By Sam Lyon

Witter salutes the Alexandra Palace crowd after his victory

Junior Witter produced a dominant, if awkward, display in retaining his WBC light welterweight title with a ninth-round stoppage of Arturo Morua.

The 32-year-old threw and landed double the punches during a comfortable fight, having cut the Mexican early on.

However, Witter struggled to pin his conservative opponent down early in the fight at London's Alexandra Palace and had to be patient before finishing it.

A sparkling combination knocked Morua cold in the ninth and he was stopped.

The only downside to an otherwise easy night was Witter's failure to finish his cautious opponent earlier.

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And Witter admitted: "It was a little bit slow for me. The timing was not quite right.

"With Christmas and New Year, people who I wanted to spar with weren't available. But I worked on my fitness and I tried to get my timing right - and it was good enough."

Morua, specifically picked as someone Witter could impress against, boxed cleverly and against type, choosing to fight on the counter-attack rather than going for Witter.

We were expecting him to come forward, but he is a smart man and tried to confuse me Junior Witter

However, from the outset Witter was in control and decent combinations at the start and end of the third left Morua with a small cut to his left eye.

However, Witter failed to catch Morua often enough and the Mexican occasionally caught the Bradford boxer on the switch.

But, with the left hook causing problems throughout, Witter grew in confidence as the fight went on and two uppercuts in the eighth had Morua in trouble.

Another combination had Morua visibly shaken for the first time in the ninth.

But while Witter looked to finish the job with his man on the ropes, referee Tim Adams bizarrely gave Morua an eight-count despite him apparently not touching down.

Witter was undeterred, however, rushing forward to throw wide lefts and rights, to which Morua had no answer.

And this time Adams had little hesitation in stepping in and waving the contest over.

"We were expecting him to come forward, but he is a smart man and tried to confuse me," added Witter.

"But I hurt him. The ref should have stopped it straightaway or let me finish him before the standing eight count.

"Anyway, I finished him off after that and now I'm looking to bigger and better fights."