Under normal and fair circumstances, American Timothy Bradley should be enjoying the good life now. After years of toiling in anonymity, Bradley hit the jackpot when he defeated Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight championship.
Then again, instead of being showered with accolades and huge endorsement deals for dethroning the pound-for-pound king of boxing, Bradley has been the recipient of death threats and hate mails. The bulk of the threats have come from popular social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, with fuming fans telling Bradley to just die if he can?t return the WBO belt to Pacquiao.
The fans are truly and madly irate at Bradley, making his life one savage garden these days. He has become the butt of jokes and is being called the new ?wheelchairweight? champion of the world after leaving the Pacquiao fight on a wheelchair because of an injured ankle.
The prevailing opinion is that Bradley did not beat Pacquiao. The judges, at least two of them, handed Bradley the victory on a silver platter. To be fair, no evidence has surfaced linking Bradley to the contemptuous split-decision win authored by judges C.J. Ross and Duane Ford. This fact notwithstanding, Bradley has not been spared from the avalanche of criticisms.
To say that Bradley has been walking with a monkey on his back is an understatement. King Kong on his back is the proper way to put it. He walks around these days like an emperor parading his glittery WBO belt, but he actually appears naked in the eyes of his boxing constituents.
Bradley?s biggest problem is that like the emperor, he remains in a state of denial, uttering statements like ?I won the fight regardless of what anyone thinks.? Bradley would have endeared himself with the fans had he admitted from the outset that he only received a gift decision. He would have been embraced by everyone had he followed Oscar De La Hoya?s advice and returned the WBO belt to Pacquiao. Instead, it is Pacquiao who has emerged the hero for his display of humility. Pacquiao has refused to join the tirade against Bradley and the judges, simply stating that everything that transpired was part of God?s plan.
When the WBO recently informed the media that the result of the re-scoring it made had Pacquiao winning handily, Bradley found himself being buried deeper in the foxhole. Predictably, Bradley is now moving heaven and earth to convince Pacquiao to get back in the ring with him for a rematch in November. Pacquiao, however, appears to be looking at other opponents. Had Bradley exhibited humility, it would be relatively easy to lure Pacquiao back to the ring. A little reverse psychology would have done wonders.
If Pacquiao ends up nixing a rematch, Bradley will have to live the rest of his life sporting a Scarlet letter around his neck. Make that Scarlett letters. The record books will show that Bradley defeated Pacquiao for the welterweight crown of the WBO, but look for the fans to add the letters G,U, and S to the title.
WBO-GUS.
