Bradley upsets Witter's big plans

Junior Witter (left) and Tim Bradley at the Nottingham Arena on Saturday night.

BOXING/LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT: TIM BRADLEY upset Junior Witter to win the WBC light-welterweight title in Nottingham at the weekend.

Britain's Witter had hoped to use the third defence of his title to pile more pressure on Ricky Hatton for a domestic super-fight.

But mandatory challenger Bradley took a split decision after flooring Witter in the sixth round and cutting the 34-year-old champion above his left eye in the 11th.

One judge surprisingly had Witter winning by three rounds, while the others gave the fight to the American by margins of 115-13 and 114-113. Bradley takes his record to 22-0.

In the weekend's other big fight, British super-middleweight champion Carl Froch enjoyed a comfortable night's work by beating over-matched Albert Rybacki inside four rounds.

Froch had been frustrated by several projected opponents pulling out of the fight and was under pressure to put on a show against the little-known Pole.

And in front of his home-town support in Nottingham, Froch recorded the 23rd win of his unbeaten career.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times