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AVILA: Tim Bradley Deserves More Respect and Recognition

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INDIO, CA.—That first moment Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley stepped in the boxing ring during the summer of 2004, it was clear as glass that superb athleticism set him apart from most other prizefighters.

Speed in abundance and natural-born agility are his assets. In spite of obvious stellar fighting ability, though, the accolades have not rushed his way.

A coming welterweight battle with Brandon “Bam, Bam” Rios (33-2-1, 24 Kos) could be the linchpin that leads to head of the pack recognition for Bradley (32-1-1, 12 Kos), on Saturday Nov. 7, at Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

HBO will televise the Top Rank fight for the WBO world title.

Who knows the exact reason fans worldwide have not climbed on the Bradley bandwagon? But for more than a decade only one prizefighter on earth has been able to defeat him. Yet, despite only one loss, critics and boxing experts relegate the Palm Springs speedster to the nether regions of the welterweight division.

“We’ve talked about it a few times. Not so much lately,” said Monica Bradley, wife and manager. “Maybe it is what it is.”

Home base for Bradley has always been the Palm Springs area. It’s not exactly a metropolis, but a refuge for the rich and mighty. Movie stars like Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and William Powell built homes in the desert oasis to get away from the masses.

For Bradley, it has proven to be a severe obstacle. No network TV stations or giant metropolitan newspapers are willing to drive 100 miles or more to check out a prizefighter. It’s not in the budget.

The hardcore boxing fans know all about Bradley. He’s trekked overseas to win that first world title, back in 2008, to face WBC belt holder Junior Witter of England. The Palm Springs fighter was a decided underdog. Few outside of the Inland Empire knew who he was.

Bradley said that everything that could go wrong, went wrong. His uncle was stopped by security because his name, “Samuel Jackson,” was on the no fly list; his hotel was too small, there was no gym for him to prepare, and the food ordered was not available.

To make matters worse, his girlfriend at the time was lost in England.

“I actually flew out on my own and got lost. I took the subway and went south instead of north,” says Mrs. Bradley. “I had arrived early but I didn’t make it to the arena until the day of the fight. We didn’t have international cell service. He was worried sick about me.”

Monica Bradley finally made it to the arena and witnessed the fans booing loudly against the unknown American challenger. At the time, Witter was considered one of the top prizefighters out of the United Kingdom. The boos rained down as Bradley entered.

“That was his favorite fight. He won the WBC title and he always wanted that title,” says Monica Bradley. “Being a champ that day was his proudest moment.”

Tim Bradley moved on to defeat in succession Edner Cherry, Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell, Lamont Peterson, Luis Abregu, Devon Alexander, and Joel Casamayor. Then he became the first prizefighter in seven years to defeat Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.

Everyone knows what happened afterward. Bradley went on to defeat Mexico’s consummate boxer Juan Manuel Marquez. Yet, fans seem to forget that victory.

“Tim has no regrets,” Monica Bradley says. “Well, maybe getting knocked down by Kendall Holt. Tim was upset about that.”

Bradley recently changed trainers and now has the mercurial Teddy Atlas of ESPN fame in his corner as his lead trainer.

“I had to ask him five times,” said Bradley of his recruitment of Atlas. “But you know me. I don’t give up.”

The current WBO welterweight champion says training with Atlas after all of the talks and lectures has been like working with the ghost of Cus D’Amato.

“He let me know I don’t know nothing about boxing,” Bradley says.

The main focus of Atlas preparation is focus. The TV analyst and former trainer of Alexander Povetkin, Michael Moorer and Donny Lalonde has spent the entire camp working on Bradley’s focus for this pending battle with the relentless Bam Bam Rios.

“Sometimes I’m looking at something and Teddy yells at me ‘What are you looking at? Focus!’ He’s all about the mental preparation,” Bradley said.

It’s all about the mind.

“I’m not thinking about no one else but Brandon Rios,” Bradley said. “This is what I’ve been waiting for.”

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Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

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Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

The eyes of the boxing world will be on Las Vegas this Saturday where Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks his four super middleweight title belts against unified 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. Earlier that day at a luxury resort hotel in the city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, there’s a heavyweight match sitting under the radar that may prove to be the better fight. It’s an intriguing match-up between former world cruiserweight title-holder Murat Gassiev and Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, a bout with significant ramifications for boxing’s glamour division.

Gassiev (30-1, 23 KOs) and Wallin (25-1, 14 KOs) have only one loss, but those setbacks came against the top dogs in the division. Gassiev was out-boxed by Oleksandr Usyk back in the days when both were cruiserweights. Wallin gave Tyson Fury a world of trouble before losing a unanimous decision.

Since those fights, both have been treading water.

Gassiev

Gassiev was inactive for 27 months after his match with Usyk while dealing with legal issues and an injury to his left shoulder. He is 4-0 (4 KOs) since returning to the ring while answering the bell for only eight rounds. The only recognizable name among those four victims is German gatekeeper Michael Wallisch. After stopping Wallisch, Gassiev was out of action for another 13 months while reportedly dealing with an arm injury.

A first-round knockout of Carlouse Welch, an obscure 40-something boxer from the U.S. state of Georgia on Aug. 26, 2022, in Belgrade, Serbia, was promoted as a title fight. The sanctioning body was the Eurasian Boxing Parliament (insert your own punchline here). Gassiev followed that up with a second-round knockout of former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun who came in undefeated and was seemingly a legitimate threat to him.

Although he has yet to fight a ranked opponent since leaving the cruiserweight division, Gassiev — a former stablemate of Gennady Golovkin who has been living in Big Bear, California, training under Abel Sanchez – is one of the most respected fighters in the division because he has one-punch knockout power as Balogun and others can well attest. The rub against the Russian-Armenian bruiser is that he is somewhat robotic.

Wallin

Otto Wallin, a 32-year-old southpaw from Sweden who trains in New York under former world lightweight champion Joey Gamache, fought Tyson Fury on Sept. 14, 2019 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There was a general feeling that the Swede would be a stroll in the park for Fury, but to the contrary, he gave the Gypsy King a hard tussle while losing a unanimous decision.

Wallin is 5-0 since that night beginning with victories over Travis Kauffman (KO 5) and Dominic Breazeale (UD 12), but his last three opponents were softer than soft and all three lasted the distance. In order, Wallin won an 8-round decision over Kamil Sokolowski, who was 11-24-2 heading in, won a 10-round decision over ancient Rydell Booker, and won an 8-round decision over Helaman Olguin. His bout with Utah trial horse Olguin was at a banquet hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

It isn’t that Wallin has been avoiding the top names in the division; it’s the other way around. His promoter Dmitriy Salita reportedly came close to getting Wallin a match with Anthony Joshua whose team had second thoughts about sending Joshua in against another southpaw after back-to-back setbacks to Oleksandr Usyk.

Gassiev vs Wallin is a true crossroads fight. Both are in dire need of a win over a credible opponent. At last look, Gassiev, who figures to have the crowd in his corner, was a 3/1 favorite.

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.

It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.

Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.

Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.

Bustillo Wins Rematch

Applerose2

In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.

Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.

Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.

After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.

A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

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Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.

SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other.  There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.

It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.

Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.

Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.

Other Bouts of Note

The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.

The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.

In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing

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