Referee
David Mendoza ruled that a
Bradley punch, not an accidental head butt, in the third round caused a cut
and damage to Campbell’s vision that forced the ringside physician to halt
the contest on the advice of Campbell’s corner before the start of round
four.
In the SHOWTIME®
co-feature, young gun Devon Alexander
(19-0, 11 KOs) outworked Junior Witter
(37-3-2, 22 KOs) to win the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Super
Lightweight (140-pound) Championship by TKO after Witter quit on his stool
after eight rounds.
The evening was promoted
by Gary Shaw Productions and
Thompson Boxing Promotions
in association with Don King
Productions and Agua
Caliente Casino • Resort • Spa.
Bradley, of neighboring
Palm Springs, Calif., was the overwhelming house favorite with his fans
cheering wildly for him and booing his Jacksonville, Fla., opponent. Both
fighters came out strong in the first round landing punches and pressing
the action. In the third, after an accidental clash of heads, Campbell
signaled to Mendoza to acknowledge the mishap as Bradley unleashed a fury
of punches before the bell.
Campbell returned to his
corner with blood surrounding his eye and was heard saying, “I can’t see, I
can’t see. My eye is blind. I have spots in my eye.”
Ringside physicians
could not allow the bout to continue and Campbell offered no protest as the
fight was called.
When the decision was
announced—a TKO victory for Bradley, rather than a No Contest—heated
arguments ensued from Campbell, his camp and promoter Don King.
Campbell told SHOWTIME
reporter Jim Gray, with
Bradley standing close by, “Of all the fighters in boxing, I am the only
one who has fought anyone you put in front of me and I never complained
about a decision. The camera caught it and the ref said it was a head
butt. He never hurt me with nothing. I’m not mad with Tim. He did his job
but this is wrong. I shouldn’t have that TKO on my record. It’s wrong.”
To Bradley, Campbell
said, “Be fair. Be honest (about the decision). It’s about what is right
and what is wrong.”
Mendoza stood by his
decision, explaining to Gray, “They both were head butting each other as
they were fighting and after that last head butt, Bradley threw a punch and
that is when he started bleeding. The blood didn’t start coming out until
the punch. The last thing I saw before the blood started coming out was a
punch and I have to go with a punch.”
When it was Bradley’s
turn to talk, he said, “I don’t know, I was just in there fighting. I felt
our heads collide and I see him get a cut. But I attacked and the ref was
doing his job. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m here doing my job taking
care of my business in the ring. It’s not my job and not my problem. It
didn’t even matter. He was going to get beat tonight anyway. As the
rounds kept going on, he was getting older and older.”
In the co-feature,
Alexander, of St. Louis, Mo., was able to withstand and eventually conquer
the unorthodox fighting style of England’s Witter. Witter, who kept
switching stances and throwing wild shots, wasn’t able to hurt Alexander
who kept moving forward. After the eighth round Witter walked over to
Alexander and told him and his corner that he could not go on.
After the fight Witter
explained, “My elbow went in the fourth round and basically I couldn’t keep
him off with one hand. I battled through for a few rounds. I kept
switching, which was working to an extent, but I couldn’t box the way I
wanted to. I didn’t feel good. I didn’t feel good at all.”
When asked if the
decision was his or came from his corner, “It was a mutual agreement. We
decided to let this one go. As much as I wanted to do it, I just wasn’t
able to. It’s not that I wanted to quit, I wanted to win. I think it was a
close fight.”
Witter was down 80-72
twice and 79-73 on the official judges scorecards.
Witter followed by
saying this would not be his last fight but that he just needed to get with
his promoter and trainers and decide what the next move will be.
An extremely emotional
Alexander was humbled by the win and remembered his father who passed away
when he was a teenager. He said, “This feels good, baby. This is to my
dad. I got it now. I got it. I train hard everyday. I didn’t miss a day at
the gym when I was an amateur and I stay dedicated through my professional
career. Now, I have the green belt, the title. My coach (Kevin Cunningham)
never gave up on me and now I got it. I had Don King with me and he never
gave up on me. We are taking it back to St. Louis.”
The 22-year old
continued, “I’ve got a dynamite team and we had a game plan. We had an
A-plan, a B-plan, and a C-plan. We had all of it. I told him in the press
conference there is nothing he could do in the ring to stop me from walking
out with that belt.”ng.
Saturday’s telecast will
re-air on SHOWTIME and the premium network’s multiplexes this week as
follows:
DAY CHANNEL
Wednesday, August 5, at
9:30 p.m. ET/PT SHOWTIME 2®
The fights will be available ON DEMAND from August 4 – August 31.
For information on SHOW
