A Witter knockdown late in the sixth round ultimately proved crucial and scuppered any immediate showdown with arch-rival Ricky Hatton.

The three scoring judges had the bout 115-112, 113-115 and 113-114 in Bradley's favour but most ringside experts felt that the man from Palm Springs was a worthy winner, his improved work-rate earning him the decision.

Junior had looked the better boxer in the fight's embryonic stages and he rattled the unbeaten American as early as the third with a powerful left uppercut, Bradley though, unfazed, countered with a right to the head.

Growing in confidence, Bradley began to find the target with increasing regularity and having threatened to land a big right on several occasions, he stunned the Witter camp when he crashed home a looping right late in the sixth round to send Junior sprawling in his own corner.

Buoyed by his success, and looking to finish the job, the challenger piled on the pressure and Junior, now with growing swelling beneath the right eye, did well to come through the torrid spell.

The later rounds proved to be close fought affairs but Bradley, seemingly feeding off the champion, remained the aggressor and Junior, nicked by the left eye late in the eleventh round was unable to land sufficient clean shots to way the judges.

Witter later said that he felt despite the knockdown he had still worked hard enough to win though admitted that he hadn't been at his best, before adding "I'm still going to carry on, no way am I retiring after that. There's a lot more in the tank.

"There are better nights for me to come and Junior Witter will be back. As a world champion."

Differing fortunes befell two other title-chasing Ingle fighters, with Nottingham's Adnan Amar picking up the vacant English welterweight title with a 97-95 10-round points victory and Northampton's Paul David slipping to a 97-93 defeat at the hands of Nottingham's Tyrone Wright, losing his Midlands Area super-middleweight title in the process.

Amar's margin of victory over Telford's previously unbeaten Mark Lloyd, looked wider than the official verdict handed down by Birmingham referee Terry O'Connor, he landed the cleaner more eye-catching shots throughout whilst the under pressure Lloyd, who at best looked to have earned only a share of three or four rounds, had a point docked as early as the third for use of the head.

David's defeat by Wright however provoked a good deal of debate amongst ringside experts who were fairly evenly split as to whom they thought the victor was. Dudley official Shaun Messer though, had no hesitation in raising Wright's arm at the conclusion.

Sheffield's Nadeem 'Golden Boy' Siddique had to recover from a knockdown inside the first 10 seconds of his bout with Ghanaian Alex Brew before halting the African with 43 seconds of the 2nd round still remaining.

Central Area and British Masters welterweight champion Siddique, who admits that he is a slow starter, was caught cold by a looping left hook to the head from southpaw Brew right at the start of the bout and then had to endure a spell of early pressure as the man from Ghana swarmed forward, looking to capitalise on his initial breakthrough.

By the latter part of the opener Siddique was firing back, though Brew caught much of what came his way on both his gloves and his arms.

Alex was still looking to repeat his looping left trick early in the second, but he was slowed a little when Siddique, punching downwards against a smaller opponent, slammed home a hurtful right to the body.

'Sid' unloaded a salvo to both head and body that saw Brew drop to his knees in his own corner, never looking likely to beat the count.

Meanwhile, Curtis Woodhouse fights at Sheffield United's stadium next weekend. Don't miss the build-up which starts tomorrow.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

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