WHO IS TIMOTHY BRADLEY?
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 25 Feb 2012
Timothy Bradley is a virtual unknown in the boxing world and has never been a pay-per-view box office hit. He has a perfect win record in 29 professional fights with 28 wins, 12 KOs and 1 no contest. But his name swiftly rocketed when the fight with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao was contracted.
The fight is scheduled on June 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The encounter will debut Bradley as a boxing celebrity for he was never given such a wide marketing exposure by his former promoter Gary Shaw, in spite of his unblemished record.
Bradley joined Top Rank of Bob Arum and defended his WBO light welterweight title against former lightweight champion Joel Casamayor as a supporting bout of Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III. He won by 8th round TKO for a break to fight Pacquiao.
A native of Palm Springs, California, Bradley won his first professional bout on August 20, 2004, knocking out Francisco Martinez in the second round. He won his first world title in 2008 when he dethroned the defending WBC light welterweight champion Junior Witter in the champion?s hometown in Nottingham, England. Bradley knocked Witter down in the sixth round enroute to a split decision to the surprise of the English fans.
On April 2009, Bradley fought Kendall Holt, the WBO titleholder. Bradley went down in the first round by a powerful left hook but later recovered in the succeeding rounds. Bradley went to the canvas again in the 12th round. But he had accumulated more points to win by unanimous decision and became also the WBO champion.
Bradley was later stripped of his WBC light welterweight title because of failure to fight mandatory challenger Devon Alexander. The title was declared vacant and Alexander fought Witter and won the belt by a technical decision at the end of the eighth round. The Alexander-Witter title fight was held on the undercard of Bradley's fight with Nate Campbell in Bradley's hometown in Palm Springs.
Campbell did not continue with the fight after three rounds by a cut over and behind his left eye and Bradley won by TKO. But the decision was later altered because the replay showed that the cut was caused by an accidental head butt. The California State Athletic Commission ruled that if a fight is stopped by a cut caused by an accidental head collision before the end of round four, it should be declared a no contest.
Bradley won over challenger Lamont Peterson by unanimous decision, including a third-round knockdown, the first time Peterson was down in his pro career. He moved up in weight and fought Luis Abregu and won by unanimous decision. After the fight, Bradley openly called Pacquiao to face him saying, ?Come break down this wall.?
In a unification bout, Bradley fought undefeated WBC title holder Devon Alexander at the Silverdome Arena in Detroit. Bradley won via 10th round technical decision to unify with his WBO crown.
Amir Khan unified the WBA and IBF light welterweight titles. Khan was later declared No. 1 while Bradley dropped to No. 2 in the division ranking of The Ring Magazine and ESPN.
Bradley was stripped of his title as he refused to fight Khan. It was reported that he was not satisfied with the $1.3 million purse to battle Khan, although this will be his highest so far in his career. He would not risk losing the opportunity of a bigger payday if he fights Pacquiao.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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