Just who is Timothy Bradley?
What's in a name? Well, if Tim Bradley hits you, you go down and you do not get up - and he is probably the fastest and most accurate in the world and is unbeatable.
Don't be.
There are two Tim Bradleys (at the very least - Ed.). The one I have just described is a world champion shotgun champion and trick shooter with amazing speed and accuracy in his shooting. However, it would be silly to dismiss the other Tim Bradley who will be in the corner in Nottingham on Saturday to challenge for Junior Witter's WBC light-welterweight title.
Tim 'Desert Storm' Bradley Junior is rated number one light-welterweight by the WBC and is Junior Witter's mandatory challenger. Just 24 years of age, he has won all of his 21 fights, 11 by kayo or stoppage, so, although he may not be allowed to carry a shotgun in to the ring, he has on the face of it good credentials and some firepower of his own.
Like so many fighters, Tim started young. Being a fractious youngster he was always in fights, but luckily, after yet more trouble at school, his father sent him to the gym in his home town of Palm Springs to put his excess energy to good use. Tim started at the gym at 10 and at 11 began to work with weights which has given him the sculptured body he now has.
He first came across my radar in December 2000 when at the age of 17 he worked his way through to the 147lbs final of the National Police Athletic League (PAL) tournament. There are three major tournaments in amateur boxing in the USA. There is the United States championships, which used to be called the National AAU, the National Golden Gloves and the PAL. Although probably the least known, the PAL is just as tough to win as the others. Tim collect a silver medal after losing to future pro Anthony Thompson, a tremendous achievement for a 17-year-old.
He had an even better year in 2001 winning the gold medal at the US Under-19's championships in August, again at 147lbs, and competed again in the PAL's. This time he went one better by taking the gold with a win over James Parison at 147lbs. Parison is now unbeaten in ten fights in his own pro career.
In April 2002, he tried his luck in the US championships, but was eliminated in quarter finals by eventual silver medallist Juan McPherson. Again this was at welterweight, and again McPherson is currently unbeaten as a pro. Later in the year he travelled to France to compete in the 4-Nations tournament and came home with a silver medal after losing on points to the star of the French team Xavier Noel. He also represented the USA against Ireland in Scranton and outpointed David Conlan.
Unfortunately, a change in the regulated poundage in amateur boxing gave the 5'6” Tim a problem. He was now forced to compete at 152lbs and found he was inevitably smaller and generally fighting guys who were really light-middleweights. In February he lost a points verdict to Mexican Alfredo Angulo at the Titan Games and had to settle for a bronze in the 152lbs division in the US championships where he lost to Andre Berto in the semi-finals. You guessed it. Berto is current unbeaten as a pro with 21 wins and is rated the mandatory challenger to Floyd Mayweather Jr. It just goes to show how tough it can be to win a title on the US amateur scene.
Berto popped up again in the National Golden Gloves in May and this time they clashed in the final with Berto again winning on points and Tim taking a silver medal. The year ended with another disappointment as Tim lost a wafer-thin verdict to eventual gold medallist Ed Joseph in the semi-finals of the PAL tournament, so it was another medal, but again no gold.
The big target was the 2004 Olympics, but Tim hardly managed to get his foot on the path. In the Western Olympic trials he drew Vanes Martirosyan on the first night of the competition and lost a 35-22 verdict to the man who would go on to win the Olympic berth - and of course is now unbeaten as a pro with 19 wins.
Effectively that was that for Tim's amateur time. He had been an outstanding amateur with over 100 fights and had competed at the very highest level winning a couple of major tournaments and losing only to the very best. However, without even a place at the final Olympic trials, there was no big pay cheque awaiting him when he handed in his vest. Despite the disappointments of the Western Trials, promoter Ken Thompson had been very impressed with Tim and he and his matchmaker Alex Camponovo snapped him up.
They brought in trainer Joel Diaz to work alongside Tim Senior who acts as assistant trainer. Joel had been a pretty good fighter in his own right, beating Hector Lizarraga and Javier Marquez and losing on points to Phil Holiday for the IBF lightweight title, he is also the brother of both the former IBF lightweight champion Julio, and Antonio, who lost to Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBO welterweight title in 2002.
The first thing they did is get Tim back to fighting at a weight that suited him, and in his first pro fight in August 2004, when he halted Francisco Martinez in two rounds in Ontario, California, he weighed 10st 3lbs.
Eight fights later, in September 2005 when he outpointed Francisco Rincon over ten rounds for the vacant WBC Youth welterweight title his weight was the same.
In June 2006 he added the WBC Youth light-welterweight title by halting Arturo Urena in three rounds. Urena had lasted the distance with Hector Camacho Jr., Ricky Quiles, Cesar Bazan and Herman Ngoudjo, and lasted into the tenth round with current WBA champion Andreas Kotelnik before being stopped on cuts. However, it was also Urena's ninth loss in a row.
His next significant win was an impressive looking first round blow-out of former IBF light-welterweight title challenger Alfonso Sanchez who was down twice before being counted out. Another plus when assessing the result was Sanchez having registering a career ending first round kayo of Steve Martinez, but again there were qualifications as Eleazar Contreras, Paul Williams and Julio Cesar Garcia had all beaten Sanchez inside the distance in fights which bracketed the Martinez win.
Slightly more impressive was an eight round decision over Manuel Garnica in defence of his WBC Youth light-welterweight title in February 2007. Garnica was at the time fresh from an upset twelve rounds points win over former WBA champion, and Ricky Hatton victim, Carlos Maussa, and a split verdict loss to next Ricky Hatton victim - sorry, opponent I should say - Juan Lazcano.
His last three wins have come against Kenyan Nasser Athumani, fellow-prospect Donald Camarena and unbeaten Mexican Miguel Vazquez, none of whom are world class. That rounds up his 21 wins.
Let's dispose of the “Desert Storm” nickname. It conjures up visions of a hardened soldier from the 1991 war in Iraq. However the “Desert” actually refers to Tim's hometown of Palm Springs. Located in the Sonoran desert under the shadow of the San Jacinto mountains, it is some of the most expensive real estate in California and is not known for producing boxers, The “Storm” bit? Well, it just sounded good.
Tim is a strong, muscular fighter who claims he is very comfortable at 140lbs and indeed he has made the poundage often and in fact has said that he could make lightweight if he wanted to. He is a boxer who can punch, but not a devastating puncher by any means and will be giving away a little in height and reach to Junior and of course is a replacement for Demetrius Hopkins.
A review of Tim's record raises one question. How did he ever become the top contender for the WBC title? I know that his mandatory status is due to the cop out by Jose Luis Castillo, but there is not one fighter on his record who is in the WBC top 40 and guys such as Urena, Sanchez, Garnica and Athumani are either finished or never were. Camarena is a good youngster, but lost his important fights, and Vazquez, whilst unbeaten, had never fought a top opponent and was having his first fight outside Mexico. I can only put it down to a good job by his promotion team, which now includes the influential Gary Shaw.
This will also be his first “big” fight and in fact his first fight outside of California. Most of his bouts have been in front of small crowds in local hotels with 16 of those fights being in either Corona or Ontario, so this will be a whole new experience for him.
This is not a preview of the fight but background on Bradley, so no prediction. He is a young, fast and confident fighter but one who has never been tested against a world class fighter. It would not be the first time such a fighter has pulled off an upset, so let's see whether he is the next happening or whether he is someone with an inflated position thanks to shrewd management, and if he turns up with a shotgun then we have the wrong man.