Over the weekend, news broke of how ESPN had let go Andre Ward, the former champ no … continue
Tim Bradley is picking WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs) to stop IBF/WBA champ … continue
“One of the most savage battles of the 21st century,” Dan Rafael Ring Magazine Fight of the … continue
Timothy Bradley predicts that Saul Canelo Alvarez won’t fight IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 … continue
Four great fighters, all of them world champions, three of them at more than one weight class, retired from the sport this year: heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko, super-middleweight and light-heavyweight ruler Andre Ward, four-weight ruler Miguel Cotto and light-welterweight and welterweight champ Tim Bradley.
According to a news piece on RingTV.com, Palm Springs warrior Timothy Bradley is set to announce his retirement from boxing imminently. The former two-weight world champ will turn 34 next month and he has apparently decided that he has fought enough.
If it is indeed the end (there seem to be a few fighters pondering retirement right now; what with Bradley and Tyson Fury apparently done, and Kell Brook also stating recently how he will only know if he still has the desire to fight once he begins training again), Bradley, one of the most respected and genuinely admired fighters of recent years, goes out with a fine 33-2-1(13) record; during which he was never stopped.
Former two-division world champion and highly-rated pound for pound fighter TIMOTHY “Desert Storm” BRADLEY JR. and undefeated World Boxing Association (WBA) super lightweight world champion JESSIE VARGAS will make their long-awaited 2015 debuts when they square off in a 12-round welterweight rumble, Saturday, June 27, under the stars at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. The Southern California natives’ fight will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.
These two gladiators boast a combined record of 57-1-1 (21 KOs) — a winning percentage of 97%.
Several corroborating sources have now said that Miguel Cotto is likely to fight former welterweight champion Timothy Bradley. It is widely believed that May 2nd will host the rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto for Mayweathers sixth weight class world title. Not a lot of fans are putting faith in the boxing forces being able to successfully negotiate a fight between Mayweather and Pacquaio and this is the most likely scenario to take place.
However if for some reason Cotto and Mayweather do not end up fighting we could see Timothy Bradley moving up in weight again. Cotto has a lot of negotiating power amongst all of the big names as he is a four weight world champion with a storied career and a large fan base in Peurto Rico. Although he has come up short against Mayweather and Pacquiao due to his big name it wouldn’t be unlikely to see rematches of both of those fights at some point.
Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) is targeting the winner of the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto fight next year for who he’d like to have his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank set him up. Gennady Golovkin would like to fight the winner of the Canelo-Cotto fight, but the chances are very good that if Cotto gets past Canelo, boxing fans are going to see Cotto in against Bradley rather than Golovkin.
Cotto’s WBC middleweight title may or may not be on the line for a Bradley fight depending on if Cotto vacates or if the World Boxing Council strips him by then for not facing Golovkin. Last Saturday, Golovkin defeated Marco Antonio Rubio by a 2nd round knockout to become the WBC interim middleweight champion.
Layton F. (Brooklyn, NY): I never thought I’d see the day, but to me, Floyd Mayweather looked old and out of sorts. I just didn’t think he looked the same. Is it safe to say that he’s no longer the guy he was?
Vivek W. (ESB): The old adage has it that “time waits for no man”! Oddly, we’ve seen Floyd Mayweather dominate for so long that we’ve grown accustomed to the notion that he’s some blind exception to the rule, and unfortunately, this is not the case. While there were some points that just didn’t quite seem normal for him, statistically, we see the same level of success. From day one, Mayweather’s statistics have been mid to high 50 percentile (or greater) in offensive connection rates; all while holding the opponent down to a very low 20 percentile connection rate in exchange. Has he been touched a bit more lately? Certainly seems that way, but again, all percentages remain intact, so is he truly “slippin” (as Steven A. Smith of ESPN went on record to say)?