Bradley stops Campbell, keeps 140-pound title

By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP)—Timothy Bradley defended his WBO 140-pound title Saturday night by battering Nate Campbell, whose eye injury forced the fight to be stopped after three rounds.

Bradley (25-0, 12 KOs) rode the energy of his hometown crowd in a dynamic performance, although television replays appeared to show an accidental head-butt opening a cut over Campbell’s left eye early in the third.

Campbell’s eye also was injured in the round, which he barely survived on his feet.

“I was just doing my job,” Bradley said. “(The injury) didn’t matter anyway. He was getting older and older through the fight. I was beating him easily.”

After the bout was stopped, the 37-year-old Campbell (33-6-1) vehemently argued his cut was caused by Bradley’s head, which would have made the bout a no-contest. Referee David Mendoza disagreed and awarded a TKO to Bradley, who made his first defense of the light welterweight belt he claimed from Kendall Holt in April.

“They were both butting each other all night,” Mendoza said. “The last one was a head-butt, but the blood came after the punch, not from the head-butt. That’s what I saw last: The punch, then the blood.”

Campbell had fought just once since his stunning victory over Juan Diaz in Cancun in March 2008 to win three lightweight belts, notably losing one big payday when Joan Guzman couldn’t make weight to face him. He taunted Bradley before the fight, but didn’t appear to have the speed to keep up with Bradley’s busy fists.

Campbell still insisted he should get another shot, which Bradley and promoter Gary Shaw said they wouldn’t mind.

“A cut like this comes from a head-butt,” Campbell said. “That was no punch. The California commission is wrong. This is just wrong. You can see it on television. How can they deem it a TKO? All they have to do is watch and see that it was a head-butt. This is not right.”

Aside from the debatable ending, the evening went almost perfectly for Bradley, who gave up his WBC 140-pound belt so he could take on Campbell. He declined to fight mandatory WBC challenger Devon Alexander, who won that vacant belt by beating Junior Witter earlier at the Agua Caliente Casino Resort.

The casino is just outside of Palm Springs, and Bradley’s home fans turned out in emphatic support of the 25-year-old champion, filling the arena with raucous chants and cheers. Bradley gave an impressive effort, peppering Campbell with dozens of punches while chasing the older challenger around the ring.

The 22-year-old Alexander won his first world title when Witter quit before the ninth round, citing a hand injury. Alexander (19-0, 12 KOs) largely dominated the bout, and wept when he raised the belt.

Bradley takes risk for hometown fight vs. Campbell

By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer

Timothy Bradley’s 140-pound WBC title belt will be at stake Saturday night in the high California desert. It just won’t be Bradley who’s fighting for it.

That’s because Bradley made the gutsy decision to give up his title so he could risk his unbeaten record against Nate Campbell, the motormouthed former lightweight champ, instead of defending the belt against Devon Alexander, his WBC-mandated challenger.

Alexander will fight Junior Witter for the WBC belt on the undercard at the Agua Caliente Casino, while Bradley (24-0, 11 KOs) will fight for his WBO belt— and the pride of knowing he took the biggest challenge available. A little extra money from Showtime doesn’t hurt, but Bradley already knows what he wants out of boxing.

“I want to fight the best fighters in the world. That’s it,” said Bradley, who beat Witter in Nottingham, England, last year to claim the belt.

Because Bradley put the sport before its politics, fight fans get the unexpected pleasure of a matchup between two hard-punching champions who otherwise might not have the motivation to meet each other.

“I couldn’t get fights,” said Campbell, who has fought just once since winning three lightweight titles last year with a stunning upset of Juan Diaz. “I had three of the four belts in the world, and I couldn’t get fights. Nobody was going to fight me for the simple reason they couldn’t take the chance.”

In his first fight in his native Palm Springs area, Bradley will risk his WBO belt against Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KOs), who knocked off Diaz in March 2008 in Cancun. Bradley was scheduled to fight Jose Luis Castillo on that same card in a Mexican bull ring, but Castillo couldn’t make weight, so Bradley instead became a surprised spectator.

“I lost money on that fight—five pesos,” said Bradley, who had bet his promoter that Diaz could come back to beat Campbell. “When I saw Nate put those hands on Juan, I was just like, ‘Wow, this dude is unbelievable.”’

Bradley frequently has fought close to home in Ontario, Calif., and he trains for every fight in the high elevations and stifling temperatures of Palm Springs. He’s still reveling in his first chance to headline at home in front of what he expects to be about 300 family members and friends.

“It’s pretty cool,” Bradley said. “I’ll be driving around in my car, walking around at WalMart, and people are coming up to me and saying, ‘Hello, how you doing, champ?’ A lot of people see the billboards, so that’s great.”

While Bradley looks forward to a homecoming, Campbell hopes to get his career rolling again. The 37-year-old power puncher lost out on a big payday last fall when Joan Guzman failed to make weight and refused to fight anyway, scrapping both fighters’ purses.

Campbell then lost his lightweight titles on the scales in February when he couldn’t make weight for a narrow majority decision victory over Ali Funeka. Realizing his 135-pound days were done, Campbell moved up to super lightweight and agreed to fight Bradley, who’s 12 years younger but not much less experienced than Campbell, who didn’t turn pro until shortly before his 28th birthday.

“I’m an angry guy every day,” Campbell said. “When I look back over my career over the last year or so, a lot of guys did me dirty. … I really don’t understand why fans worry about my age. I didn’t start boxing until I was Timmy’s age. I take care of my body. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I’ve always been an athlete, (and) fighters are fighting longer, and fighting better.”

Campbell has been a showman in the weeks leading up to the fight, gleefully taunting Bradley over the phone and at news conferences. He knows he’ll be the underdog in front of a sellout crowd in the desert, but the odds don’t bother him.

“Like Timmy said, he sat ringside (in Cancun) and he bet against me, so he knows I can explode at any moment,” Campbell said. “I’m the danger guy throughout. I can beat you up and get you out at all rounds, any round. I have nothing to prove to anybody in Palm Springs. They all think Timmy is going to win. I just have to go out and do my thing.”