Tim Bradley and His Belts: Reunited, And It Doesn’t Feel So Good

Added on Feb 02, 2011 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

What we are left with is a tale of two fights. The fight that we had all built up in our heads and anticipated to see, then there’s the actual fight that we witnessed either ringside at the Silverdome or in our homes on HBO.

Since before we rang in the New Year, the fight between Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley was the clash the boxing world was salivating over as they would not only put their WBC and WBO titles up, respectively, it would give our Nation a chance to find our next bright shining star. Someone to compare with the Manny Pacquiao’s, Juan Manuel Marquez’ and Amir Khan’s of the world. At the end of 12 rounds at the most, America would finally have our representative.

Prior to the fight, while the fighters camps would congregate with the media for some last second sound bytes, we were treated to a moment where Joel Diaz, longtime trainer of Bradley, claimed that despite all of the talking coming from the Alexander camp, that Bradley will have him taken out within 10 rounds.

On the other hand, you had Devon Alexander and his crew letting the media know that they expect Bradley to lead in a lot with his head as he prepares to mount an assault on the native from St. Louis, citing that six of the last men to oppose Bradley would up receiving cuts stemming from headbuttts.

All talking aside, it was clear that even before the fighters made their way into the rings, before there names were announced under the bright lights of the Silverdome, Bradley was already on the offensive while Alexander has taken a more defensive minded posture. In the end it failed to live up to the expectations that the nation had thrown upon it.

How quickly we forget.

It’s not like either of these fighters were on a warpath, so to speak, to make this unification bout happen.

Bradley would take on Luis Carlos Abregu in a championship affair. While Bradley had no trouble keeping the challenger at bay, it most definitely a fight that fans wouldn’t be clamoring for any time soon. It was a win, but it wasn’t pretty. Fast forward to an impressive performance against Urango, Alexander came back home to St. Louis where he faced Andres Kotelnik and narrowly escaped with a unanimous decision and his belts while his hometown fans and those watching at home called the result into question.

So here we are, ready to watch the two best candidates to take the torch that is boxing in America with Devon Alexander “The Great” and Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley. They’re both young and undefeated champions that know how to conduct themselves in and out of the ring.

Things are looking good, the crowd isn’t quite what it should be, but the folks that showed up at he Pontiac, Michigan venue have a certain energy about them as if they expect, just as we do, that something electric, and perhaps even historic, is about to take place before our very eyes.

Then they’ve made their way to the ring, famed announcer Michael Buffer introduces the fighters and within seconds it’s just the two combatants and the ref that are now in the ring. That’s really where the theme of the fight began to take shape. Fans were in that very second caught in between the expectations they had built up in their minds as opposed to he reality as to how exactly the fight would play out before them.

It’s not just the fans that experienced a rude awakening when the first bell sounded. It was clear that the game plans that they had worked so hard on in the weeks leading up to the fight where going to need some more adjustments, and then some more after that. Such wasn’t the case.

Early on HBO ringside announcer Jim Lampley predicted that we’d see three difference fights throughout the Showdown in Motown. Not exactly. What we saw in round one with Bradley pressing Alexander back and landing the major shots while Alexander kept himself active at least in terms of the comp-u-box totals, was what we saw for the remainder of a fight that lasted nine plus rounds.

Every so often it would appear that the height and hand speed of Alexander would be enough to steal a round, but rather than Alexander really taking control of the fight, it would soon appear it was due to the pint sized Adonis physique of Bradley electing to let his batteries recharge.

During a routine exchange in the middle of round three, the heads of both champions clashed and a relatively large cut opened up above the right eye of Alexander. Much to the chagrin of Alexander’s trainer, Kevin Cunningham, it was officially ruled to have come from a legal punch not from an unintentional headbutt that the HBO replay clearly showed it was.

Regardless, both men fought on. Bradley stuck with walking Alexander back and choosing his well timed shots. Suprisingly, the cut that now marred the right brow of Alexander did nothing to instill any sort of urgency in the young champion. True, it was early on in the night, but one would think that it would be enough to have the St. Louis native decide to take charge and get the scores as well as the fans in the Silverdome back in his favor.

Instead, he went on to produce just enough to take a few rounds on the judges scorecards (my official tally had a score of 97-93 in favor of Bradley).

In the tenth round the two fighter’s heads clashed into eachother on one final ocassion before referee Frank Garza called a break in the action while the rindside doc took a look at the lesions on the face of Alexander. Despite Alexander making a spectacle of how much pain he was in from the stinging sensation of his right eye, replays showed that it was actually his left eye that recieved contact during the final headbutt.

Regardless, Alexander was on the receiving end of a lot of unintentional fouls, and one can’t blame him for it taking it’s toll as it would on most fighters. It’s just that most fighters wouldn’t have made such a spectacle in front of the ringside doctor. Men with far greater cuts have at least put on an act just for the liberty of another three minutes to go out there and reclaim that unified title they simply refuse to give away.

Instead, seeing nothing but frustration, agony, and maybe just a touch of acting on the face of Alexander, the doc officially called the bout off. Lost in the commotion was the fact that Bradley had also sustained a cut during the last unintentional headbutt. It wasn’t nearly as grotesque as what Alexander was dealing with, but it was a cut nonetheless and he was ready to continue.

With the bout officially over the scorecards were tallied and then handed over to Michael Buffer where he announced that after nine full rounds and a partial tenth that they had come up with scores of 97-93, 98-93 and Tom Miller having the closest score of 96-95 all in favor of Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley.

Looking forward, neither fighter was truly pleased with the outcome. Bradley took some time to praise Jesus and give Alexander credit for being the tough fighter that he is. One who would ‘box you to pieces’ if you let him, which may explain some of the hesitancy displayed by Bradley at times.

The frustration of Alexander was much more apparent and understandable as he was in the face of his first loss and being forced to relinquish the WBC title that had helped make this fight happen. Inexplicably, he felt he was winning the fight. More appropriately, he cited that the headbutts throughout the fight had gotten to him more than he though possible. Afterall, you don’t train for headbutts in the gym.

Unfortunately for fight fans who are looking to move on from what is an early contender for 2011′s letdown of the year, there is a rematch clause that Alexander fully appears to be ready to use. Bradley on the other hand called out the likes of WBA champ Amir Khan and Mexican great Juan Mauel Marquez. A rematch with Alexander didn’t escape his lips in the post fight interview.

During a backstage interview before the fight, St. Louis trainer Kevin Cunningham, who is known for telling it like it is, emphatically claimed that Bradley would simply have to kill Alexander to break his will and get the win.

Unfortunately for everyone watching, all Bradley had to do to break the will of the champ was to cut him over the eye.

Maybe these two can hook back up somewhere down the line, but for now, I’d much prefer seeing Bradley take another step in his quest of fame and unification by taking on Amir “King” Khan.

At any rate, they will either fight eachother for a second time, or Bradley will move up the latter to embrace a bigger challenge while Alexander and Cunningham goes back to the drawing board. All I hope for in the both of them is that when they partake in their next challenge, against whomever it is they’re set to fight, that they don’t just fight to avoid losing, but they dare to be great.

If not for them, they’re careers, bank accounts or legacies, then for this fine country they represent.