‘Call Em Out Fridays’: Timothy Bradley – A Look At The Man They Call “Desert Storm”

boxingBy Vivek Wallace: On December 18th, 2010, the world of boxing staged what would be the final headlining showcase of the year. Eleven prior months of solid action would do very little to remove the sting of what would end a very chaotic evening. Typically, fight fans would have to wait only a week or two to pick up the pieces and carry on, however, this time around it’ll be a full 6 week span before the action finally resumes.

When it does, on the night of January 29th, live on HBO, standing center stage will be a young man who most view to be the proverbial ‘cream’ of the jr. welterweight crop, due one day to rise to the top. An old adage has it that “to he who much is given, much is expected”, however, for the young Bradley, despite receiving no handouts along the way, the measuring bar looms quite high. When you look at the talent rich jr. welterweight division and the big names it boast, one could conceivably argue that Timothy Bradley remains the most accomplished of the pack.

When you look back at the career of Bradley, there were several high points, but the true defining moment came across the pond when the California native pulled out a gutsy victory few felt he would be capable of by defeating Junior Witter in Nottingham. Through the course of the twelve rounds, Bradley found himself in unfamiliar territory, both literally and figuratively, as the unorthodox Witter made the fight a very uncomfortable one by regularly switching stances and proving far more slippery than Bradley was used to..

Bradley overcame a few trying moments on this evening and proved to be a better thinker in the ring than most give him credit for, but as he prepares for St. Louis native, Devon Alexander, one can’t help but question how well will Bradley handle the precision and deceptively powerful punch he packs?

The Witter fight was Bradley’s best effort to date, but in many ways it could prove to be his most detrimental, as many experts feel Witter laid a solid blueprint on how to defeat the Palm Springs native by displaying good movement, a variation of punches, albeit in a non-sustained effort. The trouble with Witter was that his power wasn’t too great, however, such isn’t the case with the young Alexander, who managed to KO a fighter who many felt could see no such fate!

After his stunning KO loss to Alexander, Juan Urango made a comment that could prove very intricate in the outcome of this pending showdown. Urango, speaking to a few locals in his inner-circle stated that “the accuracy of Alexander’s punches is so misleading that they fool you into thinking it’s OK to hold your ground and absorb them while you prepare to punch back, but they carry more effect because they land flush”.

Thorough film study shows that Bradley was hurt more than once to the body by the light punching Lamont Peterson. How well he deals with (what Urango termed) Alexander’s “flush” punches could very well be the ultimate and deciding factor shortly before the headlines print the morning of Sunday, January 30th. Bradley has come a long way since his triumphant moment in Nottingham, some 20 months ago. Has he come far enough to get him beyond the skill level of an another undefeated lion who’s also determined to stay undefeated? There lies the operative question. In two weeks time, we shall all have an answer!

Tune in to next weeks ‘C.E.O. Fridays’ to take a glimpse into the career of his opponent……Mr. Devon “The Great” Alexander!

(Vivek Wallace can be reached at 954-292-7346, vivexemail@yahoo.com, Youtube (VIVEK1251), Twitter (VIVEKWALLACE747), Skype (VITO-BOXING), and FaceBook).