Just heard that Tim Bradley will make his first defence of his WBC title following his upset win over Junior Witter - against Edner Cherry. I have just one question - WHY? Cherry is clearly not a lightwelter and was owned by Maligfaggi - I was impressed with Bradley's performance to take the title from my fellow Yorkshireman Witter, and understand the trend towards easy first defences, but feel Bradley is wasting his time here..... Instead he ought to be looking at unifying the WBA title to pretty much force a megafight with Ricky Hatton. Your thoughts.......
He does have something - 1% chance of success here. Bradley seems to be a bit of a dark horse - sometimes the publicity machine is in overdrive from Gary Shaw when he has a young unbeaten prospect, yet we heard nothing over here. I felt he had little chance against Witter (though I was rooting for Tim) until about midway through the second round when it was clear that he had studied Witter at length and realised that a high work rate coupled with sharp footwork leaves Junior in a right pickle. A rematch with Witter would prove more than beating Cherry - to prove it wasn't merely a one-off.
i doubt it he takes on witter again..he did win but still witter would still be considered a dangerous fight and i'll think of it as a 50/50 fight if the rematch is done
This would be annoying if true. Last I had heard it was going to be Vivian Harris, which would have been a much more respectable opponent (although people were getting on his ass for that as well). Cherry isn't someone who could beat Bradley at his best. Need someone with a bit of pop and a bit of boxing ability to beat Bradley, most likely.
Why not? New champs get "gimme" fights all the time. This is just another one of those. Hopefully they'll show it on ESPN.
Vivian Harris is shot - he should be looking straight at unification or a lightweight stepping up. There is insufficient depth at 140 below championship level.
Edner upset the applecart when he beat Mayweather trained Wes Ferguson on the Mayweather v Hatton undercard.. Edner is decent and got great exposure from that fight, but he is really just the type of fighter i would put in against Amir Khan in Khans US debut.. a man not too dangerous , but good enough to hang on in there for a few rounds.. Timothy will slaughter him..
What leverage does he have for a rematch? Bradley was a mandatory, so there wasn't a rematch clause in the contract, and Witter doesn't bring any money to the table. As a champ, Bradley can probably make as much money fighting Cherry and other second-raters as he could fighting Witter.
Bradley wins this one big. He's a step up from Cherry and a division higher. Cherry is a solid test for prospects and those trying to crack the top ten but not for a belt holder in a higher weight class.
