By Lyle Fitzsimmons

Maybe it’s official. Maybe I’m now a grumpy old man.

Because while almost everyone else seems to be gushing about how other-worldly Tim Bradley looked while smacking the sass out of Brandon Rios, I’m still trying to figure what exactly the fuss is about.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big “Desert Storm” fan.

I interviewed him for the first time a few days after he beat Junior Witter, saw him fight for first time a few months later in a Mississippi casino and have never missed a chance to join him on the phone to talk boxing, nutrition or the benefits of operating a Toyota Tundra pickup with the regular stock rims.

Everyone’s got their favorites. And he’s definitely one of mine.

But if we’ve gotten to a point where beating a guy with zero significant wins in the weight class is worthy of a statue, then it might well be time for me to start chasing the neighborhood kids off my lawn.

I’ll surely concede that Rios was a very good fighter at 135 pounds and a 50/50 one at 140. But in losing all but a few seconds to Manny Pacquiao, getting a come-from-behind DQ over Diego Chaves and stopping a “what time does my paycheck clear” Mike Alvarado at 147, he’d not only done little to earn a welterweight title shot – he’d done nothing to make anyone believe he could have won.

Unless, that is, your ideal reply to a three-punch combination is a defiant head shake.

For all the noise being made about Bradley’s union with Teddy Atlas and the supposed rejuvenation it created, the fight didn’t play out any differently with the would-be fireman in the corner than it would have with Joel Diaz, Juan Diaz or Cameron Diaz giving the between-rounds pep talks.

In fact, give Rios to Atlas and Bradley to Robert Garcia and the only thing that changes significantly is the number of YouTube hits for Teddy’s latest camera-ready stool-side soliloquy.

Then: “There comes a time in a man’s life where he makes a decision to just live, survive, or he wants to win. You’re doing just enough to keep him off you and hope he leaves you alone.”

Now: “The fire’s coming. Are you ready for the fire? We’re firemen. We are firemen. The heat doesn’t bother us. We live in the heat. We train in the heat. It tells us that we’re at home. We’re where we’re supposed to be. Flames don’t intimidate us. What do we do? We control the flames. We move the flames where we want to, and then we extinguish them.”

As 30-second sound bites go, it’s great stuff.

So if you haven’t had a chance to see it, do yourself a favor.

But while you’re at it, don’t forget that the first speech came while Atlas’ man, Michael Moorer, was in a real scorecard struggle against a guy who may or may not have had a serious medical issue in the ring.

And when the same two fighters met again in a championship setting, he was bounced off the canvas five times and didn’t make it past the eighth round.

That’s not to suggest Rios would win a rematch with anything less than a loaded ball bat, but when it comes time for Bradley to engage with a foe a few rungs higher on the quality ladder, it’s going to take a bit more than boxing’s version of Tony Robbins to get him through the inferno.

Though he trails only Pacquiao in the latest Premier Boxing Rankings (formerly Independent World Boxing Rankings) listing at 147, it’s quite probable that Bradley/Atlas would encounter significant difficulty with several fighters both above and below where Rios was slotted heading into the weekend.

Errol Spence (19), Paulie Malignaggi (15) and Chris Algieri (14) possess a skill set that dwarfs what “Bam Bam” offered at No. 9, and each of the men positioned from 3 to 7 – Kell Brook, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan and Keith Thurman – would force Bradley to dig far deeper than Rios did during the 26 minutes, 40 seconds he found himself on his feet.

Not to again mention the aforementioned Pacquiao, who’s already beaten him twice while winning not a moment less than 14 of 24 rounds.

Nevertheless, the narrative by Saturday’s signoff was that the new Bradley was indeed a new Bradley, and that either a third meeting with the Filipino – or a rise to face Canelo Alvarez – was on the agenda.

Either, if you ask this old man, would end the renaissance as soon as it started.

"This is seven weeks," Bradley told HBO’s Max Kellerman. "I wonder what a year would do. I wonder what two years would bring. The sky is the limit from here, I believe."

All after nine rounds with a mouthy heavy bag from Oxnard?

It’s almost enough to make this geezer switch to Matlock.

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This week’s title-fight schedule:

No fights scheduled.

Last week’s picks: 4-1 (WIN: Troyanovsky, Lebedev, Bradley, Lomachenko; LOSE: Chakhkiev)
2015 picks record: 75-21 (78.1 percent)
Overall picks record: 714-244 (74.5 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at
fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.