One of the most anticipated fights all year ended early when an apparent accidental head butt delivered by Tim “Desert Strom” Bradley (25—with 12 KOs) opened a cut over Nate “The Galaxxy Warrior” Campbell’s (33-6-1 with 25 KOs) left eye prompting the ringside physician to call a halt to a bout that seemed to be just heating up It was a confusing scene that took some untangling afterward. For what it’s worth, the three rounds we saw were as exciting as everyone in and around the sport had expected.
As both men entered the ring the crowd here at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, CA was electric. Campbell entered first to a rain of boos but seemed nonplussed and even relaxed in such an atmosphere. Bradley, who hails from nearby Palm Springs, entered with his own personal rapper and the crowd went nuts nearly blowing the roof off the building.
The action lived up to the room’s electricity as Campbell came to center ring and started out with the jab hard and fast. Bradley was measured but aggressive, jabbing and moving and getting blocked by the craft Campbell. Bradley got his jab going to the head and body but it was Campbell who was letting the bigger guns go, throwing the right hand and landing an uppercut inside as they clinched. Campbell got off a one-two but ate a right in return as Bradley countered. Some gamesmanship from Campbell as he ate a jab and began talking to Bradley who remained poised and unloaded a combo that was mostly blocked. A nice counter right hand by Campbell was answered late by a Bradley one-two. Campbell landed a one-two to punctuate a very good first round.
Bradley opened up the second with a looping right hand as they came together and clinched. Campbell seemed to be getting the better of it on the inside but Bradley appeared to be the stronger man. After a one-two from Bradley, a clinch ensued and the first accidental head butt occurred. The action resumed and a right landed for Campbell. But Bradley took it well and began moving well and jabbing more in an attempt to tire the legs out of the 37-year-old Campbell. Bradley got in a left to the body. Right by Campbell and an uppercut inside but Bradley opened up a nice combo on either side of Campbell’s head to push the momentum further in his direction.
The third round started with yet another accidental head butt. After it happened, no blood was immediately apparent but Campbell complained to the ref as Bradley pressed forward and opened up his arsenal. After a flurry by Bradley, whose strength appeared to be taking over, blood appeared over the left eye of Campbell. Bradley was unleashing everything he had on Campbell who was defending as best he could but absorbing shots nonetheless. The action moved center ring and Campbell, who may have been playing his version of possum, began to open up but the youth, strength, and surprising speed of Bradley turned him back as the crowd went wild to end the third.
In the corner, as related to me by Campbell trainer John David Jackson, Campbell came back and said he was partially blind in his left eye. That he was seeing spots. The corner wiped the blood away and still he was having trouble. The ringside came into the picture and Campbell told him he was having trouble seeing but wanted to fight. At that point, the ringside physician ended the fight.
The official ruling was a TKO round 3 but per California commission rules, a fight that ends on a head butt is generally rules either a no contest. But in this case, the ref decided that it was a punch that caused the cut so the TKO was ruled. Replays showed a clear head butt but no blood from it.
Afterward, referee David Mendoza said “Both fighters were head butting each other throughout the fight. The last butt there was no blood. The blood came after the punch. I went with what I saw and that was the punch and then the blood.”
“It was a head butt, said an irate Campbell afterward. “A cut like this comes from a head butt. That was no punch. The California commission is wrong. How can they say that this was a TKO. It was wrong. It was televised. I’m not going anywhere. You know I never have complained about a decision so you know it has to be bad if I am complaining tonight. Just tell the ref to be fair. It’s not about politics it’s about what is right and what is wrong.”
The champion, Tim Bradley was gracious in victory “I was just doing my job. It didn’t matter what was going to happen with the head butt. He was getting older and older throughout the fight and I was beating him easily.”
As for a rematch, Bradley said “Easy money. I’d fight him in a minute.”
In the co-feature, unbeaten St. Louis junior welterweight Devon Alexander (19-0 with 12 KO’s) won his first title belt out-boxing and out-hustling Sheffield’s Junior Witter (37-3-2 with 22 KO’s) en route to Witter’s corner calling it quits before the ninth round. It was a huge step up fro Alexander who was more of a prospect than contender coming in and the young fighter passed his biggest test yet with flying colors.
The action started as a high-speed chess match as the southpaw Alexander met the unorthodox, switch-hitting Witter at center ring. Both men looked to get the jab going but it was Alexander who established his to the body and head, mixing in a straight left to the body here and there. Witter spent most of the action working behind feints and clinches while throwing the occasional jab.
As the fight progressed, Alexander looked to work to the head as well as the body and Witter got going a little more. But it was far from an exciting bout. Alexander fought smart, staying economical behind a steady one-two, working in a hook or a lead left. Witter, as awkward a boxer as they come, started getting rough as the fight progressed. He would switch from southpaw to orthodoz and back again, throwing sporadically and moving or clinching a lot.
A clash of heads opened up a cut in the second but it was never a factor. However, Witter tired under the constant pressure of Alexander and the steady offense.
In the fifth, a counter left hurt Witter who wobbled around the ring and tied up the younger man. Alexander fought smart, not throwing wildly where there was no opening.
Down the stretch, the offense of Witter dissipated to nothing more than a jab. Alexander stayed busy, working the jab, landing his left and right hook. He abandoned the body assault a bit but it didn’t matter. When the bell rang to end the eighth, Witter’s corner decided their man, who was down on all cards by an insurmountable margin (Witter only won one round on two judges cards and none on the third), had had enough.
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