Fighter of the Year
21/07/06

Junior Witter made the tough decision to relinquish the EBU Light-Welterweight title because he wanted nothing to hinder his dream of becoming a true World Champion. It was a fantastic honor for Junior that the EBU announced him as him their European Fighter of the Year in recognition of his achievements as Champion.

Junior accepted the award back in July, in the ring before a full house at Altrincham Leisure Centre as David Haye prepared to take on Ismail Abdoul.

"Its been great to get this award. The European Title has been good for me, its a quality title but I have my World Title fight to think of and I am committed to that. I could have kept hold of that title for a while because I don't think there was anyone in Europe good enough to take it from me, so I'll let them fight it out between themselves," laughed Junior.

It marks the end of a sixteen month reign since stopping Salvatore Battaglia in two rounds at Nottingham's Ice Arena back in June 2004.He then saw off the challenges of Krzysztof Bienias and Andreas Kotelnik while fitting in a Commonwealth Title defence against Lovemore Ndou in between. Colin Lynes survived a lackluster performance by Junior as he defended his title for what was to be the last time - boredom was setting in.

"To be honest it was time to call it a day with the European Title, I was due to fight Lauri again and for me it was very uninspiring, since the Ndou fight I was just looking for the World Title shot. Kotelnik and Lynes were just marking time fights and that was reflected in my performance."

"Johnny Nelson won his World Title at thirty two years of age and is still Champion at thirty nine. I’am thirty two now and that's the kind of longevity I am looking for, too. My time is now."