Boxer Timothy Bradley: Too Much Fun Against Lamont Peterson?

I recently looked up the profile of an AC writer/sportswriter named Jake Emen and noticed his "motto" line: "It is his tragedy that he found himself articulate in such a dangerous language." The line is taken from the writings of well-known sports writer Hugh McIlvanney who had remarked on the ring death of fighter Johnny Owen in 1980.

The entire quote is worth considering, and applies most certainly to the Petersen brothers, Anthony and Lamont. About Johnny Owen, McIlvanney said:

Boxing gave Johnny Owen his one positive means of self-expression. Outside the ring he was an inaudible and almost invisible personality. Inside, he became astonishingly positive and self-assured. He seemed to be more at home there than anywhere else. It is his tragedy that he found himself articulate in such a dangerous language."

Lamont Peterson is another of many boxers who find themselves "articulate in such a dangerous language." I recently watched a ShowTime replay of a December 2009 fight between Timothy Bradley and Lamont Peterson. When they interviewed Lamont's boxing coach, Barry Hunter, I thought of the McIlvanney comment.

The Peterson brothers did not live far from the current Washington, D.C. home of Barack Obama, yet their accommodations couldn't have been more different. Invisible, abandoned by parents, and unknown, they slept in cars, bus stations, and abandoned places, sustained themselves in ways that would make "decent people" despise, fear, and condemn them.

The Peterson brothers had no parenting to speak of, and that can make all the difference. The LA Times tells the family story in great detail, and brings us to the 2009 boxing match pitting Lamont Peterson against Timothy Bradley.

In the prefight interview with boxing coach Barry Hunter, who nursed the brothers back to life, Hunter tells the story about how Lamont never said more than a few words for months at the beginning of their relationship.

"I thought there was something wrong with him," smiles Hunter, with Lamont beside him along the ring apron.

"It is his tragedy that he found himself articulate in such a dangerous language."

In a sense, the lack of articulation is a motto for all fighters. You can't communicate in a better way that you have the heart to struggle, even if you don't know what you are struggling for, and what you are struggling against.

Lamont Petersen had been down early in the fight, and he proceeded to launch a barrage of long and short-range artillery on Bradley, but the effort fell short. As the fight wore on, it became clear that Peterson was being out-worked and out-hustled by Tim "Desert Storm" Bradley. Peterson's heart was willing but his body was dying.

You'd think there would have been no surprises among these two good friends, or you might have expected a glorified sparring session, but a fight broke out at the first bell. Petersen was tough, and full of fight, appearing to rebound from the knockdown. But sometimes a punch hard enough to knock you down stays with you, weakens you, and slowly drags you down. Tim Bradley must have known what that felt like-he was down twice in his April 2009 victory over tough Kendall Holt.

It was round four when Bradley and Peterson arrived at Pier 6. Both boxers were in close, slugging, and for a little while it looked like Bradley might lose. The fight had suddenly become a contest of strength. Bradley had only 12 KOs in his 29 fight record, and was not known as a big puncher, but he fought back to the bell and the next round.

It's a most discouraging thing when a fighter looks across the ring to see the other fighter enjoying himself. Yet, that's what Lamont Petersen saw as his bout with Tim Bradley slipped past the 8^th round. Bradley had found his groove, and seemed to be boxing in a protective envelope.

What Petersen had left was a lot of heart, an emotional toughness forged in the crucible of the D.C. streets. But sometimes the passions of combat can work against you. Petersen proved he could brawl, up close and personal, but Bradley, the WBO super welterweight champion, weathered the Pier Six brawl and emerged with wings on fire.

It was too late in the fight when Petersen's corner gave him the news he should not make himself small and should instead fight tall. The straight right behind a shotgun jab was something that worked for the taller fighter, and Petersen had some success with it, but he was suckered into the Pier 6 brawl and worked close.

I hadn't seen Bradley fight before. I'd heard he was good, but it surprised me he was that good, avoiding all the bad habits that boxers fall to. Bradley was fluid on his feet, and Peterson could neither break his rhythm nor get out of the way of Bradley's deft combinations.

The fight ended in twelve rounds with Bradley getting the unanimous decision and Peterson his first loss after a 28-0 win streak. Lamont Peterson has already gone on to win his April comeback fight against 30-6 Damian Fuller and is looking around for direction. Timothy Bradley continues to live dangerously and has scheduled a July 17 fight with Argentine Luis Carlos Abregu, not a household name, but a dangerous puncher, unless you think 23 knockouts for a 29-0 fighter means he was fighting tomato cans or wet paper bags.

Note: The July 17 matchup between Tim Bradley and Luis Carlos Abregu will be broadcast on HBO's Boxing After Dark. HBO rightly bills the junior middleweight match between California's Alfredo Angulo (18-1, 15 Kos) and Joachim Alcine (32-1, 19Kos) as a "co-main event."