This weekend at the Thomas & Mack Centre, Las Vegas, Timothy Bradley faces Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez in his ongoing quest for respect and recognition in the boxing world.
Despite his brutal war against Ruslan Provodnikov in which Bradley displayed incredible amounts of courage engaging in a war with one of the most dangerous punchers in the sport and surviving, particularly when engaging in a toe to toe battle isn’t his usual style, Bradley generally prefers to box, move and counter punch, he said after the fight that he felt he was forced to engage in that type of battle because of the personal criticism he received as a result of the much disputed majority decision win against Manny Pacquiao.
I felt the criticism was totally unreasonable and based almost totally without any merit or any fact, yes the decision in the Pacquiao fight was mind boggling I don’t think many sane people would dispute that, but for the boxing fans to direct the majority of their criticism towards Bradley is as ridiculous and as unbelievable as the decision appeared to be.
I stated at the time, judges coming down with an incompetent decision is not the fault of Bradley and ask yourself this question if you received a championship belt as a result of being on the correct end of an incompetent decision, would you give the belt back? We all know what the answer would be; the only people you should blame for that decision are the judges and the state athletic commission for putting those judges in place, not Bradley.
Now Bradley is facing the toughest test of his career in multiple weight world champion and beloved Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez which could potentially end up another lose lose situation for Bradley, in the unlikely event that Bradley pulls off the upset, Marquez has two ready-made excuses
- Marquez recently pulled off the biggest win of his career against Manny Pacquiao and as a result validated his career which will translate into people thinking Marquez did not having the hunger anymore and that’s why the upset occurred,
- The old chestnut being that Marquez got old in the ring and Bradley took advantage of an old man.
Very few people seem to be giving Bradley credit for taking someone of the caliber of Marquez on after such a brutal war with Provodnikov, you could forgive Bradley for taking on an easier fight after a fight that he said himself “it took two months to recover from” particularly after witnessing Marquez knock Pacquiao unconscious with a perfectly timed right hand counter punch, but instead people seem to be focusing on the easy victory Marquez is supposedly going to be cruising towards and are choosing to ignore these facts
- Marquez is 40 years old and any fight from this point on could be his last
- Bradley is 10 years younger than Marquez
- Bradley is a jack of all trades, he showed against Devon Alexander that he can intelligently apply pressure, fight on the inside and out gut his opponent, he showed in periods against Pacquiao that he can box and finally showed against Provodnikov that he can engage in a war and survive which shows whatever strategy Marquez employs, Bradley can adapt to and be competitive
- Finally Bradley has an undefeated record or though in dispute, as a result of this he does not know how to loose, and an opponent with that type of attitude is extremely dangerous
In conclusion am I expecting Marquez to win? Yes I am, but I think it will go 12 rounds and it will be very close, possibly a split. However I will not be as shocked and surprised as most other people will be if Bradley pulls off the upset. The question remains if the fight is razor close or if Bradley wins, will Bradley’s quest for respect be over or will the excuses be loaded ready to fire?
