Junior Witter lost his WBC light-welterweight belt to American Timothy Bradley on Saturday night and as a result blew the chance of a fight with Ricky Hatton.

Bradley won a split decision 112-115, 115-113 and 114-113 in Nottingham.

He landed an excellent right hand to knock down Britain's Witter in round six in the key moment of the bout.

It was an impressive victory by the challenger, serving up 34-year-old Witter's second career defeat with the holder failing to impose himself.

"I'm gutted, I can't believe it," said Witter. "I thought I'd done enough to win.

"I know I had the knock-down but I thought I worked hard enough in the rest of the fight to win comfortably.

"I don't think you saw the best of me tonight. Timothy Bradley came out and fought and took some good shots. He caught me with a hell of a shot.

"But I was just a bit sloppy. It was a perfect shot. He'd been trying it all night, I knew he was going for it. But I won rounds before it. I won rounds after that."

Witter's dream of a high-profile contest against Hatton has now all but collapsed after Bradley's first win in Britain.

And the American said that Witter's obsession with fighting Hatton had distracted the champion.

"The whole time he just kept talking about Hatton," said Bradley. "And if you have your mind set on something else you're not really ready for the big show that's ahead.

"He trained hard for me but his mind was on Ricky Hatton. I love (Hatton's) style, he's a great champion. I'll let my promoters handle all of that."

He added: "I will give Junior Witter a rematch if the money's right."

Veteran Witter found the Californian a tough proposition in the early rounds, with the Bradford-born fighter unable to deliver enough clean blows from his counter-attacking stance.

Bradley showed just why he was unbeaten in 21 previous bouts in what was his first fight outside California, with a bustling, aggressive style.

Witter showed character to recover from the knock-down in the sixth, however, to take the seventh and eighth with a series of well-aimed shots.

But the Englishman could not land the big punch throughout, and Bradley hurt Witter with a couple of cutting left hooks in round 10.

Leaking blood from the corner of his left eye, Witter came out for the final round tentatively and found Bradley the aggressor once more, landing more clean blows and ultimately deserving the narrow verdict.

"I'm still going to carry on, no way am I retiring after that," said Witter. "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."