Take one look at Tim Bradley's recent record and you could be forgiven for reaching the conclusion that here is a superstar fighter with his name permanently lifted in the pay-per-view lights.

There are few boxers active today who can boast the quality of scalps secured by Californian Bradley since he first claimed the world light-welterweight title by beating Junior Witter in Nottingham in 2008.

Wins over former or future champions Kendall Holt and Lamont Peterson, unbeaten Devon Alexander and fiery Joel Casamayor led Bradley into a lucrative welterweight showdown with Manny Pacquiao in June last year.

But even when Bradley scored a stunning upset over the Filipino superstar, fame was short in coming. Instead he found himself at the centre of a scoring storm so severe it led to him receiving death threats.

As Bradley prepares for the first defence of the WBO welterweight title he won against Pacquiao against Russian Ruslan Provodnikov in Carson City on Saturday, he finds himself still driven by the desire to prove a point.

Bradley said: "I didn't get any credit for the Pacquiao fight whatsoever. People sent me death threats because they thought I won undeservedly. I should have given the belt back.

"But the Pacquiao fight made me grow as a person and a fighter. It made me realise what is important in my career. I just need to focus on my fights and stop reading all this garbage people are writing about me."

Bradley earned plaudits for the slick performance that dethroned Junior Witter in Nottingham in May 2008 but he soon found himself hampered by the lack of the same star quality which has lifted lesser fighters into the limelight.

When he got his big chance in a unification against Devon Alexander in January 2011 the pair of them blew it, chronically bad ticket sales and a terrible fight - which Bradley won in unsatisfactory fashion - further stalling his progress.

And the outcry following his bout with Pacquiao, which the Filipino was almost universally decreed to have won clearly - also failed to afford Bradley any credit for what was at the very least a composed and clever performance.

Against Provodnikov, a puncher who has lost just one of his 23 bouts against Bradley sparring partner Mauricio Herrera, Bradley is itching to prove he belongs at the very top of his sport.

"Every fight from here is a statement fight, especially coming after the Pacquiao fight," said Bradley.

"I am looking to make a statement. I am looking to put this guy out. I don't want to go 12 rounds with this guy.

"The speed is still there and the power will be there. In camp we have been working on a lot of techniques and making my shots harder and more effective. The sparring partners are asking what I'm doing differently because my shots are much harder now."

Tags: Timothy Bradley , Ruslan Provodnikov , Bradley-Provodnikov , Bradley vs Provodnikov