It was close to midnight on June 9, 2012 in the press room of the MGM Grand when Timothy Bradley was unable to walk on his own accord and was wheeled into the room, (quite possibly a first in the history of post-fight pressers) to address reporters following his split-decision victory over icon Manny Pacquiao.
Bradley oddly fielded questions from a wheelchair with a microphone in hand, sitting eye to eye with the reporters seated in the five to six rows of tables and chairs instead of standing on top of the dais behind him where many fighters before have addressed the media from a higher-set and more dominant position where regardless of the temerity or difficulty of the question, a fighter could reign down with whatever answer he chose to give and move on to the next one until the masses had their full.
Bradley received the controversial decision
The Palm Springs native, donning a fitted ball cap with both feet bare and naked, shoeless due to reported injuries to both extremities, first and foremost thanked Team Bradley and then went down the line thanking this sponsor and that sponsor in typical fighter-like rhetoric. No question was left unanswered, from the disputed decision to the injuries claimed that provided the necessity of a wheelchair.
Somehow, someway, Bradley, a decided heavy underdog with a sprained foot and the other fractured, was able to fight through the pain and convince two of the three judges assigned to the fight that he beat one of the two top fighters in the game in a decision that shocked the boxing world.
Bradley was then wheeled out of the room and out of the boxing landscape for the rest of the year with nary a peep except for when talks of a fourth showdown between Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez were getting stronger instead of the fictional November rematch that Bradley had predicted and designed into existence via a blown up replica of a ticket stub for Pacquiao/Bradley II.
There was distain thrown at Pacquiao from Bradley, going as far as to say that Pacquiao was scared of a rematch and displeasure with his promoter, Top Rank, for not asserting a rematch, (the fight had a rematch clause that Pacquiao could have pursued) with no bite back from Team Pacquiao.
In fact, Pacquiao had a 37th round against Marquez in mind from the moment he himself descended from the holy dais of the MGM press room following his own field questioning segment last June, as unknowingly to all but a few reporters who noticed, (I was in a great position to see the whole thing ensue) the Pac Man slyly made a b-line to the back of the room and joined his rival JMM onto his makeshift dais and an unexpected roundtable segment then took place for ESPN Deportes? where JMM told him he believed he beat Bradley, and Pacquiao started lobbying for JMM/PAC IV.
Months and months went by and Bradley was offered to jump in the ring before 2012 ended, but the Californian elected not to face Lamont Peterson in December in what would have been a 2 million dollar plus payday against a foe he soundly beat already a few years back.
Last week, Bradley mightily emerged from boxing obscurity in promotion of his first title defense of the WBO belt he emerged with in June after a decision nod against Pacquiao, and this time he was able to walk on his own accord into the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Bradley once again donned a Team Bradley ball cap and left off right where we saw him last; fielding reporter questions sans wheelchair and bare feet.
?Honestly, I?m not even thinking about Pacquiao. I?m just kind of leaving it in the past,? he said at the Biltmore Hotel on Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles. ?The past being the past, I?m moving forward in my career and that?s the bottom line. This is my career. He?s taken his path; I?m taking my path. So whatever happened in the past, it is what it is. It?s water underneath the bridge for me now. I?m not even thinking about it.?
Speaking on Bradley/Pac II:
?All I can say is one word: rematch. It never happened, so y? know what? Forget about it.?
So at the behest of the ?Desert Storm?, let?s go backward just a smidge, and then move forward; if Bradley had taken the Peterson rematch, he would have succeeded in creating distance away from the disputed victory over Pacquiao with another fight. More fights create distance and substance away from other fights, but instead all that lapsed was time from the June decision that left a sour taste all across the board in the boxing universe.
Now looking forward, Bradley interestingly this time around finds himself in the lead position as titleholder and his opponent, Russian Ruslan Provodnikov finds himself in the position that Bradley was in against the Pac Man; an underdog contender going up from junior-welterweight in attempts to dethrone a 147 pound champion who is a top ten ranked fighter in the world.
Just how will Provodnikov approach the biggest fight of his career fighting a boxer who is just coming off of the biggest fight of his own?
?This is definitely the fight of my life, the dream I have had all my life. Now this is a dream come true, come March 16. I assure you this is going to be a great fight everyone will enjoy it,? said Provodnikov to reporters.
What is interesting is that Provodnikov served as a sparring partner for the Pac Man prior to the June 2012 fight against Bradley, (and even got a bit of face time on the HBO serises Pacquiao/Bradley 24/7) so it wouldn?t be a stretch to say that Provodnikov has already had a training camp preparing to face the first-defense title holder.
Provodnikov thus far has been known only to the hardcore followers of the sport due to his tenacity in the ring and exciting fighting style.
The Russian only knows how to fight forward, and Bradley wants to use this fight to move forward with his career.
On March 16, something?s gotta? give.
