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by David P. Greisman - Even in a sport in which the phrase “undisputed champion” exists, rare is there any conclusion without some amount of contention.
That’s no surprise, not in a sport where fights can be decided on subjective scoring and inconsistent interpretation of the rules, and where the opportunity to earn significant money or challenge for a world title is as dependent on relationships with promoters, networks, managers and sanctioning bodies as it is on skill and talent.
And so prospects, contenders, world titleholders and even some undisputed champions will be described as overrated or overhyped or dirty or boring or limited. People will say that they are ducking certain other fighters and insist that they will soon be exposed as a fraud.
There will be those, then, who still don’t believe in Timothy Bradley despite his split decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez this past Saturday. There will still be questions and doubts and flaws worth mentioning.
He’s undefeated, but there is one battle he can’t win. He will never win over everyone.
He’d learned that through his years of accomplishments.
There was the title win at junior welterweight over Junior Witter five and a half years ago, followed by a successful defense against Edner Cherry and victory in a unification bout with Kendall Holt. Yet there also were the knockdowns Bradley suffered against Holt, one at the beginning of their fight, the other at the end. [Click Here To Read More]
That’s no surprise, not in a sport where fights can be decided on subjective scoring and inconsistent interpretation of the rules, and where the opportunity to earn significant money or challenge for a world title is as dependent on relationships with promoters, networks, managers and sanctioning bodies as it is on skill and talent.
And so prospects, contenders, world titleholders and even some undisputed champions will be described as overrated or overhyped or dirty or boring or limited. People will say that they are ducking certain other fighters and insist that they will soon be exposed as a fraud.
There will be those, then, who still don’t believe in Timothy Bradley despite his split decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez this past Saturday. There will still be questions and doubts and flaws worth mentioning.
He’s undefeated, but there is one battle he can’t win. He will never win over everyone.
He’d learned that through his years of accomplishments.
There was the title win at junior welterweight over Junior Witter five and a half years ago, followed by a successful defense against Edner Cherry and victory in a unification bout with Kendall Holt. Yet there also were the knockdowns Bradley suffered against Holt, one at the beginning of their fight, the other at the end. [Click Here To Read More]
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