Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
On Saturday, June 27, 2015, Tim Bradley defeated Jessie Vargas, handing the Mexican-American fighter his first professional loss.
Bradley controlled the action for the better part of 12 rounds until Vargas was able to land a thudding right hand punch which shook Bradley to his core.
Bradley was forced to survive until referee Pat Russell inadvertently aided “Desert Storm” by waving off the contest nearly 10 seconds early because he thought he heard the bell.
Though there were some mean stares and harsh words spoken in the lead up to the fight, Bradley had no issues giving Vargas props during the post-fight press conference.
“I take nothing away from Jessie [Vargas] he will bounce back. Even with nine knockouts, I was like “what the heck?” That was a big right hand and it was right on the button, but I bounced back.”
“Bounced back” is being generous as Bradley bumbled and stumbled around the ring until Russell jumped in.
It’s debatable whether or not Vargas could have finished the job and stopped Bradley if Russell wouldn’t have jumped in, but most spectators can acknowledge the fact that Vargas was dominated for nearly the entire bout until he landed that well-placed shot.
Vargas immediately stated after the fight that he would like a rematch and feels he was robbed of scoring a huge victory. Bradley, on the other hand, doesn’t seem all that eager to lace ’em up for part deux.
“I’m not in the rematch business. He’s going to cry wolf because he doesn’t think he got a fair shot. A rematch? What for? Sour grapes,” said Bradley (per Boxing Junkie).
Bradley is keeping his options open which include fighting the top-name fighters and possibly moving up in weight.
“I never call out anybody because it’s dumb to call guys out. I’ll fight the best, the top Welterweights or we can go to Jr. Middleweight, I wouldn’t mind trying that weight too. I know everybody thinks I’m crazy but I don’t care, I don’t care what people think. I know people say I’m crazy for calling out [Gennady] Golovkin, but I don’t care, I’ll fight anybody.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Bob Arum will entertain an immediate rematch between Bradley or Vargas–both fighters are promoted by Top Rank–but another option for Bradley may be up-and-coming Golden Boy Promotions fighter Sadam Ali in November (per Boxing Junkie).
Who would you like to see Timothy Bradley face next?
Unless otherwise specified, all quotes obtained firsthand by Ismael Gallardo for Round By Round Boxing.
