Dominic Ingle on Timothy Bradley
In retirement, Timothy Bradley should be praised for his achievements
IWATCHED a lot of Timothy Bradley before the Junior Witter fight in 2008. I’ll admit, I didn’t think he was anything fantastic. When he beat Junior, it was a tough fight, a scrappy fight and it allowed him to go on and do what he did.
He trained hard, he worked hard and he was involved in some great fights. He was one of very few men to beat Manny Pacquiao, regardless of the circumstances. He was a very good performer. He was very effective when he fought.
He’s a very polite, cordial man as well. I met him about a year after the Witter fight when he boxed Nate Campbell in America. He was always a very polite kid, very respectful, a very good fighter, good to watch and did the basics very well.
When he boxed Devon Alexander, Alexander had to work very hard from the off, and Bradley forced Alexander to quit. I thought that was a very good performance from him, a standout win.
Obviously he beat Pacquiao, he beat pretty much everybody. There were times when he didn’t look so good, for example when he got caught in the last round by Jessie Vargas, and he may have underestimated him in that fight. Towards the back end of his career, he didn’t seem to be getting the fights he should’ve been. There was a point where he shined bright, but then those fights weren’t coming his way for whatever reason.
He was just an all-round solid performer, no nonsense, no trashtalking, always came in good condition, always trained hard. He got the job done.
He had a great career. The only person he lost to was Manny Pacquiao twice, and I don’t think Pacquiao was over the hill or anything when they fought, so he was beaten by a very good Pacquiao. He also beat Juan Manuel Marquez. With his achievements, from my point of view, he didn’t get the recognition he deserved. He boxed everybody, Kendall Holt as well, and most of the time he beat them quite easily.
It says a lot that the only person to beat him was Pacquiao – it goes to show what a great fighter Bradley was. He’s not usually mentioned in the same breath as other great fighters in recent years, but he should be. He beat Pacquiao, he beat Marquez, and you talk about the great fights between Pacquiao and Marquez, but somewhere in there you should be mentioning Timothy Bradley’s name.
He was also a fighter that Floyd Mayweather never really mentioned. You have to ask yourself the question, why didn’t Floyd Mayweather fight him? A bit too fresh, a bit too keen, a bit too tough. That’s the thing.
I was never fully aware of talks for him to fight Kell Brook, although there may have been some conversations. It was never mentioned to me. It would have been a great fight, but I think Kell would have beaten Timothy Bradley. I think he had the style to beat Bradley. He only just scraped past Junior, and Witter was over 30 at the time, he had a lot of problems going on as well, he had a lot on his mind, it wasn’t the best performance.
It makes you wonder why Bradley’s retiring. Perhaps the fights aren’t there, perhaps the motivation isn’t there anymore.
For me, what stood out about Bradley was his consistency, his sportsmanship, his ring-generalship and the fact that he was a very polite and respectful man. It was always enjoyable watching him fight.
THERE’S PACQUIAO AND MARQUEZ – YOU SHOULD BE MENTIONING BRADLEY TOO