Timothy Bradley got knocked down for the first (and second) time in his career in his light welterweight unification bout with Kendall Holt. The knockdowns came, oddly enough, in the first and final rounds but Bradley recovered quickly each time and simply outworked Holt in rounds two through eleven to score a unanimous decision (114-112, 115-111, 115-111).
As expected, Holt (25-3) was the stronger fighter but he was not sufficiently busy with his piston-like jab and power shots to win rounds against the incredibly determined and well-conditioned Bradley (24-0).
With the win, Bradley adds Holt's WBO belt to the WBC one he already possessed to become one of the sport's few unified champs and the only one who is undefeated. While a rematch with Holt is possible, Bradley will undoubtedly prefer to see if a big money shot at either the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton winner or a comebacking Floyd Mayweather Jr. materializes.
Comments
For a fight that stated out looking exciting, it went no where faster than the pace of the fight. Holt looked like a winner: strong, experienced, confident. But he did just enough to lose; he just stopped fighting. It was an amazing non-performance and hard to understand. He looked as if he wanted to just be there, and just lose. I don’t think I will watch another Holt fight. Bradley moved a lot, threw a lot of punches, has not got much power, and seems easy to put down. I suspect when runs into someone real, he will melt away.