Is Timothy Ray Bradley Jr. An ATG...???

On the subject of Bradley-Pacquiao I, now that was a close fight. I had it 7-5 for Manny. Bradley made him miss a lot that night.

 

He could qualify on a technicality. The upper 90s ATGs all have beaten 2 hall of famers and made at least 4 title defenses. In that sense, he qualifies. But since the two hall of famers he beat I thought he lost and drew with, no. Also, he was maybe the twentieth best boxer of his generation, not ATG material. A very good fighter just shy of greatness.

 

Who did he draw with? He won officially against JMM, and I honestly don't see how anyone saw that fight close Bradley battered Marquez.

 

He won against Marquez, but it was a gift in my opinion. Bradley didn't batter anyone. If anyone got battered it was Bradley the featherfist. Marquez is the harder puncher. Bradley outlanded Marquez by 15 punches, but when you look at who threw the harder punches Marquez had a 29 point advantage in power punches. He hits harder and landed more power punches.

Marquez outlanded Bradley in 3 rounds period, and 4 of the rounds were essentially even in terms of connects. In even rounds when nobody lands significantly more than the other I give the round to the one throwing harder leather and doing the most damage.

Go back and watch the fight again. Marquez is landing as much as Bradley but harder. The HBO cheerleaders were reading a script, Young Lion beats Old Lion, and they weren't describing what was taking place in the ring.

 

I gave Marquez the 1st, 9th, 11th & 12th Bradley won the rest 116-112 Bradley, but I could see 117-111 as the 12th was close enough that Bradley could've won it.

 

I'm a big Bradley fan and don't have him as an ATG. That distinction is pretty high for me. I can see him making the HOF, though.

I did meet Desert Storm once, at a sushi spot in the MGM Grand. We talked a while and he was incredibly personable.

 

Here's my scorecard from the time.
JJM vs Bradley
R1 Draw. Looked like an even exchange.
R2 Bradley. Not a lot between them. Bradley busier + good flurry at the bell.
R3 JMM. Not much to separate the two. Lots of dodging, blocking, and countering.
R4 Jmm. Landing more and harder punches.
R5 Bradley. Slight edge to Bradley. More pressure.
R6 Bradley. Slightly busier more aggressive. Still not much landing for either.
R7 Bradley. Marquez just didn't do anything.
R8 Bradley. Getting cocky. Throwing a little more. Not a lot of damage, but Marquez being sluggish and inactive.
R9 JMM. Finally moving forward throwing punches.
R10 JMM. Doing a little more. Not much more than Bradley. Could go either way.
R11 JMM Letting his hands go. Bradley Coasting.
R12 JMM. Bradley on his bicycle.

 

He was coasting because he probably thought (like me) he had a big lead I had him up 8-2. I'm sure he thought he had won at least 7 rounds why else would he coast?

 

I know, a lot of people saw it that way. I think it's a problem with Marquez' counter punching style. He's always going backward, so it looks like the other guy is the aggressor and is having it all his own way. That's how they robbed him against Freddie Norwood and in the third Pacquiao fight. I never saw the Chris John fight, but a similar thing might have been going on there too. He's a hard luck fighter and you could make a case that his record should probably be closer to 61-3 than 56-7-1.

 

I actually thought MAB beat him too. I've only ever saw the John fight once but from what I remember John legitimately beat him in a close fight.

 

I'll always have a soft spot for Bradley.

At one time he appeared to be a pint-sized Bernard Hopkins. Dirty fighter, horrible to watch but tremendously effective. He dispatched a fighter I always felt would eventually fulfil his potential (but never did) in Junior Witter. When he beat a personal favourite in Kendall Holt my dislike for him grew.

By the time he met Pacquiao I wanted nothing more than to see him lose, badly.

Which he did, sort of. Can't imagine what fight those judges were watching, it wasn't the one I saw.

Then came Provodnikov. Breaking the habit of a lifetime, instead of stinking out the place with the kind of familiar performance that would've sealed an ugly victory he bit down and showed the kind of tremendous balls that someone like Mayweather (or Hopkins for that matter) could have, but never did.

I'll always love him for that fight. I've never had an opinion I've held of a fighter shattered so completely in one fight.

ATG.

 

He is def not an ATG, probably a HOF'er though I could make the argument either way in a debate and feel confident, so he's no shoe-in for that either.

 

The notion that Marquez was robbed against John is a topic I have discussed almost as much as any other on this forum ever since I showed up. Most people have not seen the fight but still regurgitate that Marquez deserved the win. I swear I've watched it start to finish a half dozen times, debated specific moments and rounds in the fight, read a lot of different peoples' opinions and John certainly won that fight legit. Very close fight, yes. But he won.

 

First of all, Bradley's lifetime habit was stinking out the place with ugly victories? Obviously you never watched Bradley before or you just passionately hated the man from the get go.

As far as the Provodnikov fight, remember all the concern for him? I remember he had all sorts of detailed brain scans done for weeks after that fight. He slurred his words for months after the fight. He was in a bad place mentally from not just the Pac fight, but the Provodnikov fight too. Pretty sure if he had a time machine, he would have done it different.

 

Apart from that one fight ( against an all action guy who was always in good fights to watch) Bradley always stank the joint out, he was always a dull, boring feather fisted, dirty fighter to watch. One fight can't change the overall realism that Bradley was a boring fighter to watch.