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Nah Im no Alexander homer, not from St. Louis or anything like that. To be honest I maybe the most unbiased sports fan there is, let alone boxing. However, the judges cards weren't a total wash in favor of Bradley...97-93, 96-95, 98-93. Letterman had it 87-84 going into the 10th Merchant was more like me and the second judge having Bradley up a round. With one partial round scored, plus two remaining,it was by all means a close fight. Jim Lampley cited 4 previous bouts of Bradley's that ended with cuts due to headbutts. This would be number 5. Seems like a recurring theme. Its clear Bradley has a tendency much like Holyfield to use his head while throwing punches...check the initial cut, Bradley threw two left hooks the latter of which may have been looked at as on the break and the clearly followed it up by leaning his head in. This was in RD. 3, and wasn't even the first clash of heads.
To be quite honest the last butt that ended the fight might be the only you can say was caused by the clash of style (inside the southpaw/outside conventional) but that's one of several in the fight. As far a being rendered useless what good is it being labeled a pressure fighter if you cant hurt your opponent with whom you're pressuring. What made the Maidana/Khan fight so great was that Maidana was able to wear Khan down, hurting him by setting up a powerful right hand to the point which Khan could no longer throw combinations, thus rendering him useless. Luckily he escaped with a win... Bradley on the other hand, wasn't dominating him with his power shots, they may be good for 'oos and 'aahhs but you don't get extra points for them. Alexander was never slowed down from continuing his attempts at answering back.
My overall point is in showing my disappointment in watching what I thought was a close fight end in the fashion it did. I'm especially tired of seeing Bradley walk away victorious in another fight that was ended or somehow influenced by cuts due to headbutts. I specifically said that I wouldn't go as far as saying that he does this intentionally, I do, however, believe that he does know what he is doing. These are professional fighters, emphasis on fighters. These guys are crafty at what they do and there are such things as fighters knowing how to take advantage of using their huge head when dropping in a right hand or left hook or whatever(Andre Ward is guilty of this as well). I didn't make this up, HBO thought to make a point of it, Kevin Cunningham surely did. I believe the headbutts ultimately were what defined this fight, and that's nothing new to a Bradley fight.
On another note, I would have loved to see Alexander use his uppercut more. Could have changed the fight. Also Cunningham needs to do less chattering with everyone else and focus more on his fighter. Maybe Devon could benefit from a change in camp.
To be quite honest the last butt that ended the fight might be the only you can say was caused by the clash of style (inside the southpaw/outside conventional) but that's one of several in the fight. As far a being rendered useless what good is it being labeled a pressure fighter if you cant hurt your opponent with whom you're pressuring. What made the Maidana/Khan fight so great was that Maidana was able to wear Khan down, hurting him by setting up a powerful right hand to the point which Khan could no longer throw combinations, thus rendering him useless. Luckily he escaped with a win... Bradley on the other hand, wasn't dominating him with his power shots, they may be good for 'oos and 'aahhs but you don't get extra points for them. Alexander was never slowed down from continuing his attempts at answering back.
My overall point is in showing my disappointment in watching what I thought was a close fight end in the fashion it did. I'm especially tired of seeing Bradley walk away victorious in another fight that was ended or somehow influenced by cuts due to headbutts. I specifically said that I wouldn't go as far as saying that he does this intentionally, I do, however, believe that he does know what he is doing. These are professional fighters, emphasis on fighters. These guys are crafty at what they do and there are such things as fighters knowing how to take advantage of using their huge head when dropping in a right hand or left hook or whatever(Andre Ward is guilty of this as well). I didn't make this up, HBO thought to make a point of it, Kevin Cunningham surely did. I believe the headbutts ultimately were what defined this fight, and that's nothing new to a Bradley fight.
On another note, I would have loved to see Alexander use his uppercut more. Could have changed the fight. Also Cunningham needs to do less chattering with everyone else and focus more on his fighter. Maybe Devon could benefit from a change in camp.
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