Ricky Hatton vs Junior Witter

Witter called out Hatton on the ring apron in 2000 in a live interview. Hatton then fought an ageing Tony Pep, Jason Rowland, John "the midget" Bailey, an ageing Freddie Pendelton, Justin Rowsell, Mikhail Krivolapov, Eamonn Magee, lightweight Stephen Smith, ageing lightweight Vince Phillips, Aldo Nazareno Rios, lightweight Ben Tackie, superfeather Dennis Pederson, Carlos Vilches, Michael Stewart and Ray Oliveira.
In this time he turned down a Witter fight several times despite claiming that he had the Witter fight written into his contract.

 

Make excuses all you want...Ricky didn't want none of Witter. I was gutted this fight was never made, Junior wanted the fight but Rickys arsehole was flapping at the thought of it.

 

Gtfoh with your straight talking facts
Many round theses parts cling to the footballing fan agenda


Yeah but wicky would have won

Wicky was going to bully the smaller pac man lol that went well

Would wicky have fought zab or Mayweather on 8 days notice in his 18th fight

You all no the answer

 

Witter's only connection with the casual market was stinking the place out against Judah on the Tyson-Savarese bill. For those who knew who he was, Witter was persona non grata at that time - a light-hitting, safety first runner with zero charisma. He brought nothing to the table commercially, but had the skills to make a budding superstar (Judah) look ordinary. Why would Hatton go near him at that point? High risk / minimal reward.

Witter obviously made adjustments to his style and proved he could bang, but it wasn't until his demolition job on Lauri that boxing fans woke up to the idea that he was a major rival for Hatton. As I pointed out ealier, that leaves 2003-4 as a viable window for a domestic superfight. More than often than not though, when two domestic rivals have world title aspirations they go for world titles first. Groves-Degale is the exception rather than the norm.

Hatton faffed around for most of the 2004, and yes, the Witter fight would have made sense. It didn't happen, but neither do a lot of fights that make sense. It's not exactly Lewis-Bowe when it comes to ones that got away.

The narrative that Hatton ducked Witter for years though is nonsense. While Hatton wasted some of his best years on the worthless WBU trinket, once he got going he fought big, meaningful fights - Tszyu, Mayweather, Pacquiao. The fights in between like Castillo and Malignaggi were there to set him up for the superfights, and Maussa, Urango and Collazzo all held belts. It's not like Witter is a glaring name missing from his resume in global terms, any more than say Harris or Kotelnik were.

Rather like his buddy Kell Brook, Witter never seemed to be able to get his head round the idea that his dream fight wasn't going to happen. If he had, he may have been better prepared for Bradley and ended up with a standout win on his record and his own lasting legacy.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/o...42/Junior-Witters-Hatton-dream-collapses.html

"I've been watching Junior Witter for a year. I always do my homework. I saw he was susceptible to getting hit with right hands. He was thinking about Ricky Hatton. His mind was on Ricky Hatton not on Timothy Bradley."

 

That's what it is excuses as wicky would not take the challenge or prove them to be right
So he could hold on to the claim that hes the money man , arogance something he despised in floyd rose its ugly head in wicky
Ironic or a certain fighter was and is full of shyte

 

Facts such as Vince Phillips the aging lightweight?

 

Timing as for the fight was well viable and that
Fact that Hatton ducked Witter
Note to ones self try harder with ones agenda

 

Joe calzaghe disagrees

 

Good for him.

 

Yes I know he appreciates boring styles

 

Witters boxing and movement would have gave him trouble for 5-6 rounds tops. Hatton would break him down and win by late stoppage

 

He lost to Bradley on a split decision. He trained hard for the fight but driving up to Bradford in between sessions to watch his dad dying from cancer took it's toll.
Hatton wouldn't fight Witter despite claiming that he had the fight written into his contract.

 

I wasn't aware of that, so definitely take that comment back. It was fine margins in the Bradley fight, and probably hinged on the knockdown.

I'm not sure what to make of the Alexander fight. It may just have been a bad style match-up for Witter, or maybe he'd lost his edge by that point, but he was never really at the races in that one.

 

At the Races neither was wicky against lazcano Magee or thaxton

 

I think Hatton didnt want to be bothered by him to be honest.
Even if he won chances are he would have looked bad.
The risk to reward wasnt there for Hatton I think.