Timothy Bradley Jr., now retired, has fighting words for Tank Davis
Former welterweight champion and current ESPN analyst Timothy Bradley took aim at current lightweight superstar Gervonta Davis over apparently inaccurate grievances Monday. Bradley resorted to name-calling in his scathing monologue of Davis on Fight Hub TV. In the clip, Bradley strongly takes issue with Davis for allegedly “hitting women,’ seemingly a topical assessment of what turned out to be a nuanced issue.
The day after Christmas 2022, Gervonta Davis was arrested and charged after a domestic partner made admittedly inaccurate claims against him in a frantic moment. She has since recanted, publicly apologized for lying on the man, and apparently reconciled with Davis. The facts are without ambiguity here; what the woman accused him of doing, she admits that he actually didn’t do. Davis was released soon after posting bail, prior to the charges being dropped.
But the fervor with which the media reported the conjecture and implied the worst was never reflected in their subsequent reporting of the truth. The same young lady that made the claims was the one to apologize for making them.
So why didn’t the apology stick to the headlines like the accusations did?
Gervonta Davis Legal Trouble
Because the clearing of Gervonta’s name never really took place after that now infamous hit and run, it was perhaps easier to continue to paint the young, brash superstar as a troublemaker than a lucky kid from a deadly and dangerous environment that, despite exceeding everyone’s expectations of greatness thus far, still needs a second chance every once in a while.
Bradley’s outburst seemed slanted entirely on his own suspicions and interpretations of the original story.
In the United States, it’s often preached that the accused are innocent until proven guilty; in practice, however, the correct facts are much more subjectively pliable.
In the case of Gervonta Davis, the “journalistic” possibilities stemming from this kind of legal bad press was too enticing, a fruit hanging too low to miss. The writers flocked to the story like flies to shit.
And now that the truth is known? Those same writers scatter like roaches when the lights come on! For good reason; they now have each learned that their storyline was forced, thinly held together, and ultimately, exposed. So many forces wanted it to be the truth, but eventually the world became aware that it wasn’t. Among those forces sits Timothy Bradley.
Before we get any further, we want to iterate that Bradley, a private citizen, has a right to his own opinions. Becoming elevated as an authority on all things boxing in front of millions of listeners should, in our opinion, give the speaker pause to investigate his beliefs before recklessly steering the minds and interpretations of the audience. But he didn’t.
If Timothy Bradley is so willing to make such damaging, inaccurate statements with insufficient information, should we then expect that Bradley doesn’t have his finger on the pulse of the sport, as his presence on ESPN and the boxing social media circuit implies?
It’s definitely a possibility. He got famous as a fighter, not an analyst. Bradley isn’t even the worst offender in this phenomena over the years, but his willingness to do so in particular is shocking.
It was reported as truth by so many sources that, if you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was somehow impossible for it not to be.
BB.M Staff predicts 2023 to be a year of similar surprises.
Gervonta Davis Next Fight
Tank is becoming one the biggest stars in prizefighting in his 28(26)-0-0 career. Tank Davis’ next fight is against Ryan Garcia. Davis vs. Garcia is April 22nd 2023 at The T-Mobile Arena. This doesn’t necessarily rule out Davis vs. Haney, or Davis vs. Lomachenko in the future, Ryan Garcia does appear to be the next logical step in building Davis into the conqueror that his uncanny power foreshadows him to be.
There’s a possibility that the undefeated and supremely skilled Devin Haney will get a crack at Lomachenko first, with Davis challenging the winner.
And if that happens, it’s possible that we might see Gervonta Davis vs. Devin Haney sooner than currently expected.
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