Witter can prove he's still a real champion

2:00pm Friday 7th November 2008

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As somebody whose closest brush to boxing’s dangers is the occasional flick of blood across the press seats, I have the utmost admiration for the guys with the guts to step into the ring.

Whatever your opinion on the rights and wrongs of legalised fighting, there can be no doubting the bravery of those who choose to take part.

There is no hiding place inside those ropes. Any chink of armour is there to be exploited; any weakness to be seized upon.

Choose your cliché but there is no tougher, more brutal sport than the noble art. The very real risk of serious injury is there at all times.

Concentration has to be total. Any distractions, however minor, can have devastating consequences.

Which is why Junior Witter was completely wrong to go ahead with his ill-fated world title defence in May just 48 hours after his dad underwent his first dose of cancer treatment.

As the fighter admitted this week, his head was all over the place. The last place he wanted to be was inside that Nottingham ring.

Take nothing away from opponent Tim Bradley, the American fought well to nick the decision over 12 rounds – but not that well.

Witter was a shell of the brash, cocky performer with the skills to bamboozle the best.

It’s easy to look back in hindsight and pick faults but you didn’t have to be a seasoned Witter watcher to detect that something wasn’t quite right.

At the press conference three days earlier, he looked distracted. There was none of his usual pre-battle swagger; he said the right things but his manner was muted and downcast. Now we know why.

On fight night itself, his performance was as flat as I have seen in eight years of covering his fortunes. He clearly didn’t want to be there.

Our family, like many others, has seen the devastation that cancer wreaks to those you hold dear. It puts everything on standstill; nothing else matters other than being there with your close relatives through that tortuous period.

Witter obviously felt the same but while carrying the family burden, he also buried himself in his work and over-did it in the gym.

Inevitably the snap from his game had long gone by the time the opening bell rang. In his own words, he just wanted to be at home.

Professional pride stopped him from doing the logical thing and pulling out at the last minute. Witter has experienced that frustration from other opponents and, with Bradley already over from America, did not want to follow suit.

It was a costly mistake as he lost the WBC title belt he had cherished for the previous 18 months.

Tomorrow night Witter steps back on the road to redemption at York Hall, the cramped, atmospheric east London home of British boxing.

The ten-rounder against unknown Argentinian Victor Castro is hardly a headline-grabber likely to compete with Joe Calzaghe’s monster clash against Roy Jones Junior rumbling in New York a few hours later.

But it matters big time for Witter’s future as a top-level boxer. More importantly, his dad hopes to be ringside once again to cheer him on as he continues to recover from his ordeal.

Witter can focus all his hopes and thoughts on the matter in hand – and show the doubters that he is still a real champion.