Tim Bradley
TIM BRADLEY & HIS FIRST FORAY IN THE SPOTLIGHT!
Los Angeles, CA– Saturday will for the masses be their first taste of Coachella Valley’s own Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley (28-0, 12 KOs) as he faces highly regarded and heavily favored Filipino Congressman Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) for his WBO welterweight (147 lb.) championship. The main reason the Filipino is expected to win is because Tim Bradley while being a good, accomplished and undefeated pugilist is relatively unknown. His appearance on HBO’s famed “24/7” series was his first real exposure to the general public.
BRADLEY’S BEATEN A STRONG LIST OF FOES
Bradley, an African American, trained by Joel Diaz, older sibling to professional fighters Julio and Antonio, has beaten some of the best at 140 where he’s won multiple alphabet titles including the WBC and WBO belts. During that span he bested a then unblemished Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15KOs), highly regarded and undefeated Devon Alexander (32-1, 13 KOs), Junior Witter (41-5-2, 22 KOs), and Kendall Holt (28-5, 16 KOs) when he got off the canvas twice to score a unanimous decision victory.
BRADLEY IS NOTHING SPECIAL IN ANY SINGLE DEPARTMENT
The fighter based out of Indio, California is the perfect example of “the sum of it’s parts being greater than the whole.” He’s not a big puncher, not exceptionally fast, not really all that tall either at 5’6. However his best asset is an ability to make adjustments, and that he’s come up the hard way. Never coddled as a professional, he won his first title on the road against Junior Witter in the UK, a split decision nod in which Witter was downed in round six, after which Bradley turned the tides and won the majority of the remaining frames on the scorecards. The guts he’s shown in facing undefeated fighters in their prime I believe gives him an edge against the Filipino. Recently, Pacquiao has been fighting good names of late but they were fighters past their prime recently, Bradley’s been facing high risk-low reward fights back to back. He’s earned his shot, and unless he becomes a deer in the headlights once the bell rings he has a legitimate chance of cashing in an upset.
MY PREDICTION
Will Bradley just show up and be satisfied with collecting a career high $5 million dollar payday? The 28 year-old has proven the ability to at least rise to the occasion. Will that be enough to pull off the victory? Pacquiao has been in this situation many times and has the advantages in hand speed and power. Expect this to be a close fight, but it might be a close fight that will be impossible for Timothy to win on the scorecards in Las Vegas. I think he will win many fans with his valiant effort, but expect Manny to win a close but somewhat controversial decision. This is no slight to Manny because Bradley is a very good fighter in his prime and a clear win here enhances Manny’s credentials for a potential fight with Floyd Mayweather.
-Kevin Perry