Exclusive Interview by Marc Anthony

“When am I going to get a chance to fight Manny Pacquiao?” – Timothy Bradley

WBO Light Welterweight Champion, number one ranked, Timothy Bradley, 26-0, 11 KO’s, is set to battle WBC Light Welterweight Champion, ranked three, Devon Alexander, 21-0, 13 KO’s, on January 29th at the Silverdome, in Pontiac, Michigan. The live broadcast will be provided by HBO’s World Championship Boxing.

When you have two highly ranked fighters going up against each other, they tend to bring out the best in one another. But in team Bradley’s training camp, there was a scary moment. Testament to how brutal our sport can be at the elite levels. Stakes are very high and “Desert Storm” is fully aware of this. For the winner: it sets up a possible fight with Amir Khan (coming off an impressive victory over Marcos Maidana).

Another possibility for Bradley, should he overcome Alexander is a possible showdown with Manny Pacquiao, a fight that has been rumored to be in the making at one point. He has also been rumored to be considered as one of the potential opponents of Floyd Mayweather, JR., should he return to the ring.

MA: Can you give us what your typical meal looks like during camp?

Typical meal: In the morning time, its oatmeal or a tofu scramble with some mixed greens like kale, some zucchini, some brown rice and some beans or juice mixed in with three to four vegetables that I mix and just drink that.

During lunch, I will have some sort of replacement meal: soy based or whey based protein replacement meal like a shake from Maxishop.

For dinner, I will have a tempeh burger, whole grain toast with vegetables and vegetable soup with squash or any kind of vegetarian soup…I will have that as well. I get my protein from quinoa: It has a lot of protein in it and it’s very good for you. I eat lots of tempeh, lots of tofu, and lots of quinoa. I pretty much stick to those foods.

MA: In the past you have been involved in coaching a Junior All American Football team, during your free time. What’s the name of the team?

The name of the league is the “Cathedral City Lions Youth Football and Cheer.” I don’t do any coaching. I am the President: I oversee the program. I just help out my sons’ team; I am out there helping out and pumping up the guys. Making sure they are working hard and instilling discipline.

It’s a great experience; it gives me the opportunity to do something I have always wanted to do. I always wanted to play football when I was a kid but I couldn’t play because I was always boxing. My father wouldn’t allow me to play; he didn’t want me to get injured.

Plus, it gives me the opportunity to help out kids that really want to play professional ball or college ball. And I want to give these kids in my city where I live an opportunity to be able to do that. You rarely see people in my position helping these kids day in and day out. I know Snoop Dog has a couple of teams that he helps out and that’s great! I am sure that there will be some stars that develop from his program.

MA: Do you watch boxing outside of your weight class? If so what boxers coming up do you like?

I do watch boxing outside of my weight class. I like Juan Manuel Lopez, Andre Berto, Andre Ward, Juan Manuel Marquez, Chad Dawson, and Chris Arreola. I like to watch…Nonito Doniare, he is a beast! I watch all these guys. Anytime there is a boxing match I am always watching

MA: What conversation is most heard at the Timothy Bradley camp?

When am I going to get a chance to fight Manny?!

That’s the most heard conversation! Not just in my camp, it’s everywhere. I walk around town and everybody is like “Man, when are you going get a shot at Manny?” They tell me “You have a great opportunity to beat this guy when are you going to get a shot at him?” I tell them, “whenever Manny and his people want it.” I have to build myself up a little bit more before I get an opportunity; it’s all about the money.

MA: Your sparring partner is staying in the hospital for a collapsed lung from a body shot, this true?

Yeah, it was bad. I was scared for the kid. I was really scared because, we sparred in the past (last week) but yesterday I caught him in the same spot a couple of times during the last round. He got out of the ring and he said his shoulder was hurting. I was training and everybody else was taking care of him, and then someone yelled: “Call 911!” I stopped and said “What! Is this for real?” Then I was told: “Yeah, he can’t breathe!” So, they took him to the hospital.

After my training, I went to the hospital to check up on him and his whole right side was swollen, and I was like “Oh my goodness!” I asked him if he was hurting and if he was alright. He told me that he has been in the ring with many world champions, Antonio Margarito, Sergio Martinez, and Victor Ortiz, but he said that he has never been hit that hard in his life to the body. He smiled and told me hard work does pay off!

I was told that when he first went in, he had a collapsed lung at 25%. Then it went down to 15% then 5%. I was told that he can’t do anything for about ten days. He has to go today to get checked up again. The kid is alright though.

He told me when we first starting sparring, he told his coach that he has never experienced body shots like that in his life. He told his coach every time that I hit him it just hurt. His coach told him to put on those rib protectors like Floyd has. But he told his coach: “Man, I am a fighter! I am not going be some coward and get some rib protectors!”

He didn’t want people to think he was soft because he has rib protectors on. We had a conversation after he got out and I told him: It is part of the business and that he will grow from this.

MA: What part of the business of boxing needs to change?

I feel we need a governing body. We need some guarantees in this business. We put our life on the line in every single fight. You are guaranteed your money win, lose or draw, but if you lose, you have to go back to the drawing board and I think that is just ridiculous.

Every other sport has a national governing body that protects the athletes: You have a contract that has guarantees every year. But in boxing, it’s not like that. It sucks; you only get paid during a fight. There is nothing protecting us, besides our manager or our lawyers, and I feel certain promoters and sanctioning bodies do crooked things… I am just going be honest. I feel that sometimes things are not right. Sometimes a fighter doesn’t know about the business side of boxing and someone can take advantage of him. And I think that it’s just not fair. We’re boxers…we don’t really know the business side too well. I know the business better than I did before. What I know now had I known two or three years ago, things would be a lot different.

A lot of these promoters need to stop doing these in house fights only and stop keeping their fighters controlled like a monopoly. These promoters won’t allow anybody outside fighters to fight their fighters or champions. So you have certain promoters grabbing all these fighters under one stable and just have them fight against each other and leave other promoters out to burn. Other promoters have champions as well but certain promoters won’t let their Champions fight unless they are part of the same promoter. They tell you ‘We don’t need you. You need us.”

I think the sport would be better off if we had a National Governing Body to make sure fights get made and that fighters had guarantees that you get to train and get paid “x” amount per year. I was working a full time job before I became a World Champion. It’s just tough when there is no retirement money after fighting. If you don’t know what you are doing with your money, you could end up being broke at the end of your career.

MA: In a December 13th interview, you said Maidana is one of the guys that you most fear out of everybody. Some people took that as if you were scared of him. Did you want to clarify that to all the readers of RSR what you meant by that?

To all the readers out there, that was just a figure of speech: that this guy is dangerous. Timothy Bradley is scared of nobody! I was supposed to fight Maidana and he ran out on me.

In a nutshell, I was just giving Maidana props. Just put it that way. I was giving him props for the way he performed against Khan for taking that liver shot. This guy took a liver shot, gets up, continues to fight hard, nearly has Khan out on his fight, and finished the fight tough! I admire that determination and will.

All the readers out there need to understand that: We are fighters! We are gladiators! We are not afraid of anybody. If I had an opportunity to fight Klitschko I would fight him. It doesn’t matter; just because he is big, it doesn’t mean anything.

It doesn’t matter man, we are fighters! If everybody could fight you would see these guys that just sit back by a computer and talk crap about other fighters and stuff, fight. They wouldn’t dare step up inside a ring. They wouldn’t dare step up inside that ring with any one of us. You can sit back and talk all you want because everybody has an opinion. But, why don’t you come in my gym and get in the ring with me and then we can solve it that way.

Some people take things that I say out of context. All I was saying: out of any fighter, Maidana is the toughest one. He is unpredictable, you think you have him dead tired and then he throws a big shot over the top and catches you while you’re sleeping on him: End of night! Khan is pretty much predictable. Khan is going move and use his speed. Use his fast hands. Maidana is going come forward and just explode out of nowhere.

MA: Beating Devon Alexander would mean what to your career?

Beating Devon Alexander is everything! Whatever I did in the past, it doesn’t matter anymore. That’s how I feel: Whatever I did in the past, it doesn’t even matter anymore. This is my first fight in my career. This will put me over the top. This will make me a superstar, it will put me up with the bigger names: Manny…Floyd… Martinez…Marquez and my name would be right there mentioned with them. So, this fight is everything for my career, my life!

MA: Your Final Thoughts.

I am glad I am here and thank God for blessing me in getting me in this position that I am in. I love you guys and to all my boxing fans out there thank you for supporting and believing in me. Definitely to Team Bradley and my promoters: Gary Shaw and Thompson Boxing Promotions I thank them. To my family and anybody involved in boxing, I love you guys for allowing me to do what I do. I really appreciate it.

Timothy Bradley
Nickname: “Desert Storm”
Division: Light Welterweight
Professional Record: 26-0-1, 11 KO’s

2010

07-17 — Luis Carlos Abregu, Rancho Mirage, CA, W 12

2009

12-12 — Lamont Peterson, Rancho Mirage, CA, W 12
(Retained WBO light welterweight title)
08-01 — Nate Campbell, Rancho Mirage, CA, NC 3
(Retained WBO light welterweight title)
04-04 — Kendall Holt, Montreal, Canada, W 12
(Retained WBC light welterweight title)
(Won WBO light welterweight title)

2008

09-13 — Edner Cherry, Biloxi, MS, W 12
(Retained WBC light welterweight title)
05-10 — Junior Witter, Nottingham, United Kingdom, W 12
(Won WBC light welterweight title)

2007

07-27 — Miguel Vazquez, Corona, CA, W 10
06-01 — Donald Camarena, Santa Ynez, CA, W 10
04-13 — Nasser Athumani, Ontario, CA, TKO 5
02-02 — Manuel Garnica, Santa Ynez, CA, W 8

2006

12-01 — Jaime Rangel, Santa Ynez, CA, W Tech Dec 8
10-16 — Alfonso Sanchez, Ontario, CA, KO 1
08-18 — Martin Ramirez, Corona, CA, TKO 5
06-23 — Arturo Urena, Ontario, CA, TKO 3
05-13 — Jesus Santiago, Lancaster, CA, KO 6
03-31 — Eli Addison, Ontario, CA, W 8
02-17 — Rafael Ortiz, Ontario, CA, TKO 2

2005

11-21 — Jorge Padilla, Ontario, CA, W Tech Dec 9
09-23 — Francisco Rincon, Corona, CA, W 10
08-26 — Juan Cervantes, Corona, CA, W 6
07-21 — Marcos Costa, Los Angeles, CA, TKO 5
06-03 — Justo Almazan, Ontario, CA, W 6
04-25 — Ramon Ortiz, Ontario, CA, KO 3
03-28 — Carlos Parra, Ontario, CA, KO 1

2004

11-22 — Luis Medina, Ontario, CA, TKO 1
10-29 — Raul Nunez, Ontario, CA, W 4
08-20 — Francisco Martinez, Corona, CA, TKO 2

Advertise Now On RSR

Purchase Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime

Pre-Order the Horror Thriller FAMILY SECRET Now!

Popularity: 26%