Can Tim Bradley Turn Back a Young, Hungry Champion?
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The last time Bradley stepped into a boxing ring, two of the three official judges, in a particularly pitiful performance, absolutely robbed him of a clear victory over Diego Chaves.
Julie Lederman—who
never finds her way into any sort of scoring controversies scored the bout for the Argentine, while Craig Metcalfe saw a draw. Both were dead wrong and saddled Bradley with a draw in a fight he should have and did win.
Desert Storm, a two-division world champion, returns to action Saturday night at the StubHub Center, where he'll face undefeated Jessie Vargas for the vacant WBO Welterweight Championship.
Bradley is no stranger to that particular title. He won it from Manny Pacquiao in their highly controversial 2012 fight before dropping it back to the Filipino icon last April. It was declared vacant after Mayweather's lopsided defeat of Pac-Man in May's superfight.
Vargas is a tall, rangy fighter who likes to be aggressive and throw a high volume of punches. He doesn't have a tremendous amount of punching power—his last 10 fights have gone the distance—but he can overwhelm with his swarming ability.
Bradley is just very good at being Bradley.
He has a high ring IQ and can fight effectively on the inside when things get rough or outside where he can be a slick counterpuncher who turns an opponent's aggression against him.
Bradley only seems to get into trouble when he fights outside of himself and gets reckless like he did against Ruslan Provodnikov—in this same arena—and Pacquiao in the rematch.
This fight has flown somewhat under the radar, given the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, Cotto/Canelo negotiations, etc., but it has the potential to be a good scrap between a veteran former champ and a rising star who is looking to take his spot.