By Rudy Mondragón
In a recent interview, Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs) stated that he does not expect to fight the same Timothy Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs) that brawled in March against Ruslan Provodnikov. Bradley was game to brawl against Ruslan and he paid the price. He took a lot of power punches and almost got knocked out on his feet several times.
Marquez stated: “No, I don’t think he will [fight me like he did Provodnikov], he has an elusive style, a style consisting of speed and I think it’s going to be a great fight for the fans.”
I would agree with Marquez. Timothy won’t fight in the same style because he is a smart fighter. Smart fighters learn from experience’s like the one he had against Ruslan. Many say he brawled the way he did in March to up his value and garner a reputation of a fighter who can scrap and mix it up. That is what many fight fans want to see. If the fans don’t get that, fighters get booed. Bradley to an extent earned that in March. He can now fight in his usual style of utilizing his speed and technique.
I would also say that Bradley will be forced to not brawl with Marquez. He is facing a counter punch specialist. However, the main reason why Bradley should not brawl against Marquez is because he was in a nasty war in March. Will he be recovered by the time he fights Marquez? He is young enough to recover. But anytime you go through a tough fight like that, one can only wonder how bad that war has affected a fighter. And how will that previous fight impact a fighters mind, body and spirit.
This will be an interesting fight. Expect to see Manny Pacquiao in the front row.
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My heart goes out to Ruslan, for sure. I can’t stop dreaming of his dempsey roll on Tim Bradley. But I really feel that Tim is going to have to use what he learned from the Provodnikov to bring the fight to JMM because what was successful for Tim against Provodnikov was his jab in the rounds where Ruslan took a break, and he’s certainly not going to be able to jab JMM to a win. JMM will slide underneath it with a cross, or take advantage of how Tim ALWAYS drops his hands when he punches. I think he’s going to have to brawl against Marquez, and use angles and smother him with combinations. The key difference compared to how Pacquiao approached it however is to jump in and out of the combinations so he can get out of range. He is right handed, so surprising JMM with feints, circling the other way, and cutting the ring off could work well for Desert Storm.
To me Tim Bradley fights the same way all the time, I think what we’re seeing different about him now is how he reveals the miles he ran, the rounds he spars, and the punches he throws when the other guy in the ring has already pulled out that last drop in the gas tank in the 6th and 7th rounds. Bradley is like a diesel engine, high torque, high mileage. He certainly set a new standard for endurance which is very interesting given the high interest in power punching and combinations that HBO claims is influencing judge scorecards nowadays.