Belt-Go-Round: Alexander, Witter to Clash on Bradley-Campbell Undercard

There are plenty of examples of the strange and sometimes arbitrary way the titles from boxing's four sanctioning bodies float around the weight classes, but perhaps no current situation is a better illustration than what's going on with the WBC 140-pound belt.

See if you can follow along. England's Junior Witter won the strap (which was vacant at the time) back in September 2006 by beating DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley. He made two successful defenses before dropping it to Timothy Bradley last May.

Bradley won decisions over Edner Cherry and Kendall Holt since then. But he had no interest in defending against the WBC's mandatory challenger, Devon Alexander, so he was forced to give up the belt when he signed to take on Nate Campbell - no stranger to belt politics himself.

The WBC wanted to match up its top two ranked junior welterweights for the now vacant belt, which happen to be... Alexander and Witter. Oh, and just for good measure, it was recently confirmed that Alexander-Witter will be televised on Showtime on August 1 on the Bradley-Campbell undercard. Only in boxing!

For what it's worth, it sounds like an intriguing fight on paper. The young (22 years old) and undefeated Alexander is fun to watch and carries himself well outside the ring, but he hasn't beaten anyone of consequence other than Corley, everyone's favorite whipping boy.

He'll have a puzzle to solve in the form of the so-awkward-he's-fascinating Witter, who hadn't tasted defeat prior to the Bradley fight since way back in 2000 at the hands of Zab Judah. Witter is known to switch stances often, has some power and has more than twice as many pro fights under his belt, so he really should test Alexander.

I'm leaning ever so slightly at this time toward the youth of Alexander in the first fight and the skill and savvy of Campbell in the main event. But hey, if Witter and Bradley both win, maybe they can fight a rematch to reunify the WBO and WBC titles that Bradley just had until he had to vacate one.

Like I said, only in boxing...

Posted by The Franchise