Tim Bradley stood at the podium at the weigh in of Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Mike Alvarado to a mixed reception. It was just last October that Marquez lost a decision to Tim Bradley in a competitive fight that seemed all, but a given that Bradley won. The reception could of been a reaction to that, but also it has an underlying tone to it as well. Bradley has never been given the respect he deserves.
In an era, where mismatches and refurbished match-ups are constantly happens Tim Bradley is a standout. Bradley has for the past seven years fought the toughest out. Current Lightweight IBF champ Miguel Vasquez, former WBC and WBO Light Welterweight champion Kendall Holt, current IBF junior Welterweight champ Lamont Peterson, Luis Carlos Abregu, Devon Alexander, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov all tasted defeat at the hands of Bradley over that stretch. Yet it is one win that soured a lot of fans to him, his victory of beloved Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.
“He didn’t deserve to win!” were the voices heard by many leaving that arena. The first Pacquiao fight did nothing more to prove how much of a group think the boxing community can have. In a fight were Pacquiao was inactive for the majority of the fight and Bradley seemed to just edge out a victory, the narrative was written by those with the loudest voice, HBO, top list media, etc that this was a mockery. Bradley was never allowed to celebrate, but rather forced into defending his win going from relatively unknown expect to hardcore boxing fans to a global icon that many disliked for no good reason.
“Are you one of those websites that talks bad about me.” Bradley said after the weigh in as he signed autographs for fans amidst mid-laugh. “Are you? Well, if you are please keep talking bad about me, please keep writing about me!” Bradley said this in a fun loving way, but you could feel the deep frustration. In a sport with few role models, Bradley devoted most of his time after the weigh in to the fans, the ones who minutes prior booed him. Bradley went from one corner of the arena to the next seemingly getting more energy talking with more people who enjoyed the sport as a fan.
In the short time I followed him, I witnessed Bradley sign about 20 gloves as he remarked “…these better not go up on eBay.” towards the end as it almost become absurd how many gloves were being handed to him. Bradley then spent ten minutes taking photos with fans including one woman who came to the weigh in on her birthday. A smiling Bradley gave the women a high five and said “…it’s your birthday?” She nodded, “Hey, that’s pretty cool can I get a picture with you.”
Moments later a man walked up to Bradley and asked for Bradley to take a photo with his brother who is in a wheelchair, Bradley smiled and simply followed him. Not just did Bradley take the photo, but he also asked that multiple photos were taken. At the end, Bradley grabbed the young man’s hand and raised it. Later, that same young man posted the photo on social media with the tag “the greatest day of my life.”
Tim Bradley gets it, he gets what it means to be a person and beyond that he gets what it means to be a role model. When Bradley is at an event it is not just him being there, but thousands of people are looking at him looking at what he does and Bradley never seems to let them down.
Bradley is everything you want the sport to be, he is everything you want a person in power to be. Kind, generous with his time and not forgetting about those who got him to the place where he is at. That is why it is so confusing to see how the world reacts to Tim Bradley, do we skew our image fighters based solely on the broadcasts on major networks or based on how a fighter does against one of our favorites?
Bradley who is hoping to return to the ring around October or November and was adamant about one thing “I don’t need a tune up.” As for whom Bradley wants next, Floyd Mayweather. The problem is that Top Rank and Golden Boy have not been working together and even though Oscar De La Hoya wants to work with Bob Arum and Top Rank, Golden Boy appears to be heading into a new stage of development. It appears from the outside looking in that Richard Schaefer and manager Al Haymon are not all interested in doing business with Arum or Top Rank and that they are much more closely connected to Mayweather than De La Hoya. Internet reports stated that after Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana things would be much clearer to the public, but nothing has surfaced yet to the direction Golden Boy Promotions is heading.
Bradley will return sooner rather than later, but against who is anyone’s guess up until this point.
