Tim Bradley: Devon Alexander Fight 'Was A Little Bit Personal'

WBO and WBC junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion, Tim Bradley, shared his thoughts in this Q&A with FanHouse concerning his HBO televised, Jan. 29, unanimous, technical decision victory that dethroned southpaw WBC titlist Devon Alexander and may have set him up with bigger and better opportunities.

On the horizon for Bradley (27-0, 11 knockouts) after defeating Alexander (21-1, 13 KOs) could be potential bouts against WBA junior welterweight belt-holder Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KOs) or WBO welterweight (147 pounds) and WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) king, Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs), who are promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank Promotions, respectively.

Bradley-Alexander ended in the 10 round as a result of the fight's fourth accidental head-butt, this, after the referee, Frank Garza, determined that Alexander could no longer see as a result of a cut over his right and left eyes and that the verdict had to go to the scorecards.


FanHouse: How are you feeling nowadays?

Tim Bradley: I've already put in about 20 miles already since the fight. I'm ready to go. My eye is a little bruised, but I'm ready to go.


What do you feel that you have accomplished with the win over Devon Alexander?

It was a little bit personal, going into the fight. You know, with my trainer, Joel Diaz, and everything, leading up to the fight, he was like, 'Tim, this is straight business.'

He told me not to go in there and get reckless, and to take my time and to set up my shots. But from the opening bell, I felt like I just wanted to go at him.

I was telling my trainer, 'I just want to go at him coach, let me go and get him.' But my coach was like, 'No, first couple of rounds, you've got to be smart.'

He said, 'You don't want to be caught cold with a shot.'



So how did you calm yourself down?

Well, I just listened to my trainer, you know? I didn't want to let things backfire, so I just stayed poised. But, you know, looking back at everything, I just felt like with all of the hype it was personal.

With Devon and his [manager and trainer,] Kevin Cunningham, doing all of their talking, that I'm afraid of him and all of that, it was personal.

But when I got into the ring, I was like, 'Is this what they were talking about?' Because if that was it, then I was like, 'This is pathetic.'


How do you mean?

I mean, I was like, 'This boy ain't even on my level.' I mean, I could tell from the opening bell and from the first round that I was going to win the fight.

I could just tell. I can just tell if it's going to be a tough fight or if it's going to be an easy night for me. I just know right off.

I was telling everybody all week that I just couldn't wait to get into the ring to feel this kid. I just wanted to feel his if he had any strength or any speed or any power.

I wanted to feel if I could take it. But after the first round in there with Devon, I was like, 'This fight is mine, and I have this in the bag.'


How did you feel about the ending, with the head butt and everything?

In the end, you know, I don't think that the fight lived up all of the hype. For whatever reason, you know, it didn't. I know a lot of people are looking at the head-butts and all of this.

But you know, a lot of people aren't realizing that I got hit with head-butts too. The only thing is that I didn't get severely cut.



So you feel as though it was a two-way street with the head-butts?

The first round I got butted twice by Devon when he was leaning in after an exchange. But you know didn't anyone say anything about that.

If you go back to the first round and watch it, you can see that I kind of grazed my eyebrow and checked to see if I was cut or not.

But it don't matter if I was or not. At the end of the night, you know, my objective was to win, and that's always my objective. I think that I just did just that.


How does Devon Alexander come back from this?

I don't know. Personally, I'm not sure what it was that caused him to not continue because I'm not the individual who actually took the shot. So, I'm not sure.

But I would have continued to fight. I wouldn't have screamed or made all of that noise. I would have been like, 'Damn, that was a good head-butt.'

I would have been like, 'He caught me, and my eye is bleeding, but I'm alright.' I would have just shrugged it off and dealt with the pain. I would have gotten more aggressive.

I would have wanted to get some payback and lay some leather on the kid. But that's just me. That's just how I would have reacted.

The boxing fans and everybody, to me, you know, it's like they're saying that he quit. But me, I'm not sure what it was.

But if if it was the flip side and that had actually happened to me, you know, there ain't no quit in me, man. I'm undefeated and I don't think about that.

When I'm in the ring, man, you know, it's life or death in there. My mentality is completely different than his, and, to tell you the truth, different than it is with most people.