By Freddy Fresco
After Timothy Bradley successfully defended his WBO welterweight title against Juan Manuel Marquez there was no question that he won a chess match against the great Mexican fighter, but as usual Marquez and his trainer Nacho Beristain cried robbery.
Bradley convincingly beat Marquez, he impressed me with his skills and his composure and after that fight I rank him higher than Floyd Mayweather Jr. because he has a better resume and fought the man who Floyd ducked for years — Manny Pacquiao.
How can Floyd Mayweather rank so high when he never fought the guys we wanted to see in their prime and has ducked Manny Pacquiao who would have been his signature status fight. I felt Bradley lost against Pacquiao but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he had the balls to face the man in the ring without a drug test and never got knocked out. Bradley resume speaks for itself he beat guys at the peak of their career or in their respective primes, from going all the way to England and beating Junior Witter for his WBC light welterweight belt in his hometown, being the man at 140 pounds and fighting and and giving previously undefeated fighters Devon Alexander, Lamont Peterson and Luis Carlos Abregu their first professional losses. Bradley also has wins over current lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez who is extremely hard to beat because of his awkward style and the tough durable Kendall Holt and Ruslan Provodnikov, and of course future hall of famers Manny Pacquiao, and Juan Manuel Marquez.
I don’t like to call other fighters cowards but it’s clear as day that Floyd and his father were scared to tussle with the Pacman in his prime. That show of hesitance and obstacles being put up over and over show that Floyd is not truly confident in his skills. Anyone who fought Manny Pacquiao willingly deserves to be respected more than Floyd does.
I have more respect for Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton, Sugar Shane Mosley, Timothy Bradley, and anyone else who fought Manny Pacquiao at the time Mayweather ducked him. These men are what we call brave throwback fighters! They never said they were better than anyone else but wanted to test themselves against the best and most without hesitation. Floyd on the other hand claims to be the best ever, yet doesn’t even have confidence in his skills when it came to the Pacman, even bringing up steroid testing and after Pacman agreed he continued to keep repeating the “take the test” slogan of his.
Timothy Bradley exemplifies a true champion. Fans need to stop hating on this man already, he didn’t judge the fights, he got the decision but you must not blame him for decisions that the judges gave to him. Bradley showed us heart and warrior spirit in the Ruslan Provodnikov fight, he went toe to toe with a hard hitting Russian and weathered the storm after being out on his feet several times to comeback and win a decision.
His schooling of Juan Manuel Marquez shows that Bradley truly is the real deal. He is a multifaceted and well versed boxer, who has different looks, his only weakness is his lack of punching power but he sure had enough power to nearly knock down Marquez in the final round of their technical battle.
Most of Mayweather’s wins are questionable, like his victory over Juan Manuel Marquez calling him up from 135 to 144 pounds and failing to make the contracted weight, his fight with Miguel Cotto only willing to face him now that he was washed up, his catchweight with Canelo Alvarez after calling out Pacquiao out for them, his win over an overtrained Shane Mosley, slow plodding Robert Guerrero who had no chance, his sucker punching of Victor Ortiz. The biggest thing that hurts his legacy is his refusal to face Antonio Margarito and a prime Manny Pacquiao.
Tim Bradley will fight anyone his promoter puts in front of him and that is all we ask for as a fight fans. Bradley is the top dog at 147 pounds in my eyes not Floyd Mayweather.
