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Timothy Bradley: "There’s A
Fine Line
Between Confidence & Arrogance"
By Barbara Pinnella
Timothy Bradley was not supposed to beat the pound for pound
king Manny Pacquiao last year. To the amazement of virtually
all, particularly promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions,
at the end of the 12 rounds it was Timothy’s hand that was
raised. Arum complained bitterly, possibly a bit too much,
considering he was also Bradley’s promoter.
But after the dust settled one would think that by the
victory, Bradley would be elevated to new heights. And
indeed, Timothy himself felt the same way. In hindsight,
nothing could have been further from the truth. In direct
contrast, he was vilified. I had a chance to sit down with
Timothy at his gym a few days ago to discuss his upcoming
fight, as well as everything he has been through the last
nine months.
“I absolutely felt that after beating Pacquiao a lot of
doors would open for me,” Bradley said. “Not only for
fights, but different things outside of boxing as well, and
that didn’t happen. It was a terrible, terrible point in my
life for my career, for my family; my wife, my kids, my
parents, anyone that was affiliated with me. My trainer and
his family suffered. We all suffered from people’s opinion.
“I’ve learned quite a bit over the last eight months,” he
continued. “I know what’s important to me now, and I know
what’s important to my career. People say hurtful things but
I take it with a grain of salt, because they don’t know who
I am.
“But I’m glad I went through it, because I’m a different
person now. Whatever plan God has for me, this is part of
the plan and I understand that, so I’m not bitter. There’s a
reason why he’s making me stronger,” he laughed. “There are
more blessings down the road. So I’m glad I went through
what I went through. I’m stronger now, not only as a fighter
but as a person as well.”
Bradley easily admitted that the time right after the fight
and the month or so that followed were quite hard for him,
and very depressing. It was hard for him to walk down the
street feeling as if he stole something from everyone.
“I wasn’t the judges in my fight, I didn’t judge the fight.
I thought I won the fight, believe it or not. I’ve watched
the tape many times and I do think I won. I’d be willing to
sit down with anybody and look at the fight. I was in there
with the guy. I felt that there were a lot of punches that
he got credit for that didn’t land on me.
“A power puncher like Pacquiao, if he lands 253 punches on
someone’s face, you’re going to be pretty much beaten up. If
you look at my photos after the fight I’m pretty much
unscathed. I had two foot injuries – I have very flat feet.
I’ve been running and training on my flat feet for so long
now that it started to catch up with me.”
But as they say, that was then and this is now. On Saturday
he will finally be back in the ring. He no longer has any
doubts about his foot injury, and the time away helped him
gather his thoughts.
“My thoughts are different now. I want everybody to like me,
and I want the respect. I thought I would get that with one
fight, but that’s not necessarily true. Bob Arum said it
best when he said, ‘Just because you beat Tiger Woods don’t
make you Tiger Woods,’ and it really is true. But I told
him, ‘Well, at least I beat Tiger Woods!’
“So one fight doesn’t make my legacy at all, it just adds to
it. Each fight and each step that I take adds to that
legacy. With that said, Pacquiao is history, he’s in the
back, and now Provodnikov, he’s in the forefront.
“Ruslan, he’s a tough cookie. He’s a very confident,
determined human being. He has amateur experience and has
been around for awhile. He’s been a little bit under the
radar and nobody really knows who he is. He doesn’t have a
big name, but he’s dangerous.
“That’s the challenge that I’m facing. This kid is coming to
win. He’s going to do everything in his power to beat me. It
is my job to teach him, pop him on the hand and say ‘No,
this is my belt, this is mine, it is not yours.’ That’s my
job, take care of business. I need to win and dominate, and
display my skills.”
Bradley feels that the long lay-off and not fighting
consistently is a big part of what is hurting his career. “I
sat down and talked to my promoters, Todd DuBoef, and my
manager (Cameron Dunkin) and told them that I want to be
busy. I want you to make me a priority. You guys take care
of the promotional side and get me matches; I’ll take care
of the boxing side. Everybody’s happy.”
So some might ask, why Provodnikov? Well, for the most part,
fights needed to be made in order for Timothy’s career to
get back on track.
“That fight was probably based on me having a limited amount
of opponents,” Bradley explained. “Everyone knows the two
sides (Top Rank Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions) don’t
get along business-wise. I look at their relationship as a
divorce. You know, ‘I don’t want any part of you, you go
your life, I’ll go my life. We don’t mix.’ There is no logic
behind boxing, it is all business.”
Timothy makes no bones about one thing – he wants to do as
much as he can, then get out of boxing while he still has
his wits about him. “That’s another big fear that I have.
That’s a legitimate concern for me and my wife. That’s why
I’m trying to get in and out as soon as possible, make as
much money as I can to support my family and get my kids to
college.”
But retire? No. Bradley has many ideas of what he would like
to do when he is finished with boxing. He would never want
to become inactive, that is not in his nature. He would love
to remain around boxing by doing some commentating. That is
quite appealing to him. He would also like to train and work
with younger kids in boxing. And there is something else
that might surprise some people.
“I’ve always wanted my own restaurant. I’ve always wanted a
nice sports bar, family oriented, because we have a lot of
youth sports around here, so I’d have some special rooms for
the youth sports. That would be cool, to have a hang-out
spot where you can watch sports.”
He also likes to travel. He bought an RV last year to travel
with the family. He heard that parents usually stay together
when they take time to travel, take picnics, hike, and the
like. He and his family have already taken some vacation
trips and he has thoroughly enjoyed them.
“It’s been great,” he laughed. “I never thought I’d have an
RV, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s not for everybody, but I
enjoy it. We go, we hang out, we cook, we walk, ride bikes
together – I love it!”
Bradley gives all the credit for the way he lives his life
to his parents. “My parents always told me to stay humble,
know where your blessings are coming from, live right, and
do right by people – treat people with respect. I was taught
all the morals that a lot of people today don’t have. In the
younger group now, they have no respect for elders.
“I very rarely see a young man hold a door open for a woman,
or a man hold the car door open for his wife or lady friend.
It’s sad, and I’m glad I have my parents. They definitely
disciplined me and showed me the right way. You know, I’m
not perfect, I have done some wrong, and I know Karma will
come back and haunt you,” he said, laughing, “But I just try
to do the right thing and make the right choices.
“It doesn’t matter what anybody says about me, because they
don’t know me. And if they were to meet me they wouldn’t say
those things about me. They would see how hard I work, what
I do to prepare for my fights, and how I live my life, and
they wouldn’t judge me.”
Going into the Provodnikov fight Bradley is confident in his
skills and training. But he is quick to point out one thing.
“With success you become confident. Sometimes that leads to
arrogance. There’s a fine line between being confident and
being arrogant. I know I’m gonna win – I know what I’m gonna
do. I’m confident, but I’m not going to brag about it.”
I want to thank Timothy for taking time out of his training
to spend some time with me and wish him good luck in his
fight.
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.
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