Tim Bradley wants fans to boo him

By Boxing News - 10/12/2013 - Comments

DSC_6749(Photo credit: Steve Lopez) By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (30-0, 12 KO’s) says he’s hoping that fans boo him tonight in his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s) in Las Vegas, because it brings him a lot of energy for some reason. Bradley has a lot of fans rooting against him due to his controversial win over Manny Pacquiao last year, and sometimes boring fighting style.

Bradley said this via Sky Sports “People booing, I love it. Boo me more, please; give me more fuel.”

If Bradley is being booed tonight, it won’t be because fans dislike him personally. It’ll likely be due to him running around the ring trying not to get hit by Marquez. If he runs from Marquez and chooses not to engage, then fans will boo Bradley all night long, and it won’t be a good thing for his career or for his chances of winning the fight. Having one fighter booed isn’t lost on the judges. If they see a fighter is dogging it by circling the ring and not exchanging, they’re likely going to be tough on him when it comes to scoring the fight.

Bradley shouldn’t need to be booed in order to fight at the highest level. If he needs motivation from fans by being booed, then it tells you that he’s not able to find the inner drive to win without them.

Bradley said “Midway through the fight I like to take chances, so you may see me step in there and maybe go at Marquez.

There’s no question that Bradley will stop circling the ring at some point to try and mix it up with Marquez. He’s not going to be able to run for 12 rounds without stopping to exchange with him. But the question is how long will Bradley do this? If he only looks to engage with Marquez for a short period of time in the middle of the fight then we could see a repeat of the Gabriel Rosado vs. Gennady Golovkin fight where Rosado ran for 6 of the 7 rounds and only threw punches in the 5th round.

Marquez says he’s fully prepared to go after Bradley if he chooses to run from him. He’s not going to let Bradley circle the ring for 12 rounds without cutting off the ring and forcing him to exchange like he did in his last fight against Ruslan Provodnikov last March. Marquez will make Bradley throw punches whether he wants to or not.



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