By Michael Montero, photos by Tiffany Lam – On an unseasonably chilly night in Las Vegas, Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley controlled Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios over nine one-sided rounds to win back the WBO welterweight title he lost to Manny Pacquiao last year. A sparse crowd of 5,106 trickled into the Thomas and Mack Center just off the strip in sin city, and was clearly pro Rios. However, Bradley would win them over as he scored a rare knockout which he setup with devastating body punches and tactical boxing. Many fans wondered how the two-division titlist would look with new trainer Teddy Atlas in his corner. So far it looks to be a match made in pugilistic heaven.

Bradley came out very sharp from the opening bell, flashing a beautiful jab and following with nice straight rights to the body. He controlled the early rounds with intelligent boxing; tying Rios up any time he got close, turning him, and pivoting out. It seemed as if “Desert Storm” could keep this up all night. Many boxing pendants expected the fight to start this way before Rios would live up to his nickname of “Bam Bam” and lure his opponent into a brawl. But any time the Palm Springs, California native appeared to be losing focus, trainer Teddy Atlas let him hear it in the corner. The result was one of the finest, most consistent, most complete performances of Bradley’s career.

Rios was coming off a ten month layoff and had trouble making weight. Astonishingly, he rehydrated 23 pounds after the weigh in and entered the ring at 170. No doubt Atlas took note and instructed his charge to pound the body mercilessly, and Bradley executed to perfection. Into the middle rounds, when Rios was supposed to be coming on, it was Bradley who was pressing the action. He was controlling the pace of the bout and seemingly doing whatever he wanted. Bradley was not afraid to clinch when he needed to, unaffected by the partisan crowd boos. Rios tried to talk trash and get under his skin, but again Bradley was undeterred. In recent bouts Bradley has fought with a chip on his shoulder, but tonight it was all business, all boxing.

Several times during the bout Atlas would give little pep talks, as he so famously does with his fighters. After the seventh round he warned Bradley that his focus was slipping and he needed to hone it in. What followed was an epic motivational speech. “The fire is coming, are you ready?” asked Atlas to his fighter. “The heat doesn’t bother us, we live in the heat! Flames don’t intimidate us, we control the flames! We move the flames where we want to, and then we extinguish them!”

The message got through. Bradley looked like a man possessed. The writing was on the wall.

Bradley busted up his weakened opponent in the eighth round and Rios appeared lost. Toward the end of the ninth Bradley trapped him on the ropes and landed a hard shot to the body that immediately dropped him. Rios barely beat the count and bravely carried on, but Desert Storm pounced. Another thunderous body shot crumbled Rios like a folding chair, falling to his knees, and referee Tony Weeks waived it off. Timothy Bradley had won over the crowd, put in an exciting performance and scored just the 13th knockout of his hall of fame career.

Bradley landed 174 of 325 power punches (54%), mostly hard body shots, to just 67 of 362 (19%) for Rios. Bradley connected on nearly half of his total punches as well, 254 of 570 (45%) to just 81 of 454 (18%) for Rios. Some questioned how sharp Bradley could look working with a new trainer for less than two months. To say those questions have been answered would be an understatement.

“We had seven weeks, I wonder what a year would do” said Bradley of his first camp with Atlas. “I wonder what two years would bring.” There are other trainers in boxing who would have tried to get their camera time in during the post-fight interview in the ring, but Teddy stood to the side and let his fighter enjoy the moment.

Rios was obviously disappointed, but seemed more frustrated than anything. “My body doesn’t react the same anymore”, said Rios, “after a (ten month) layoff, it was f*cking b*llshit.” The former lightweight and welterweight titlist made it clear that he plans to retire. “It’s time to hang ‘em up”, he said, “I’ve been in a lot of wars.”

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