LAS VEGAS — WBO welterweight titleholder Tim Bradley was effusive in his praise for Juan Manuel Marquez during the post-fight press conference following his split-decision over the four-division titlewiner on Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center.
Bradley’s trainer, Joel Diaz, praised the trainer of the Mexican legend, Nacho Beristain.
Bradley (31-0, 12 knockouts) called Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KOs), who turned 40 in August, “a clever fighter” and “one of the best in the world.”
“Marquez is a great champion, a great warrior,” said Bradley, who rose from a 12th-round knockdown for a unanimous decision in March over Ruslan Provodnikov in defense of the belt he won via split-decision last June over Manny Pacquiao.
“He’s one of the toughest fights I’ve ever had in my life,” said Bradley of Marquez, who stopped Pacquiao in the sixth-round last December. “Both [Pacquiao and Marquez] are great champions, both are great warriors, and they’re legends in the sport.”
Marquez, however, did not return the favor when he entered the room later and took a seat near the podium as Bradley was still speaking.
“Tim,” said Top Rank CEO Bob Arum. “Let’s hear, for a second, from Juan Manuel Marquez.”
Marquez took the podium without acknowledging Bradley with even a glance, let alone a handshake or embrace. To those who cheered him, Marquez gave a thumbs up with his right hand before speaking through Zanfer Promotions President Fernando Beltran.
“We came prepared to give a great fight. I think that that you all came to see a good performance, but unfortunately, the judges here did it again. We came very prepared to win this fifth title, and honestly, we’re happy with the performance that we gave tonight,” said Marquez.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t get the victory. To be here in Las Vegas, I guess that I need to knock the people out to get a victory. That’s what has been happening. Unfortunately, the judges, I need to be scared of the judges more than my opponents. I’m very happy with what I did.”
With that, Marquez gave a thumbs up with his left hand and stepped away from the podium.
But that was not all.
Marquez’s trainer, Nacho Beristain, poured salt in the wound.
“First of all, I would like to thank you all for the support of my fighter. We know that we fought tonight a world champion who is an excellent fighter,” said Beristain. “Not only is he a good fighter, he’s very lucky. He’s the only undefeated fighter with two losses.”
With a glance over at Bradley, Beristain then took a shot at Bradley’s trainer, Joel Diaz, who had expressed admiration for Beristain throughout the promotion of the fight.
“Nacho is one of the greatest trainers in the business. I’ve always said that he’s the bible of boxing… The thing with Nacho is that he forms champions from ground zero. Freddie Roach has champions already made,” said Diaz, referring to Pacquiao’s trainer.
“Nacho Beristain has been in the business way longer than Freddie has. Nacho starts his fighters from the basics. That’s what separates trainers. I just think that you build a name for yourself, and all of a sudden, they come to you when they’re already made… I categorize Nacho Beristain as one of the best trainers in the world.”
Beristain, however, had this to say to Diaz on Saturday.
“His trainer is my friend. I appreciate him a lot,” said Beristain. “He’s very young. He’s got a bright future. But tonight, we won, and in his heart, he knows that they did not win this fight.”
With that, Marquez and Beristain left the press conference so they were not present for Diaz’s retort.
“Tim Bradley is never going to get any credit,” Diaz said. “Like Nacho said: He is the only undefeated fighter with two losses… Wow. I’m surprised that such a man with such knowledge couldn’t execute a plan in there to go in there and knockout Tim Bradley, and he got frustrated… We did our job. We executed our plan, and he couldn’t do anything. As you can see, Tim Bradley’s face is clean, he never got hit with the right hand that everybody expected.
“You know what? We’re going to keep moving on, and we’re going to keep on winning. We’re going to let people talk, and we’re going to keep winning. You know, 95 percent of the people in the arena were against us and were hoping that Marquez wins. But you know what? The only five percent were our families and our team. Including everybody in this building. You could see it in the faces… Let’s be realistic. Boxing is that you hit, and you don’t get hit. You want to see a fight, go to a bar.”
