Timothy Bradley

Timothy Ray Bradley Jr. (born August 29, 1983) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2016.

Bradley had his first professional bout on August 20, 2004, knocking out Francisco Martinez in the second round.

In his rise through the ranks, he won the WBC youth world welterweight and super lightweight crowns.

He also beat future IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez by a unanimous ten-round decision.

Bradley finally got his chance for a full world title when José Luis Castillo failed to make weight in a title eliminator for the WBC super lightweight belt.

He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light welterweight title twice between 2008 and 2011, the WBO light welterweight title from 2009 to 2012, and the WBO welterweight title twice between 2012 and 2016.

He then won the WBC super lightweight title by defeating British fighter Junior Witter on May 10, 2008, in Nottingham, England.

Bradley's bank account was down to $11 when he made the decision to go to England to fight Junior Witter.

Bradley came into the fight a 6–1 underdog against Witter.

During the fight, Bradley controlled most of the action, and dropped Witter in his corner during the 6th round.

Though the fight was scored a close split decision for Bradley, most observers and analysts thought Bradley should have comfortably been given a unanimous decision verdict.

One judge scored the fight 115-112 for Witter and the remaining two judges scored the fight 115-113 and 114-113 respectively, for Bradley.

On April 4, 2009, Bradley fought Kendall Holt to unify his WBC and Holt's WBO titles.

In April 2009, Lamont Peterson defeated French boxer Willy Blain for the vacant WBO Interim title, making him mandatory to full titleholder Bradley.

The fight took place at Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California, on December 12, 2009.

Bradley dropped Peterson with an overhand right in the third round.

However, Peterson got up and landed hard left hooks to the body.

Peterson cut under the left eye from an accidental headbutt in round 12.

After 12 rounds, the judges scored the fight 120-107, 119-108 and 118-110 in favour of Bradley, retaining his title and handing Peterson his first professional loss.

The bout was televised as a main event on Showtime Championship Boxing.

After the bout, Peterson told Showtime, "My game plan was to win the first round, but in the middle of the first round, I got hit real hard by a couple of right hands. It really bothered me. I lost the round, I fell behind, I got reckless. I couldn't make it up. I gave it all I had. He's a great champion."

In his HBO Debut, Bradley was scheduled to face Luis Abregu in a non-title bout at welterweight.

However, Bradley's promoter told ESPN.com that he had made a deal with Golden Boy Promotions to fight Interim title holder and knockout artist: Marcos "El Chino" Maidana, at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California, only a few miles from Bradley's hometown of Palm Springs.

The fight was scheduled to take place on June 19, 2010, but was postponed after Maidana had suffered a back injury during training for the fight.

As a result, the initial plan to move up in weight was made and the fight with Abregu was back on, scheduled for the Agua Caliente Casino, along with a set fight date of July 17, 2010.

He is particularly known for his trilogy of fights against Manny Pacquiao, whom he fought in 2012, 2014, and 2016.

Bradley will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2023.

Bradley was dropped in the first round by a huge left hook and was badly hurt but regrouped and outboxed Holt for most of the fight, before being sent to the canvas again in the 12th round.

Nonetheless, Bradley got up and finished the fight.

He won the fight by unanimous decision and became the new WBO champion.

Several days after his unification bout with Holt, Bradley was stripped of his WBC junior welterweight title, because of failure to fight Devon Alexander, his mandatory challenger.

As a result, the title became vacant and Alexander stopped Witter at the end of eight rounds to win the belt.

The Alexander-Witter fight was on the undercard of Bradley's August 1 fight with Nate Campbell in Bradley's hometown of Palm Springs.

Campbell, a former lightweight champion, was coming up in weight after he failed to make the lightweight limit in his last fight.

Bradley's fight with Campbell only lasted three rounds after Campbell chose not to continue when a cut formed over and behind his left eye.

Bradley was awarded the TKO victory, but the verdict was later changed.

A replay showed that the cut was caused by an accidental clash of heads.

The rules state that if a fight is stopped by a cut caused by an accidental headbutt before the end of round four, it should be called a no contest.

The California State Athletic Commission therefore changed the result.

In October 2013, Bradley was ranked as the world's third-best active boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring magazine.