Here’s how I’d planned it. Timothy Bradley might be my favorite American prizefighter and so why not write a column mimicking his style with relentless sentences words upon accurate words and rare combinations with no punctuation or pause? For Luis Carlos Abregu: Small words, lots of breaks, some heft. The conclusion seeing Bradley’s varied run-on sentences overwhelm Abregu’s short phrases by the 12th paragraph.
Then reality intervened. The fight didn’t correspond to expectations. Let’s explore why not.
Saturday, Bradley, the man widely recognized as the world’s best junior welterweight, made an ill-advised welterweight fight with Argentina’s Luis Carlos Abregu at Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Bradley decisioned Abregu by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. The match marked Bradley’s debut on HBO.
That seems like part of the problem. After five intriguing, 140-pound matches on Showtime – an upset of titlist Junior Witter followed by victories over Edner Cherry, Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell (later declared a no contest), and Lamont Peterson – Bradley arrived at HBO and made a dull fight. Until Saturday, Bradley, a forward-pressing volume puncher whose offense can double as defense, seemed incapable of a dull fight.
Recently I read “Only the Ring Was Square” by Teddy Brenner, Madison Square Garden’s longtime matchmaker. His responsibilities were several. He always had to fill the Garden. And he often had to satisfy whichever television network broadcasted from the Garden. He was obligated not to managers or fighters but fans and viewers. That book raised some questions of particular relevance Saturday.
Does HBO have an in-house matchmaker? If so, where is he? If not, why not?
Matchmaker or no, why did HBO let Bradley fight Saturday at welterweight? The network has feinted at the possibility of a junior-welterweight tournament similar to Showtime’s acclaimed “Super Six.” HBO has now showcased all five of the hypothetical tournament’s four participants – Bradley, Devon Alexander, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and Victor Ortiz (alternate). And yet, there was Bradley at welterweight, Saturday.
Bradley’s people want their guy in the Plan B sweepstakes. They’d love for Bradley to fight either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather this fall, since those two won’t fight each other. A fight with either guy would bring Bradley, and his handlers, a windfall. And it would have to happen at 147 pounds.
Let’s go on the record right here: It’s a bad idea.
Pacquiao’s next opponent will be a Top Rank fighter. This is not news. That leaves Mayweather. This is not good news.
Here’s the calculus. Bradley was unable to hurt Abregu more than twice in 12 rounds. Shane Mosley would not have needed five rounds to stop Abregu. In 12 chances, Mosley did not win three rounds against Mayweather. There’s no chance Bradley, right now, gives Mayweather a competitive match at welterweight. No chance at all.
Did Bradley look slow and tentative enough Saturday to leapfrog to the top of “Money May’s” prospective-opponents list? Quite possibly, and quite unfortunately.
Gone was Bradley’s frantic pressure. Gone was his quickness. Gone was his fearlessness. In their stead was a talented boxer who’d seen more complicated styles than Abregu’s and who determined he was safer outside it than in.
After the fight, Bradley said Kendall Holt hit harder than Abregu. Bradley didn’t fight that way. In the fight’s fourth minute, Bradley saw Abregu’s one enormous flaw, but he did little to exploit it in the 32 minutes that followed. That flaw was Abregu’s left hand. The Argentine brought his jab back lazy and low. Bradley stepped into him with a fantastic right cross in round 2 and then left things alone after that.
Abregu cocked punches from his own waistband and returned his hands there. The times Bradley committed to precise combinations from inside, he found Abregu. The rest of the time, Bradley either stayed outside and threw fewer punches or got in manic exchanges with Abregu and tasted enough power to back off.
Blame the weight. The additional seven pounds on Bradley rendered him slower, less confident in his own quickness. The additional seven pounds on Bradley’s opponent meant even deflected punches hurt Bradley more than square shots did at junior welterweight.
The fight comprised no drama. There was no building narrative or set of basic questions for the fighters to answer. At best there was the suspense of wondering if Bradley might get sloppy and give Abregu a chance at one leveling blow. That doesn’t read like a suspenseful foundation because it wasn’t.
Which returns us to the question of why this fight happened. If we’re going to suspend disbelief and say no one wants to fight Bradley at 140 pounds, we’re still left with a question of why Bradley’s debut at welterweight was with a guy who barely cracks the Top 30. Here’s a theory, in retrospect: Timothy Bradley is only a Top 20 welterweight.
That might be the best development yet for the Bradley brand. He’s a good name opponent – a legitimate champion till proven otherwise at junior welterweight – for a 147-pounder with an aversion to risk. Chances are good we’ll look back at last January as the month Mayweather-Pacquiao came closest to fruition. Even if Mayweather doesn’t fight again till 2011, he’s going to need an opponent next May. Bradley could triple his previous purses against Mayweather. Good for the Bradley brand. Terrible for the Bradley legacy.
If Bradley’s handlers care at all about legacy, they’ll send their guy back to 140 pounds and make the concessions that make HBO’s junior-welterweight tournament a reality – with their guy its favorite. Surely that’s why HBO televised Bradley, Saturday.
Then, all HBO would need is a plan and a matchmaker. Because a lackluster showing by Bradley at welterweight has to have been the craziest possible way to create demand for a junior-welterweight series.
Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry
dress code red
Post-Tribune (IN) August 12, 2004 | Jamie Lynn Oslawski, Post-Tribune correspondent THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM PRINTED VERSION School hallways turned into runways? Not this year. According to dress codes established by area schools, some of this year’s trends are a bit too hot for school. Here are some things you won’t see in school hallways. web site easrer dresses
For girls, bare midriffs, strapless shirts, short shorts and short skirts are not allowed.
For boys, baggy pants, hats, bandanas, and doodads are a negative. For all students, anything advertising drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gangs, or profanity is a no way. And don’t forget the no on boxer shorts, beach wear, physical education uniforms, pajamas, and bare feet, to name a few.
Why? Because these items push the boundaries of suitable school attire, said area administrators.
“Basically our dress code just says that we expect our children to dress appropriately. No sagging pants, halter tops, nothing with obscene language, or pictures that might depict drugs or gangs. Each school individualizes that,” said Cynthia Warner, an assistant principal at Hammond High School.
Dr. Alice Neal, superintendent of Tri-Creek schools in Lowell, stressed the importance of wearing proper attire to school.
“Students need to dress appropriately for the activity in which they participate. … Anything distracting, immodest, or anything that might be unsafe is not permitted,” Neal said. “We expect students to dress to fit the culture of the community and the school during the school day.” Conservative values are guidelines in Crown Point, said Ryan Pitcock, principal of Crown Point High School.
“We ask the kids to practice good judgment. We lean toward conservative values when it comes to dress,” said Pitcock. “We struggle with everyone with the new styles out at the mall.” Ben Velez-Johnson of Schererville, who will be a junior at Lake Central High School, said the dress code doesn’t change his style much. here easrer dresses
“It’s fine, except for you can’t wear hats, bandanas, doodads, or anything like that. But other than that, you can basically wear anything you want,” he said.
Ben’s friends like to listen to rock music, and dress accordingly.
“You dress like the people you hang out with,” he said.
Ben and his friends like to wear clothing from brands such as Phat Farm, Enyce and Academic. The “preppy people” tend to wear Abercrombie and Aeropostale, he said.
Inevitably, when school administrators think they’ve figured out what’s inappropriate, a new style appears.
“Dress code is the kind of thing that’s always in flux as the style changes,” said Joe Martin, director of support services for the School Town of Highland. “Some things just don’t belong in school.” Pitcock and Warner agreed.
“Our dress code does change as styles change,” Pitcock explained.
“The dress code is very flexible because you have to stay flexible with the changing fashions,” Warner said. “One year we had a shoe string problem, then it was scarves in their back pockets.” Indeed, styles change and dress codes usually follow suit. When Martin graduated from Lew Wallace in 1964, men were expected to wear collared shirts, buttoned up to the top button. Jeans were not acceptable, and neither were motorcycle boots. Women were expected to wear skirts.
“The dress code is a reflection of the society, of what’s acceptable dress,” Martin explained. “I think things have relaxed somewhat. People used to buy new outfits to travel on airplanes, and now they wear shorts and T-shirts. It’s all a reflection of society.” The dress code changed dramatically at East Chicago Washington while Warner was a student there.
“I graduated in 1973 and I remember the first day we got to wear pants. … They made an announcement over the loud speaker, and we were so happy. Everyone went out and bought a new pair of pants to wear the next day,” Warner said.
No matter what era, however, dress codes are enforced in order to keep students focused on their education.
“We do not want a kid’s dress to be the focus in the classroom. We want the focus to be on what the teacher’s doing,” Pitcock said.
What not to wear Girls: No bare midriffs, strapless shirts, short shorts, short skirts and halter tops Guys: No baggy pants, hats, bandanas and doodads All: Anything advertising drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gangs, or profanity. Also, no boxer shorts, beach wear, physical education uniforms, pajamas, and bare feet.
Jamie Lynn Oslawski, Post-Tribune correspondent
