Bradley: No excuses despite calf injury

By: Celest R. Flores - 10 years ago

Timothy Bradley, left, trades blows with Manny Pacquiao, of the Philippines, in their WBO welterweight title boxing bout Saturday, April 12, 2014, in Las Vegas. AP

MANILA, Philippines— A calf injury in the opening round hampered Timothy Bradley the rest of the way, but he refused to make excuses for losing his World Boxing Organization welterweight world title to Manny Pacquiao.

Bradley was seen limping towards his corner in several instances during the fight at the packed MGM Grand Garden Arena, and even in the post-fight presser. In their first encounter in June 2012, Bradley appeared before the media in a wheelchair because of his injured feet.

“I don’t want to make any excuses and take anything from Pacquiao tonight. I don’t want to mention anything that happened to me. I don’t want to talk about it,” a reluctant Bradley said in the post-fight presser.

In a story by ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael, Bradley’s trainer Joel Diaz said he “didn’t have much to work with” because of the pain.

“After the first round Tim came back to the corner and said, ‘I think I tore my right calf.’ I began to massage it. He was in a lot of pain from that point on.”

While Bradley managed to rock Pacquiao with a few solid hits, those weren’t enough to defeat Filipino boxer again. Pacquiao won via unanimous decision.

“I don’t want to take anything from Pacquiao. He fought a courageous fight and he did his best. I have to accept defeat like a man,” Bradley said.

“It happens. But I continued on to fight my fight and I did the best I can tonight and I fought a greatest fight and I hope all the fans enjoyed it. It was very entertaining for me.”