by James Slater – Last night, in Biloxi, Mississippi WBC light-welterweight champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley made a successful first defence of the world title he won from Junior Witter earlier this year. Out-pointing former lightweight Edner Cherry over 12 reasonably engrossing, if unspectacular, rounds, 25-year-old Bradley prevailed by scores of 119-109, 118-109 and 117-110 – scores that give an accurate reading of how far ahead of Cherry the champion was..
Simply too good for Cherry in every aspect – whether it was accuracy, affective aggression, wanting it more or defensive abilities – Bradley had a fairly easy night. This is not to say the year older man at 26 did not try, he did, he just didn’t let enough punches go. There was only one real highlight in the fight, a knockdown scored by Bradley in the 8th round. A great right hand, thrown perfectly, sent Cherry down and the action temporarily caught fire as Bradley went for the finish.
In a number of rounds there was plenty of holding and the fight that had been elevated to main event status with the postponement of the Campbell-Guzman lightweight championship didn’t really match its new billing. There were things to like about the fight, or should I say Bradley’s performance, but the action was messy at times and Cherry would not or could not sustain an attack. Indeed, between rounds 7 and 8, Cherry’s corner-man read his fighter the riot act, telling him to “throw some fucking punches out there!”
A clash of heads occurred in the 3rd round, and Bradley was warned for low blows in the 6th. While in the 9th and 11th rounds, Cherry fell over after missing with a shot. Bradley also slipped, in the final round. Referee Gary Ritter did a good job overall and no points were taken away for either the head clash or the low blows – both infringements being accidental.
At times, though appearing to be the slightly smaller man – Cherry did indeed look thicker in the back and shoulders, even though he was making his 140-pound debut – Bradley looked a million dollars in there. The fight was fought at a pretty fast pace throughout and Bradley’s stamina and punch output, especially with the left jab, held up well. Tim also has a number of classy moves in his arsenal, as he showed. The champion’s only mark of battle was a swelling underneath his right eye, but otherwise he has things all his own way.
Bigger and better fights await the talented man from Palm Springs, California, who improved to 23-0(11). The future is less certain for Florida’s Cherry, who fell to 24-6-2(12).