Junior Witter: 'Getting robbed' of title still hurts Rotherham super lightweight champ

A lot has happened in that decade – he now owns a gym in Eastwood, Rotherham, has a home in Parkgate, and this week welcomed the birth of his second grandchild.

Life is good for Junior, who ruled the global super lightweight division from September 2006 until May 2008, along with collecting European, Commonwealth, and British titles.

However, the manner of how his career came to an end one night in Le Cannet, France, still sticks in his craw.

He was competing against Frenchman Ahmed El Mousaoui for the EBU European Union welterweight strap, hoping a win would unlock another run at a world title opportunity.

Sadly, it ended up a split decision loss after 12 rounds with wildly different scorecards from the judges.

So it was memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.

"What I remember the most is getting robbed; it's part of the game when you are an away fighter," he told the Advertiser.

"I reckon I should have won it by four rounds.

"Everybody I know turned round and said I'd won, even members of the British Board of Boxing.

It does rankle a bit, still, it is still annoying.

"I had put in a strong performance against a tall French kid who wasn't a bad boxer. But the judges went for the home fighter."

Witter has seen it mirrored in fights since then.

"That sort of thing has happened to quite a few people, and it wasn't the best way to go out.

"The truth is though that I'd rather have gone out that way, with that type of performance, than getting smashed!"

Witter, who turned 51 last month, didn't intend to retire after that disputed defeat.

"Actually, I stayed in shape, I was in the gym for three more years after that. But nothing happened due to politics and the fact that the money wasn't there."

Witter sometimes found it tough to build a popular profile and gain anything like the fan base of his nemesis of the era, Ricky Hatton.

"This day and age it would have been 100 percent easier to get another fight, with social media, but that wasn't about then.

"Exposure was difficult to come by. Getting an interview in the local paper or the Boxing News was the only way of getting out there.

"It was hard to get any sort of attention.

"Now if you have something to eat, or go for a walk it's all over the internet with the words "Aren't I brilliant?"

Witter, who blossomed under the tutelage of Sheffield's coaching genius Brendan Ingle, is more than satisfied with a career that spanned from 1997 to 2015 and a CV of 43 wins (23 KOs), eight losses, and two draws.

"I am proud of what I achieved. Not many people achieve as much as I did."

Interestingly, the highlight of his time in sport wasn't his victory over DeMarcus Corley to land the world title at Alexandra Palace in 2006.

Instead, his fondest memory came a year later, when he stopped Guyana power house Vivian Harris in the seventh round at at Doncaster Dome.

"I got the performance on that night just right. He was the most dangerous man on the planet at that time.

"The Americans were raving about him. But it all went to plan."

He admits there are plenty of things he'd have changed in his career, fighting Zab Judah at Hampden Park, Glasgow, in 2000, with nine days notice was a "stupid idea," at the time, he said. He lost on points.

"I was not in prime condition. I wasn't in the zone or anywhere near."

A documentary on Junior's life and career is in the works.