fan of Witter. I honestly hope a fight with Malignaggi comes along. I'm a huge fan of both guys and would love to see it, preferably when they were both relevant. Weren't they both world champions at one point? They should've fought then, man.
He was boasting about still having the goods and claimed Matty would be "no problem". :yep (1:00-2:30) [yt]M75EZsjHHZw[/yt] At this juncture it would probably be competitive.
:good Malignaggi himself is now campaigning at 147, so that could actually happen if both angle towards contention.
Junior TITTER!!! What a joke that guy is, his silly style and off balance footwork amounts to nothing and will always get exposed by balanced solid accurate fighters. Witter the Titter does not belong in a ring!!!!
I'm all for awkward styles if you can be effective with it(and there's certain fighter who were able to be dominant with their awkwardness), but Witter's last performance was terrible. He fell down multiple times from missing with his punches. That usually won't get the job done. Maybe he'll clean it up this time around.
Oh good, looks like another opponent to be lined up against Berto. Haymon and HBO must be watching this Witter fight with much interest
