Amidst protestations and cries of fans and media alike, and while conspiracy theorists point their fingers and indict their chosen culprits, newly-crowned WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley Jr. went home to Cathedral City, California as a conquering hero.
I resided in the dry heat of Cat City and the Palm Springs area back in 2002 for a couple of years, where most of the area’s sports fascination revolved around the Bob Hope golf classic, and tennis opens. A favorite tourist destination, especially for the elderly, not much ever really happen in the slow-paced area enveloped by picturesque mountains, and desert sands. Well, “Coachella”. But now they can boast of having the fighter that defeated this decade’s Muhammad Ali.
In Bradley’s world, nobody cares how he beat The Great Manny Pacquiao. What matters is he did. And for Bradley, that’s more than good enough.
Whether Bradley is suffering from amnesia, or his promoter Bob Arum is the liar that everyone says he is, Bradley has denied his “I did my best. I just couldn’t beat this guy” comment prior to the announcement of the fight’s scorecards.
Bradley vehemently denied the statements. “I never said that I didn’t beat this guy. I just said I did my best. I wouldn’t say that I couldn’t beat him. Why would I say that? Especially when I felt I won. My trainer told me right after the fight that I beat him,” in an interview with boxingscene.com a few days after his controversial win. Immediately after the fight, however, Bradley sounded more like a guy who knew he got away with a gift he didn’t expect. His mouth may be saying he won, but his eyes was saying “what do you want me to do?” Actually, that’s exactly what Bradley said at the post-fight press conference, when he shot back at a member of the media that asked him about his thoughts regarding the decision that majority felt was erroneous.
“What do you want Timothy Bradley to do?”
Right now, Bradley and a lot of his supporters are in a state of blissful denial. Hey, they didn’t cheat. It’s not his fault he was given the decision. And as a matter of fact, why should he feel guilty? Bradley stood toe-to-toe with Pacquiao more than most men who dared tried and stayed on his feet. He mixed his agression with defense and counter-punching, and by all means, put forth a truly gallant effort.
Except, of course, it wasn’t really good enough for him to win against Pacquiao, unless your name is C.J. Ross or Duane Ford.
Which only makes sense why even in victory, Bradley seems to be convincing people still that he is on Pacquiao’s level, rather than confidently celebrating his triumph.
“I am right there with him to be honest with you. He couldn’t knock me out like he was supposed to. I wasn’t supposed to be in the ring with him. I fought toe to toe with him at times then I fought smarter and boxed from the outside,” Bradley said.
Of course Timmy… Don’t you remember you actually “beat Pacquiao”?
