TIMOTHY BRADLEY: AMIR KHAN GOT EXPOSED
By G. Leon
GL: Can you give us some thoughts on last weekend's action at 140 starting with Victor Ortiz-Lamont Peterson, and then Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana?
Timothy Bradley: "I thought the Ortiz and Peterson fight was a good fight. In the early rounds Ortiz dropped Peterson with some good shots and I thought he was going to finish him, but Peterson is a warrior, you saw that in his fight with me. Peterson comes and he's game, but I wasn't too impressed with Ortiz. He fought his fight and I think Peterson pulled the fight off. A lot of people who saw the fight on television are telling me that Ortiz won the match, but sitting there live I felt that Peterson did enough to win the fight. On the Khan fight, I thought Khan looked spectacular in certain points, but he kind of faded and he got tired. I give a lot of credit to Maidana for getting up from that body shot. That was amazing. I have never seen anybody get hit to the live like that and get up and fight the way he fought. Out of all of the guys in the 140 pound division I would say Maidana is one of the guys that I most fear out of everybody. I can tell you that right now because he can take a licking and keep on ticking man. He's like Pacman, he just comes and comes and comes. I'm talking about Pacman the video game, not the fighter. (laughs)
"Khan proved to the critics and to myself that he does have heart and he does have a chin. He took some hellacious shots from Maidana, uppercuts, crosses, hooks. He took all them shots and Maidana looks strong as hell. I got a lot of respect for Khan, but he could fought a better fight. If he would have fought with a game plan and just outboxed him. I feel that he still has a lot to learn man, he made a lot of mistakes in there. I still think he needs to go back to the drawing board and pick up some old tricks of the trade. He needs to learn how to tie up, how to block an uppercut, how to isolate somebody coming at him without moving so much. He still has a lot to learn. Looking at the fight like I would have given it to Maidana or made it a draw. But people who saw it on TV, told me they thought Khan won. I think some of the things he did were impressive, but he got exposed."
GL: Do you think the fight should have been stopped in the tenth round?
Timothy Bradley: "Yes and no. At that stage, me as a fighter, if I'm hanging on and fighting back every now and then, I should still have the opportunity to finish the fight. He was hurt really bad though, so it's a 50-50. He could have stopped it, but he stayed on his feet and he did what he had to do."
GL: Last time we spoke you made it clear that you weren't pleased with having to break camp to go on a press tour. Now that the experience is over, can you summarize it for us?
TB: "It was a wonderful experience. It was the first time I had to leave the state of California to do some press. It was tiring, but it was fun. It was my first time in NY and everybody out there was cool. I really enjoyed the whole expeirence though."
GL: After all of the talking what has the vibe been like between you and the Alexander camp?
TB: "It's all business. I got a lot of love for [trainer Kevin] Cunningham and Alexander. But it's all business, they've said some things about me and I've said some things about him. We both think we're #1, we're both competitive as hell and I think it's going to make for a great fight. I think that we're putting everything on the table and on January 29, people will see who the best junior welterweight in the world is."
GL: Closing thoughts?
TB: "I want to thank **********, my promoters Gary Shaw and Thompson Boxing, my manager Cameron Dunkin, HBO and all of the boxing fans around the world."
By G. Leon
GL: Can you give us some thoughts on last weekend's action at 140 starting with Victor Ortiz-Lamont Peterson, and then Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana?
Timothy Bradley: "I thought the Ortiz and Peterson fight was a good fight. In the early rounds Ortiz dropped Peterson with some good shots and I thought he was going to finish him, but Peterson is a warrior, you saw that in his fight with me. Peterson comes and he's game, but I wasn't too impressed with Ortiz. He fought his fight and I think Peterson pulled the fight off. A lot of people who saw the fight on television are telling me that Ortiz won the match, but sitting there live I felt that Peterson did enough to win the fight. On the Khan fight, I thought Khan looked spectacular in certain points, but he kind of faded and he got tired. I give a lot of credit to Maidana for getting up from that body shot. That was amazing. I have never seen anybody get hit to the live like that and get up and fight the way he fought. Out of all of the guys in the 140 pound division I would say Maidana is one of the guys that I most fear out of everybody. I can tell you that right now because he can take a licking and keep on ticking man. He's like Pacman, he just comes and comes and comes. I'm talking about Pacman the video game, not the fighter. (laughs)
"Khan proved to the critics and to myself that he does have heart and he does have a chin. He took some hellacious shots from Maidana, uppercuts, crosses, hooks. He took all them shots and Maidana looks strong as hell. I got a lot of respect for Khan, but he could fought a better fight. If he would have fought with a game plan and just outboxed him. I feel that he still has a lot to learn man, he made a lot of mistakes in there. I still think he needs to go back to the drawing board and pick up some old tricks of the trade. He needs to learn how to tie up, how to block an uppercut, how to isolate somebody coming at him without moving so much. He still has a lot to learn. Looking at the fight like I would have given it to Maidana or made it a draw. But people who saw it on TV, told me they thought Khan won. I think some of the things he did were impressive, but he got exposed."
GL: Do you think the fight should have been stopped in the tenth round?
Timothy Bradley: "Yes and no. At that stage, me as a fighter, if I'm hanging on and fighting back every now and then, I should still have the opportunity to finish the fight. He was hurt really bad though, so it's a 50-50. He could have stopped it, but he stayed on his feet and he did what he had to do."
GL: Last time we spoke you made it clear that you weren't pleased with having to break camp to go on a press tour. Now that the experience is over, can you summarize it for us?
TB: "It was a wonderful experience. It was the first time I had to leave the state of California to do some press. It was tiring, but it was fun. It was my first time in NY and everybody out there was cool. I really enjoyed the whole expeirence though."
GL: After all of the talking what has the vibe been like between you and the Alexander camp?
TB: "It's all business. I got a lot of love for [trainer Kevin] Cunningham and Alexander. But it's all business, they've said some things about me and I've said some things about him. We both think we're #1, we're both competitive as hell and I think it's going to make for a great fight. I think that we're putting everything on the table and on January 29, people will see who the best junior welterweight in the world is."
GL: Closing thoughts?
TB: "I want to thank **********, my promoters Gary Shaw and Thompson Boxing, my manager Cameron Dunkin, HBO and all of the boxing fans around the world."
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