Timothy Bradley was not the only fighter to receive a boost from his victory of the great Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday night. In an indirect, but very real way, Manny Pacquiao also benefited from the outcome of the fight.
Marquez is Pacquiao’s biggest rival, and the man against whom he shall be most often judged. Fighters are measured against their greatest opponents. But the analysis does not end with a simple stat listing what the two men have done against each other. Evander Holyfield lost his trilogy to Riddick Bowe. When their careers are seen in the bigger picture, however, Holyfield is a clear Hall-of-Famer, while Bowe is thought of as a very good fighter who had held the title.
The narrative for Timothy Bradley’s career before last night was that of negativity and spoiled success. Bradley has been a fighter more criticized than praised on his rise to prominence and his time in the limelight has been one of turmoil. Boxing fans and pundits alike have had a slow transition to giving credit to Bradley after his ugly technical decision win over Devon Alexander in 2011 and his controversial decision over pound for pound boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.
HBO PPV viewers and the live crowd at the MGM Grand saw Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley out-box and out-fox Juan Manuel “Diaminta” Marquez twelve championship rounds for the welterweight championship. Marquez was forced into a fight where he needed to be the aggressor. As most fans know, Marquez’ strong suit is counter punching. He is at his best when he can draw his opponents into traps. He welcomes their aggression, and generally makes them pay for mistakenly thinking they made a good move.
WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) won an incredibly dull 12 round split decision on Saturday night over 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) by the scores of 115-113 Marquez, 116-112, 115-113 Bradley at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Ghana’s IBF Continental Africa Lightweight titlist, Richie Commey has began his new position as the Ambassador for social charity, Alive & Kicking after he was officially unveiled on Thursday October 10, 2013 in Accra to champion the cause of the NGO which produces balls to create employment in Kenya, Zambia and of course, Ghana.
Fight fans who love a slugfest are likely to be in luck. According to Bob Arum, who spoke to Ring Magazine’s website, once-beaten southpaw slugger James Kirkland is thisclose to getting the all clear to return to the ring. The word is Kirkland – inactive since March of 2012 and having been fighting a number of legal issues with his former promoters – will face unbeaten contender Glen Tapia on December 7th, probably on the Gulliermo Rigondeaux-Joseph Agbeko super-bantamweight clash set for Atlantic City.
SANTA YNEZ, CA (June 14, 2013) – Tonight Gary Shaw Productions presented another great night of boxing at the Chumash Casino Resort. In the main event, Roman Morales (17-0, 10 KOs) defeated Robert Castaneda (20-4-1, 15 KOs) by way of unanimous decision to retain his “Central Coast Championship”.
Kelly Swanson – We are on the phone today with WBO Middleweight World Champion Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin and “King” Gabriel Rosado. They will be facing each other in the co-main event on October 26 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. This is a great show. Of course, everybody knows that Bernard Hopkins is the main event against Murat, and exciting heavyweight Deontay Wilder will also be on the show. So, we’re looking forward to hearing from the fighters today. We have them both on at the same time so without further ado, I’m going to turn it over to Robert Diaz, Golden Boy Promotions Matchmaker, to make the formal introductions. Robert?
World class skill, heart, and grit will be on full display this Saturday night from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on HBO PPV. Many questions and queries from the boxing public will be answered when these pound for pound level fighters square off. Before we attempt to answer the final question of who will win enough battles to ultimately win the war, let’s take a look at what’s at stake and the doubts causing mass speculation leading into this matchup.