https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHDgtIOSDE8&feature=youtu.be
Ahead of his make or break fight this Saturday against Jessie Vargas this Saturday on HBO in US/Boxnation UK, Timothy Bradley has spoken to fighthype.com to insist that his younger rival is out of his depth and will be vastly under-prepared for the experience the 2 weight world champion is set to bring to their clash from Carson, California – that will now be for the Interim WBO 147 lb strap given Floyd Mayweather is yet to vacate the full version.
Clearly angered by some of Vargas’ own comments in the build up, in which the undefeated former WBA 140 lb champion insisted Bradley will have nowhere to go when he loses, “Desert Storm” hit back;
“This young boy Jessie Vargas ain’t faced anybody. His last 3 opponents have been questionable, questionable wins. He fighting against a real fighter Saturday night. A real fighter. One of the best fighters he faced in his whole career. That’s what I’m saying.”
Addressing previous insinuations from Vargas that Bradley is on the slide following his loss in the Pacquiao rematch and a draw with Diego Chaves that left him fighting through a winless 2014, he said;
“It ain’t gonna be no ‘gimme’ fight here – ‘oh, it’s close, let’s give it Jessie Vargas’ – it ain’t gonna be no gimme fight here. He got questionable wins. At the end of the day, it don’t matter what he says.”
“We are getting it on Saturday, we are definitely getting it on. And we gonna see who the best is. What he needs to really do is enjoy these last few days being undefeated. Enjoy them. Take your family out to dinner, be happy – ’cause Saturday night that ‘0’ is leaving – that ‘0’ gotta go.”
Vargas’ contentious and disputed wins over Khabib Allakhverdiev and unheralded Anton Novikov last year are the fights Bradley is referring to as questionable – and he is not being unfair there with his comments – however Vargas was the deserved winner against Mexican seasoned former WBC champ Antonio DeMarco last time out and is coming into this fight full of confidence.
However I suspect that Tim Bradley will walk out the victor as his top level experience and ability to adapt will be telling. Sure he likes to get drawn in – as he did in 2013 FOTY against Ruslan Provodnikov – but he is also a decent boxer and I expect him to use that and fight his way to a comfortable points victory against the younger man on Saturday.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison