Tag Archives: WBO

Manny Pacquiao said judges won’t be needed if he fights Timothy Bradley again

Posted: July 14th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , ,
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Manny Pacquiao returned to the Philippines this weekend and said no decision has been made on who his Nov. 10 fight will be against. But if it is against Cathedral City’s Timothy Bradley, Pacquiao has already started to throw some verbal jabs.

Pacquiao spoke to ABS-CBN and said it’s OK if it’s Bradley and then said “payback time,” as translated by the Philippine Star (philstar.com).

Bradley won the controversial split decision over Pacquiao. Promoter Bob Arum was irate, feeling Pacquiao dominated the fight. The HBO broadcast crew, which televised the pay-per-view fight, also had Pacquiao dominating.

Two judges scored it 115-113 in favor of Bradley, giving him Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight title. The third judge scored it 115-113 in favor of Pacquiao.

The WBO ordered the fight to be reviewed by five independant judges, and all five scored it in favor of Pacquaio.

At the end of the story, Pacquaio said, “If there is a rematch, there will be no need for judges.”

Below is the link to the Philstar.com story, which translated Pacquiao’s quotes.

Andy Roddick on Timothy Bradley vs. Manny Pacquiao

Posted: March 24th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog, Tennis | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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For the last two years, Timothy Bradley got a chance to hang out with Andy Roddick at the BNP Paribas Open.

On Saturday, Roddick talked about that meeting and his take on Bradley’s fight against boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao.

“I told him he’s gonna be like the guy who shot Bambi if he wins that fight,” Roddick said. “I think one of the intriguing things is no one knows how good he is yet.  He hasn’t  fought someone like Pacquiao, so we’ll see. But he’s certainly quick.  You know, he has the hand speed, and we’ll see.  Those two guys don’t get hit very often. Hopefully someone will make contact.”

But Roddick also said that the fight he’s really looking forward to is Pacquiao taking on Floyd Mayweather, considered one of the top fighters of all time.

“I wish Bradley the best, but, you know, I think we all want to see Pacquiao-Mayweather, also,” Roddick said.  “I wish they would just get that thing done.  It’s crazy.  It’s the only sport in the world where the two best in the world will never ‑‑ they just won’t fight.  It doesn’t happen in any other sport, and it’s frustrating as a fan.”

Roddick said he watched Pacquiao’s last fight, a controversial decision over Mexican superstar Juan Manuel Marquez in the third fight of their legendary trilogy. Based on Pacquiao’s performance, Roddick said it changed his opinion of how a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight might go.

“That was probably the worst he’s looked in two or three years,” Roddick said. “I felt like he would have been the betting favorite against Mayweather before that fight.”

How the WBC’s corruption cost it a ton of money with Timothy Bradley

Posted: March 21st, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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If you watch the Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia this weekend fight for the WBC super lightweight title, you may end up lauging at the expense of the WBC. The belt was held by Cathedral City’s Timothy Bradley, who had twice on the title.

When Bradley was going through his messy divorce from former promoters Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson, the WBC decided to remove the title from Bradley because of his uncertain future. Bradley had seven months of inactivity, and a fighter needs to defend his title every 11 months, so the WBC declared Bradley a champion in recess. The real reason they stripped him is because they wanted to give the title to Morales so he can be the first Mexican boxer to claim four titles in different weight class. Never mind that Morales wasn’t the No. 1 contender (he was No. 3 at the time) and that he was fighting someone who wasn’t even ranked. They changed the opponent twice, setting for another tomato can. Morales won the paper title. Morales is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, and it worked behind the scenes on Morales’ behalf.

So here’s where the joke is on the WBC. Since Bradley is no longer the champion, he doesn’t have to pay the sanctioning fees, which is 3 percent.  Well Bradley wound up fighting in November, which is 10 months removed from his previous fight and well under the WBC deadline. Bradley’s payout was over $1 million, which would have been $30,000. Now that Bradley will fight Pacquiao and his purse is expected to be about $5 million, the WBC stood to earn $150,000, even though they wouldn’t be fighting for Bradley’s belt. Bradley will retain his title after the June 9 fight against Pacquiao, and the WBC would stand to earn even more money if Bradley fights well enough to become a superstar.

I’m not sure what Erik Morales is making for this fight, his second under the WBC, but I’m pretty sure his purses haven’t totalled $6 million. According to one online report, Morales made $350,000 for the title fight, which was under the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz undercard. For Saturday’s fight, you would suspect it would still be in the same ball park.

Enjoy Morales as your champion WBC. Hope it was worth all the money you lost.

Looking at Timothy Bradley’s victims

Posted: June 25th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Devon Alexander just got through a rough fight against Lucas Matthysee, earning a split decision victory in his hometown of St. Louis. This is the same Alexander who was beaten and reputation was thrashed in his loss to Timothy Bradley in January.

Alexander’s victory helps show how good Bradley’s opponents have been.

Alexander was a two-belt champion, who had the fight taken out from him in January. But Alexander, who was ranked No. 4 in the division by The Ring magazine, had to rally from getting knocked down in the fourth round to win a very close decision over Matthysee, who was ranked No. 9 coming into the fight. Matthysee’s only other loss was to IBF champion Zab Judah, and that too was a split decision.

Another Bradley victim, Lamont Peterson, is not a hot name in the junior welterweight division, but he’s one of the best fighters. Peterson, ranked No. 7,  was undefeated when he faced Bradley and was the No. 1 contender for the WBO title, but Bradley throughly dominated him. Two fights later, Peterson fought to a draw against Victor Ortiz. From there, Ortiz went up in weight class to beat Andre Berto for the WBC welterweight title. Now Ortiz, ranked No. 2 in the welterweight division behind Manny Pacquiao, will face Floyd Mayweather in September.

Kendall Holt, who Bradley beat in a unification bout after getting knocked down twice, is one of the most feared punchers in the division. Holt appears to be getting himself back into the thick of the light welterweight division after his knockout victory over two-time IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz of Coachella. Holt is unranked by Ring, that should change soon.

So while people want to take shots at Bradley for ducking out on the Amir Khan fight, there is a reason why he’s more respected and ranked her than Khan and is among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

 

Devon Alexander’s make-or-break fight

Posted: June 20th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , ,
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Devon Alexander is not fighting for a title, but for something much greater, his reputation.

The young light welterweight star with the WBC and IBF titles had a chance to be the sports next big star. His nickname was “The Great” as a play off his last name.

But Alexander had a reputation-killing loss to Cathedral City boxer Timothy Bradley in a unification bout in January, where he was accused of quitting and not showing up to fight. From future star to fraud.

Alexander will step back into the ring on Saturday night against the dangerous Lucas Matthysse on HBO. Matthysse has a sold veteran with several big names on his resume, including IBF champion Zab Judah. It’s a good opponent for Alexander to exorcise some demons from his lone loss.

But if Alexander does lose, he could find himself years away from another title shot.

What people forget is that Alexander is a young fighter who skyrocketed to the title. His maturity level didn’t match his status, which Bradley exposed. Alexander came in overconfident, and his camp all agreed he failed to execute the game plan. He thought it would be an easy night, but Alexander never came up with an answer for Bradley’s constant pressure.

“I want to show people why I was considered one of the best at 140 pounds,” Alexander said, “and I want those people who believed in me to know that they were not wrong.

“I am one of the most capable and dangerous fighters in the division, a former unified world champion that wants to return to the top.  My goal is to prove my greatness and be International Boxing Hall of Fame material before I hang up my gloves.”

Alexander’s trainer, Kevin Cunningham, has faith in his 24-year-old former champion.

“I’m not too concerned because it’s not like Devon got beat up against Bradley,” Cunningham said. “He just didn’t do as well as he should have.

“Now he has the man I believe is the most dangerous at 140 pounds in front of him on Saturday night, this kid from Argentina, Lucas Matthysse, so this is an opportunity for Devon to answer any questions about how good he can be.  I believe he will shine.”

Fact is, a loss to Bradley is not bad. Bradley is one of the top-10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Former Bradley victims, like Kendall Holt and Lamont Peterson, continue to make noise.

But the loss revealed some ugly things about Alexander. So Saturday will be a chance to prove the who the real Alexander is. 

If  Alexander wins, he will stay in the mix of the hottest division in all of boxing. A case can be made for Alexander to fight against the loser of the Amir Khan-Zab Judah unification fight. Or he could get the winner if the Khan-Bradley fight fails to be made again.

A loss, and Alexander’s reputation could be DOA.