Larry Brown Sports

Timothy Bradley overcame a knockdown and what he says was a concussion to beat Ruslan Provodnikov in one of the most exciting fights of the year.

Bradley, who was fighting for the first time since winning a controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao last June, was awarded a unanimous decision victory by the judges. Two judges had the fight 114-113, while the third had it 115-112 in favor of Bradley, who retained his WBO welterweight title.

The two slugged it out for 12 rounds and were left with massive welts and bruises on their faces and bodies. Though Provodnikov won the first two rounds, Bradley rallied in the middle rounds, which is likely where he gained the most points with the judges. He was also lucky that the referee did not rule a knockdown against him in the first round.

Bradley took a monster right, stayed on his feet momentarily, and he fell forward to the canvas a few seconds later. For some reason, the referee did not rule it a knockdown, even though Bradley stumbled back to the ground when he attempted to get up (seen below).

The horrendous decision by the referee could have cost Provodnikov a point on the judges’ cards, which could have resulted in two of them having it a 113-113 draw.

Bradley did officially get knocked down in the final round. He was wobbly after taking a severe beating in the final minute of the fight. Bradley dropped his knee to the canvas with 12 seconds left and got up just before the final bell.

The final punch stats were in Bradley’s favor. He landed 347 of 1000 (35 percent) punches thrown compared to 218 of 676 (32 percent) for Provodnikov, per HBO. He also landed 218 of 511 (43 percent) of power punches, compared to 186 of 514 (36 percent) for Provodnikov.

After the fight, Bradley told HBO’s Max Kellerman that he was concussed early in the fight.

“I think I got a concussion. I know I do,” Bradley said with a giggle. “Without a doubt.

“This guy is a power puncher,” Bradley said of Provodnikov. “He’s a great warrior, and I take my hat off to him. He’ll beat any 140 and 147-pounder out there. He’s the real deal.”

Bradley’s mental state was so bad, he forgot that he had told Kellerman a minute before their interview that he had been concussed.

“What did I say? I forgot,” Bradley said when Kellerman asked him to repeat what he had told him moments earlier.

So, yeah, Bradley overcame a concussion, knockdown, and received a break from the referee to get the win. According to Bryan A. Graham, Bradley will face the winner of Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado. The winner of that fight will likely face the winner of Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez.

Timothy Bradley was lucky he was awarded a split-decision victory over Manny Pacquiao last weekend, but now he’s just gloating.

“I took his best punch. [Pacquiao's] a good puncher, but Kendall Holt is a better puncher,” Bradley said on The Boxing Lab. “Holt has one-punch knockout power. Pacquiao doesn’t.

“I’ve been in the ring with guys who are faster,” he said.

While Bradley did credit Pacquiao for being smart, throwing good combinations, and having snappy punches, he maintained that Pac Man wasn’t that impressive.

“He couldn’t knock me out. He hurt me once. The majority of the shots he missed,” Bradley says.

All the talk about the fight being fixed and that Bradley was given a gift has him jaded.

“I’m the welterweight champion of the world and it don’t feel like it because people don’t feel like I deserve it. It sucks. It’s not right. I’m not giving my belt back. Period,” he says.

Oh, and what’s Bradley’s motivation for his next fight?

“Whatever makes the most money.”

Yeah, that’s not going to help dispel speculation that the fix was in. Meanwhile, there are talks that Pacquiao may fight Juan Manuel Marquez for the fourth time instead of Bradley in November.

Bradley sure is talking a big game for a guy who clearly lost. I really don’t care what he says after being gifted a decisions. I watched the fight with the sound off, too, just like he says, and he still lost.

Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Those of you who follow boxing know that last weekend the sport saw one of the most controversial decisions of all time. Timothy Bradley defeated Manny Pacquiao to become the welterweight champion, and people who know boxing say it was obvious that Pacquiao won the fight. For a tremendously thorough analysis on how and why the fight could have been fixed, be sure to read LB’s thoughts on what went down in Las Vegas.

After the fight, Pacquiao fans were outraged — so much so that Bradley says he has been receiving death threats since claiming the belt.

“Definitely on Facebook and Twitter, reading people’s comments, e-mails and people are sending me like death threats, telling me to die, telling me to give the belt back, ‘if you’re a man’ and all this hate mail,” Bradley said during an interview with ESPN Radio in Chicago’s Waddle and Silvy Show. “Just people being really rude like I’m the one to blame. ‘If you’re a real champion and want any respect from me then you’d give the belt back.’ I’m like ‘dude I earned the belt and I’m not giving the belt back.’

“Anybody out there that thinks I should give the belt back, the belt is not going back. I deserve the belt. I won the fight regardless of what anyone thinks. The judges thought I won the fight and that is that. I’m not the one to blame here. Don’t be pointing the finger at me, don’t be sending me crazy e-mails and things like that because I really don’t care.”

Unless Bradley had a hand in fixing the fight, he did indeed win the fight fair and square from his perspective. He also denied claims that he told promoter Bob Arum that he felt he lost the fight after hearing the decision, saying he simply said, “I have injuries and did my best.” Fix or no fix, death threats are always taking it too far.

Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

There was some funny betting going on for the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight on Saturday that won’t help decrease speculation that the fight was fixed.

RJ Bell of Pregame.com tells us that while most of the money came in on Pacquiao in the months leading up to the fight, big money came in on Bradley the day of the fight.

LBS insider Arsenious says the same thing, and tells us that the moneyline on Bradley plummeted from +475 to +300 in the final hour before the fight began. That means so much money came in on Bradley on Saturday, it lowered the payout odds on him to win the fight from 4.75:1 to 3:1.

Because of the big money that poured in on Bradley on Saturday, Las Vegas sports books lost big on the fight, per Bell. He tells us that one online sports book said it lost more on this fight than any other in its history.

We also have two other crazy betting stories from the fight.

Read The Rest of the Story…

Corruption has been a part of boxing as long as the sport has been around. Whether it was the mob telling one fighter to take a dive in the 5th, or a promoter paying off the judges to score the bout in favor of his boxer, the fix has been in for years. Last Saturday in Las Vegas, there is no doubt the fix was in.

There was not one person who saw the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight and thought Bradley won. Nobody is debating who won it. There isn’t some magical judging system in boxing that the common man doesn’t understand that resulted in two judges scoring the fight in favor of Bradley while nobody else even thought he was close. Pacquiao won the fight decisively, and even Bradley wasn’t convinced he’d won.

It seems clear the fight was fixed so that a decision would favor Bradley. Let’s go over how and why that happened by examining each character involved and their motivations.

Bob Arum, Top Rank: Arum has been involved with boxing since the ’60s and is one of the two biggest promoters in the sport (Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy is the other). He represents many of the top fighters, but his prized fighter is Manny Pacquiao.

Since Pacquiao became a megastar after beating Oscar De La Hoya in 2008 and Ricky Hatton in 2009, Bob Arum has handled the Filipino’s fight schedule carefully. And by carefully, we mean he arranged it so that it benefited him the most.

Read The Rest of the Story…

Saturday’s split decision victory for Timothy Bradley over Manny Pacquiao was one of the worst decisions boxing has seen in a long time. The stats, the viewers, and the damage all told the same story: Pac Man beat Bradley convincingly. Sure, there were plenty of rounds that were close, but there weren’t enough for Manny to have lost. Heck, even Bradley seemed surprised he had won.

Asked after the fight if he felt he won, Bradley expressed skepticism.

“Every round was pretty close. I got to go home and view the tape and see if I really won,” he said.

He apparently wasn’t the only one from his corner who was stunned. According to SI’s Chris Mannix, promoter Bob Arum said that Bradley’s manager had it 8 rounds to 4 in favor of Pacquiao.

Let’s add things up for a second: Pacquiao felt he won, everyone watching thought Pacquiao won, Bradley’s manager thought Pacquiao won, and Bradley wasn’t even convinced he had won the fight. That all being the case, how on earth could Bradley have won the fight? You know the answer, so I don’t even have to say it.

Timothy Bradley rolled his way to victory over Manny Pacquiao on the judges’ scorecards, and then he rolled his way into his post-fight press conference.

There were a few reports during the fight that Bradley hurt his foot in the early rounds. After the fight, Jaime Motta of Univision reported that Bradley fractured his left foot and sprained his right foot. That explains the wheelchair.

According to fight promoter Top Rank Boxing, Bradley hurt his left foot stepping on the referee’s foot in the second round.

I’m not sure what was more improbable: that Bradley showed up to the presser in a wheelchair, or that he WON A FIGHT WITH A BROKEN FOOT. You make the call.

Photo credit: Bryan A. Graham