Tim Bradley: “I Don’t Get No Respect” – The African American Rodney Dangerfield of Boxing

By Roy “Sharpshooter” Bennett

“I don’t get no respect”. – Comedian and huge boxing fan Rodney Dangerfield

I need to get something off my chest that I’ve been quietly seething about lately. Top Rank seems determined to put Tim Bradley out to pasture. But he keeps winning and wrecking Bob Arum’s carefully laid plans for other fighters. For the uninitiated and the wilfully ignorant these are the facts.

Tim Bradley signed with Top Rank to be able to make a fight with Manny Pacquiao a reality, stopping a faded Joel Casamayor to get his big chance. This was around the same time some people, Bernard Hopkins included, were saying Pacquiao had been purposely avoiding African American boxers in their athletic prime. Bradley fit the bill. But the fact is the subtext to all of this was Bob Arum signed Bradley with a view to feeding him to Pacquiao as pugilistic food. You read that right. Food. But it didn’t work out that way.

Bradley won a controversial decision on the scorecards. Arum was furious. His promotional company’s cash cow had lost. Whether you agreed with the outcome or not the result remained official.

Due to the lack of a wider perspective people forget Tim Bradley’s achievements. His accomplishments are unfairly diminished because of the fallout from the first Pacquiao fight.

Tim Bradley, 32-1-1, 12 KO’s came up the hard way and has ducked no one. He won his first world title on the road in Europe when he and his wife had less than US$20 in the bank.

He climbed off the deck twice to beat Kendall Holt when Holt was knocking everybody out. He beat Luis Carlos Abregu when no one else was rushing to fight the dangerous, and unbeaten Argentinian banger who was 29-0, 23 KO’s at the time.

Then he gave the unbeaten Lamont Peterson his first loss in 2009. The Washington DC native was 27-0, 13 KO’s going in. He then roughed up Devon Alexander so badly in Pontiac, Michigan that Alexander quit on his stool. Prior to the fight more than a few people were saying Alexander was the future.

Bradley fought Pacquiao twice when a lot of other guys were running in the opposite direction. He fought that knockdown drag out Pier 6 brawl with Ruslan Provodnikov and won. His brain got shook so bad in that contest he suffered partial memory loss for three months after the fight.

He out boxed and beat Juan Manuel Marquez after the Mexican maestro was coming off the biggest win of his career; the stunning KO win over his arch rival Manny Pacquiao. He then fought a draw with another argentine fighter Diego Chaves, in a fight many thought Bradley clearly won. Recently he beat Jesse Vargas, a young unbeaten Hispanic boxer, Top Rank had been carefully grooming for bigger things. No doubt Bob Arum is none too pleased about that either.

What has Tim Bradley got to do to get respect? Now Top Rank is talking about him facing Saddam Ali next. What the hell for? Beating another young prospect does absolutely nothing for Bradley’s career. I’m not in dispute with anyone over Bradley’s body of work because there’s nothing to dispute. He has pretty much fought top level opposition ever since he entered championship class, when he beat Junior Witter for the WBC super lightweight title (junior welterweight to you and me) in England in 2008.

The promotional thing is what it is. But the fact remains Top Rank are doing Bradley a disservice by not sitting down to break bread with other promoters. They are also blatantly disrespecting Bradley by matching him with young prospects instead of getting him a big name fight.

Some say Amir Khan is more deserving. But I’m not joining the queue to buy any of that snake oil. Upon closer inspection you will see why.

1) Bradley has never been KO’d. Khan has been obliterated twice by Bredis Prescott and Danny Garcia. Both of whom he has refused to have a rematch with. It won’t be the last time you hear the sound of shattering glass as far as Khan’s chin is concerned.

2) Bradley beat Alexander handily and was the first man to give the St Louis native a loss. Khan beat Alexander 3 years after Bradley turned the trick and after Alexander had struggled mightily in wins over Andriy Koltelnik and Lucas Matthysse.

3) Bradley called Khan out on numerous occasions when both fighters were at junior welterweight but all Khan did was make excuses and decide to take the path of lesser resistance against Danny Garcia. We all know what happened there.

Tim Bradley is a warrior. I have no doubt he would fight Canelo, Cotto, or Golovkin or any other top fighter you care to name between welterweight and middleweight. Can the same be said for Khan? The answer is a resounding no!

Khan won’t fight Brook. Khan won’t fight Thurman. Khan won’t fight Bradley. That says a lot. None of it complimentary.

However, Khan will continue to bleat about wanting to fight Floyd Mayweather, JR. He could have strengthened his case by fighting Kell Brook in a massive PPV fight in England for British bragging rights. He’d have been paid a king’s ransom for what is a long overdue, good old fashioned, grudge match. But what did he choose to do instead? Fight Chris Algieri on Spike TV for a fraction of what he’d have made for facing Brook on British soil. Am I the only one who thinks Virgil Hunter knows he’s got a fragile prima donna on his hands?

Bradley has done more than enough to deserve a big fight in his next outing. Whether it’s at welterweight or junior middleweight.

Bradley can’t get that Top Rank love because black fighters don’t bring big fan bases to the dance the way some Hispanic and Asian boxers do, and therefore most black boxers don’t bring in the big money either. Yes, I went there. But that’s another subject for another rant. The bottom line is Tim Bradley deserves more respect from his promoter and the fans for his achievements.

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