| Timothy Bradley | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Boxer | |
| Born | Aug. 29, 1983 |
| Nationality | American |
Timothy Bradley is a famous undefeated American boxer. He is the current WBO welterweight champion and a former title holder of the WBC junior welterweight championship.
Early Life
Timothy Bradley was born on August 29, 1983, in Cathedral City, California. He started training as a boxer in his late teens. Before he started his boxing career, Timothy worked as a dishwasher and a waiter for a local hotel. He later married his childhood friend, Monica Manzo and in 2010, he became the adoptive father of her two children.
Professional Boxing Career
Timothy had his very first professional bout on August 20, 2004. He defeated Francisco Martinez in the second round. As he rose through the ranks, Bradley won the WBC youth welterweight and the super lightweight championship titles. He also fought and defeated Miguel Vazquez, the future IBF lightweight champion, via a unanimous 10-round decision.
Bradley’s Major Matches
Timothy finally got a chance for a world title when Jose Castillo could not make weight in a title eliminator for the WBC super lightweight championship. Bradley faced British boxer Junior Witter in England and defeated him with a knockout in the sixth round. He was awarded the WBC super lightweight title as a result.
On April 4, 2009, Bradley faced Kendall Holt to defend his WBC and the WBO titles. He was dropped in the first round and was severely hurt. He later regrouped and dominated the fight for the better part of it. Timothy finally won the bout by a unanimous decision and became the new WBO champ.
A few days after his fight with Holt, Timothy was stripped of his title because he refused to face Devon Alexander. As a result, the title was vacant and Alexander won the belt after fighting Witter.
On December 5, 2009, Timothy Bradley took on a mandatory challenger and the future light welterweight champ, Lamont Peterson. Timothy dominated the fight and knocked down Peterson in the third round.
Fighting in Different Divisions
Bradley’s promoter talked to ESPN.com and said that Timothy would fight Marco Maidana in California. The fight was supposed to be on June 19, 2010. However, due to an injury, Marco postponed the fight. Timothy decided to fight Abregu on July 17 instead. During the fight, Timothy proved to be too fast and skilled for Abregu. Bradley won the fight via a unanimous decision. When the fight ended, Timothy made a challenge to Manny Pacquiao.
On January 29, 2011, Bradley defended his WBO junior welterweight title against Devon Alexander in the Pontiac Silverdome Arena. Timothy won with a technical knockout in the tenth round. However, he was stripped that title as well after refusing to face Amir Khan.
Many people speculated that Timothy was not satisfied with the $1.3 million offer to fight a great boxer like Amir. He also admitted that fighting with Amir was too risky and he might lose his chance of fighting Pacquiao for $ 7.5 million.
Timothy joined Top Rank promotions and actually made his own debut with them on November 2011. This was after defeating Joel Casamayor. In November of 2011, he defended the WBO junior welterweight against Joel Casamayor and won in the eighth round.
Bradley vs. Pacquiao
Bradley faced Pacquiao on June 9, 2012, and he won a very controversial victory by split decision. This decision was made by three judges and two of them named Bradley as the winner. This fight was a great upset to many boxing fans since Manny had won seven rounds compared to the five won by Bradley.
This decision spurred speculation and many people believed Manny should have won. This fight was watched by thousands of fans from all over the world as it was broadcast on pay-per-view.
Recent Career
After the fight with Pacquiao, Timothy won a fight against Ruslan Provodnikov on March 16, 2013. He was crowned the WBO selterweight champ. Ruslan was given this fight to serve as a very easy target for Bradley, who came out on attack mode very early in the bout.
Ruslan made him pay by tagging him with hard shots in the first round and then staggering him in the second round. With time, Timothy boxed much more conservatively as this fight wore on. He won most of the middle rounds and in the last round, Bradley won.
On October 12, 2013, Timothy faced Juan Manuel in Las Vegas and won this fight as well.