Timothy Bradley in a Fight for Respect

Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley is always in phenomenal physical condition and he will need to be when he meets up with Kendall Holt in Montreal, Quebec.

With his 140-pound title unification fight against WBO belt-holder Kendall Holt only 2 ½ weeks away, WBC titlist Timothy Bradley is beginning to get into a fighting mood.

Always a well-spoken and classy representative of the sport, Bradley says he’s going to make Holt pay for his trash talking ways when the two come face-to-face in Montreal’s Bell Centre on April 4th.

“Kendall Holt is known for trash talking,” says Bradley who has an undefeated record of 23-0 (11)KO. “I’m known as the nice guy, but you know, I’m not going to have him disrespect me and my craft and what I do. I’m a world champion and he needs to respect me just like I respect him. But you know, in this case, that’s not the case.”

Bradley still seemed somewhat irked, but not totally rattled by Holt, who ranted and raved at their press conference in Montreal last month.

“I don’t have nothin’ against trash talking - it’s part of the business,” explains Bradley. “It’s part of gettin’ inside each other’s head and we’ll definitely see come April 4th and you’ve gotta’ come watch. It’s going to be fireworks in the ring and all that trash talking goes out the window and we'll do our trash talking with the fists.”

Bradley, who goes by the nickname “Desert Storm” is now in the heavy phases of his preparations and is already within easy striking distance of the 140 pounds he will have to scale in the big fight against Holt.


When the two belt-holders met up last month in Montreal, Holt (left) did most of the talking.

“I’ve been in training for 11 or 12 weeks already and we’ve got another few to go,” said Bradley. “I still have a lot of time to prepare and I’m ready right now to fight twelve rounds. Sparring and preparation is going well, I’ve been running a lot and I’ve just been very focused.”

While Holt has been busy assaulting him with harsh words outside the ropes, Bradley says he is expecting a similar assault inside the ropes.

“I’m expecting a slugfest. I expect myself to be coming forward and to make the fight happen and I expect Kendall Holt to be trying to counterpunch. In the later rounds I expect a big shot, a big shot over the top where I end the fight.”


March 2009