On Saturday night one of the most bizarre endings to a boxing match occurred when referee Pat Russell appeared to stop the fight with seven seconds remaining with Timothy ‘Desert Storm’ Bradley Jr. reeling from a solid overhand right from his opponent Jessie Vargas.
There is no doubt that Bradley Jr. was in trouble, however with such a little time left on the clock, he was not in so much trouble to warrant a stoppage. Vargas seeing the ref wave his arms in the air, leapt to the corner post, raising his hands in victory and celebrated the biggest scalp in his 27 undefeated fight career so far. But no. Referee Russell thought he heard the bell and was signalling the end of the fight and not a stoppage as it appeared to everyone in the arena.
Confusion reigned, but normality was restored when a unanimous decision was awarded to Bradley Jr. thus thrusting him to the echelons of the division by clinching him the interim WBO belt.
Vargas claims that all he needed was ‘one more shot’ and he would have finished Bradley Jr. Unfortunately, this will have to go in the ‘what if’ category of boxing folklore.
In all honesty, it did not look like that would happen. Bradley Jr was clearly troubled by the right hand, but backed off and used the space of the ring to recover and I am quite sure that if the fight did continue, Bradley Jr would have clinched to the finish.
The rest of the bout was actually very good. Initially the expectation was that Vargas stepping up from super-lightweight would just be too much for him to handle and that Bradley Jr. would claim a quick KO. It seemed like Bradley Jr. himself wanted that to happen with wild swings and reckless abandon in the first few rounds. Vargas with a large height advantage managed to avoid much of these attacks hiding behind his jab, however as the rounds passed and fatigue set in, Bradley Jr. very much had his way landing right hand after right hand. Vargas did well to stay in the fight, but going into the last rounds, it seemed highly unlikely that Vargas could pull off a win as his KO record to date is less than impressive (only nine of his twenty six fights have resulted in a knock out victory).
So then despite the farcical ending, the right result was reached and once again, Timothy ‘Desert Storm’ Bradley Jr. is being talked about as a possible Floyd Mayweather Jr. opponent and possible the heir to his throne.
Bradley Jr. has shown over the years that he has the mettle to survive at the top. Not a huge hitter but certainly capable of a knock out, Bradley Jr. has excellent movement and durability for this weight division. He moves smoothly around the ring and has the heart to stay in with the very best with victories over Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao (although somewhat controversially), Ruslan Provodnikov and Lamont Peterson evidencing his credentials.
One thing that stands against him is his height. At just five-foot-six-inches, his previously announced intent to step up to middleweight seems foolish at best. Very nearly being knocked out by a man who is more a natural super-lightweight is not a signal that you could withstand the same sort of blow from a Gennady Golovkin or the re-born Miguel Cotto.
There are so many options in his weight division as it stands now. Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Keith Thurman or Kell Brook to name a few would electrify the division and really force the momentum of boxing back into the mainstream where for too long, it has seemingly been dragging behind the emergence of the MMA franchises.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Timothy Bradley Jr.?
With Mayweather Jnr not giving much away on his choice of next opponent, I would suggest this result and performance puts Bradley Jr. right up there.
