MONTREAL (AP)—Timothy Bradley got up from a first-round knockdown to score a unanimous decision over Kendall Holt and unify two titles in the light welterweight division early Sunday morning.
Bradley (24-0) added Holt’s WBO title to his own WBC belt in the unification bout between two Americans. Holt dropped to 25-3.
The stocky Bradley was the aggressor throughout the 12-round fight.
Holt caught Bradley with a right during a first-round flurry and sent him to the canvas. But the Palm Springs, Calif., fighter shook it off and won the next two rounds, attacking the body at every chance. By the seventh, he had taken control.
“My game plan was to break him down by going to the body,” Bradley said. “He keeps his hands high. I wanted to keep the pressure on him and not let him think. If you let him think, he’ll give you trouble.”
Holt rallied in the 12th and had Bradley in enough trouble that referee Mike Griffin gave him an eight-count, but he stayed up.
“In the first round, he got me with a left hook and he stung me,” Bradley said. “I was a little numb, but I just listened to my corner, got up and said, ‘Hey, we got to get it going.’ I got up at the count of eight and I was fine.”
The main event had two of the top Americans in the 140-pound division, each hoping a win will bring a big-money bout against a star like Ricky Hatton or Manny Pacquiao.
Bradley, 25, won his belt the hard way—going to England to earn a split decision over Junior Witter last May. He defended it in September with a 12-round decision over Edner Cherry.
The 27-year-old Holt lost his first bid for the WBO title when he was stopped in the 11th round in Colombia by Ricardo Torres in 2007, but he won it less than a year later when he floored Torres in only 61 seconds in Las Vegas. Holt also had made one defense, a decision in December over Demetrius Hopkins in Atlantic City.
Bradley (24-0) added Holt’s WBO title to his own WBC belt in the unification bout between two Americans. Holt dropped to 25-3.
The stocky Bradley was the aggressor throughout the 12-round fight.
Holt caught Bradley with a right during a first-round flurry and sent him to the canvas. But the Palm Springs, Calif., fighter shook it off and won the next two rounds, attacking the body at every chance. By the seventh, he had taken control.
“My game plan was to break him down by going to the body,” Bradley said. “He keeps his hands high. I wanted to keep the pressure on him and not let him think. If you let him think, he’ll give you trouble.”
Holt rallied in the 12th and had Bradley in enough trouble that referee Mike Griffin gave him an eight-count, but he stayed up.
“In the first round, he got me with a left hook and he stung me,” Bradley said. “I was a little numb, but I just listened to my corner, got up and said, ‘Hey, we got to get it going.’ I got up at the count of eight and I was fine.”
The main event had two of the top Americans in the 140-pound division, each hoping a win will bring a big-money bout against a star like Ricky Hatton or Manny Pacquiao.
Bradley, 25, won his belt the hard way—going to England to earn a split decision over Junior Witter last May. He defended it in September with a 12-round decision over Edner Cherry.
The 27-year-old Holt lost his first bid for the WBO title when he was stopped in the 11th round in Colombia by Ricardo Torres in 2007, but he won it less than a year later when he floored Torres in only 61 seconds in Las Vegas. Holt also had made one defense, a decision in December over Demetrius Hopkins in Atlantic City.
