LONDON (Reuters) - American Tim Bradley upset Britain's Junior Witter to win the WBC light welterweight title in Nottingham on Saturday.

Mandatory challenger Bradley took a split decision after flooring Witter in the sixth round and cutting the 34-year-old champion above his left eye in the 11th.

Witter edged the opening rounds but the nimble Bradley worked his way into the fight and unleashed a scything right hand to the side of Witter's head near the end of the sixth.

Unbeaten Bradley was frustrated by the sound of the bell as he moved into finish the fight and Witter then recovered well to chip away at the compact Californian.

Bradley, 24, maintained a punishing work rate in the latter rounds to fend off a Witter comeback and had his opponent in trouble again in the 10th and 11th rounds with solid rights.

One judge surprisingly had Witter winning by three rounds while the others gave the fight to Bradley by margins of 115-13 and 114-113. Bradley takes his record to 22-0.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Justin Palmer)