Bradley was the victor last night
[BoxingGlove Notes]
As he predicted confidently, Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley never showed the after-effects of the brutal beatings he sustained at the hands of Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao and Ruslan Provodnikov.
Last night he successfully defended and retained his cherished W.B.O. 147 pound crown, and his undefeated boxing record by decisively defeating a suddenly aging Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez in 12 hard fought rounds. He proved that he indeed was ready and removed all doubts that he was the better man in the ring last night, Saturday, October 12, 2013, at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.
The decision was split with Judge Glenn Feldman scoring the fight in favor of Juan Marquez with a count of 115/113, while the other 2 Judges Robert Hoyle voted 115/113, and Judge Patrice Jarman voted 116/112 in favor of Timothy Bradley allowing him to retain his W.B.O. Welterweight Crown.
Marquez seemed angry but for the first time in a long time I feel that the voting was correct after fearing it would be called a draw. I felt Bradley won by a margin of 116/113. There were 2 rounds, the 2nd and the 10th, that I called even.
It was obvious from the very beginning of the fight that Bradley had probably attended the “Floyd Mayweather Boxing University”, and majored in the “shoulder-roll & elbow defense course”, because that is exactly how he fought a surprisingly, slower plodding and some-what confused Marquez throughout the fight. So the survivor of this “survivors” fight was Timothy Bradley.
It was a good technical boxing match with Bradley sticking to his well-planned attack of hit and move as Marquez surprisingly at times seemed too slow to react and counter-punch as he has been able to do so in other fights; especially the Pacquiao fight that resulted in the knockout heard around the world.
What Marquez needed I thought as I watched the fight was another Pacquiao, so maybe he should’ve contracted a 5th fight, and not fight Bradley.
Almost from the very first bell you could feel the mental chess match as to who was going to lead this “dance” first, and it was Marquez who scored with jabs and a follow-up right hand which missed as Bradley countered with body punches and point scoring jabs.
That was how the fight was fought throughout with Bradley in a spread-leg stance throwing punches in combinations scoring with most of them and bobbing and weaving low as Marquez countered back but missed with most of them. This was really a fight for the boxing “purists” who understand the sweet-science and is not held bent on seeing a blood and gore slugfest every time he or she enters a boxing arena.
This fight to me was a purely well-planned “war” of skilled fighters well- schooled in the arts of boxing but both carrying a lethal knockout punch, especially Juan Marquez.
By the 5th round you could sense that Bradley was beginning to hold the upper hand in this boxing chess game scoring hard punches to the body and head and moving away as Marquez tried to retaliate, missing all of his punches badly, tiring badly and looking frustrated. I could not understand why as the fight moved to rounds 8,9, then 10, Nacho Beristain, Marquez’s trainer kept telling him that he was winning the fight.
As expected or hoped for by his fans Marquez rallied back many times throughout the fight slightly staggering Bradley especially when at times a short slug fest emerged in some of the rounds thrilling the crowd. But Bradley would then skillfully pull away like Mayweather, going back to his defensive posture as the bell would sound.
Marquez looked very tired in the 11th and 12th rounds allowing Bradley to throw caution to the wind against his trainer, Joel Diaz’s orders for hom to stick-and- move. Ironically, in the 12th round Bradley slugged with Marquez and scored with a powerful left hook, almost knocking Marquez down. It allowed Bradley to win that last round decisively and gain the victory although close.
It was not a “great” fight, but a “good” and exciting fight and a just decision was rendered of a fight that kept you at the edge of your seat constantly.
So what is next for Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez, 40 years old, 55-6-1, 40 knockouts, 4 time world champion? Well, for me this was his swan song since there are no more boxing mountains for him to climb.
He doesn’t have to be chasing that elusive 5th world crown. He has his health, he’s rich, a Sports Analyst on E.S.P.N. Deportes, “Golpe A Golpe”, TV Latino Sports Show, and he is a “slam-dunk” Boxing Hall of Fame first Ballot inductee, five years after he retires.
Marquez should just fade away into the sunset and into the awaiting arms of his wife, Erica, and his 3 children.
For Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, 30 years old, 31-0-1 no- contest, 12 k.o.’s, 2 time world champ, the boxing world’s doors are now wide open as he executed almost to perfection his battle plan to defeat Marquez.
As I watched the fight I thought about the possibility of Bradley fighting Floyd Mayweather since he show-cased himself to be a worthy opponent for Floyd’s final stages of his retirement victory crusade throughout the year 2014.
The sadness of Bradley’s victory last night was that the cruel fans kept booing his well-deserved victory over Marquez. They were still punishing him being awarded the decision over Manny Pacquiao over a year ago.
Folks, Bradley was not the fight Judge, he was the fighter, and he fought brilliantly, and bravely then, as he did last night.
