Blood, sweat, tears, and guts are what ThaBoxingVoice.com’s 2013 Fighter of the Year displayed in his two fights last year. Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley edged out Adonis Stevenson and Gennady Golovkin in a tie breaker on our first podcast of the year and took the honor for winning 2013.
Coming back from a controversial victory in 2012 over Manny Pacquiao which later he disclosed that he had received death threats, Bradley rebounded with a sensational 2013. First, it was his fight with Ruslan Provodnikov. The fight was a 12 round war where Bradley showed how big his balls were, standing toe to toe with an outstanding pressure fighter. Go check round 6 and 12 where Bradley was basically out on his feet but was still firing back with Provodnikov. Even in a bad situation, Bradley had the wherewithal to take a knee in the 12 round that probably won him the fight. Had Bradley not taking the knee, Provodnikov may have won via stoppage by the referee.
Bradley followed up that’s guts and ballsy performance with a boxing victory over future Hall of Famer, Juan Manuel Marquez. On that night in October, Bradley showed he was quicker with his hands and feet, and outsmarted Marquez. He boxed Marquez to a unanimous decision victory and stamped his 2013 to the opinion of the panelists and listeners of ThaBoxingVoice.com’s Radio Show that is the 2013 fighter of the year.
Bradley is one of those fighters who because of the cold war won’t get a shot at Floyd Mayweather. You could argue that no one between 140 and 154 lbs is more deserving of a fight with the pound for pound king. However, Bradley can still rematch Pacquiao, Provodnikov, and Marquez in 2014 and still make a nice coin doing it.
Other Candidates:
Adonis Stevenson: He was certainly in the running. He had a very successful 2013 notching a knockout in all 4 of his fights. He defeated Chad Dawson in 2013 in stunning fashion and pretty much steamrolled through Tony Bellew and Tavoris Cloud while avenging his only loss to Darnell Boone. His knockout victory over Dawson garnered him the knock out of the year honors.
Gennady Golovkin: He was our breakout fighter of the year winning all four of his fights by knockout; two of those were candidates for knockout of the year. His popularity is rising with ever knock out, but the question in 2014, will the other champions in the middleweight division finally step up?
Danny Garcia: All he does is win, plain and simple. The young Philly Rican showed grit after being cut by a head butt in his fight with Zab Judah winning a decision in his home away from home in Brooklyn. Then he out boxed Lucas Matthysse, something not many people gave him a shot in doing.
Juan Francisco Estrada: Quite possibly one of the best fighters you never heard of because he fights in the lower weight divisions. He upset Brian Viloria and beat a game Milan Melindo in Macau in 2013. If there is any fight that needs to be made and shown on American television, it’s the rematch between Estrada and Roman Gonzalez.