Joel Casamayor came into his bout with Timothy Bradley on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez undercard as a very heavy underdog. He is 40 years old with his best days well behind him.
The story of the fight coming in was playing out through the early rounds. Casamayor had little beyond the occasional left hook and his trademark headbutts while Bradley's superior skills were allowing him pick apart Casamayor. It was not a particularly fun or pretty fight and in many ways probably hurt what the point of this fight truly was.
Bradley was put on the card in a showcase to make him a viable opponent for Pacquiao at some point in 2012, but Casamayor is such a hard guy to look good against -- even when you're dominating him -- that Bradley's stock wasn't likely to shoot up at all.
In round five, a body shot knocked Casamayor to the ground and he appeared to be on his last legs. Bradley attempted to pounce a little bit and get a stoppage but Joel survived. Casamayor went down again in the sixth round and simply had nothing beyond some sort of hail mary shot as the rounds ticked by.
Casamayor went down again in the eighth round and that was enough for his corner, who stepped in and stopped him from taking any further punishment.
Bradley did what he needed to and won, but it was far from an exciting and impressive bout and likely did little to build up Bradley as a future Pacquiao opponent.
The story of the fight coming in was playing out through the early rounds. Casamayor had little beyond the occasional left hook and his trademark headbutts while Bradley's superior skills were allowing him pick apart Casamayor. It was not a particularly fun or pretty fight and in many ways probably hurt what the point of this fight truly was.
Bradley was put on the card in a showcase to make him a viable opponent for Pacquiao at some point in 2012, but Casamayor is such a hard guy to look good against -- even when you're dominating him -- that Bradley's stock wasn't likely to shoot up at all.
In round five, a body shot knocked Casamayor to the ground and he appeared to be on his last legs. Bradley attempted to pounce a little bit and get a stoppage but Joel survived. Casamayor went down again in the sixth round and simply had nothing beyond some sort of hail mary shot as the rounds ticked by.
Casamayor went down again in the eighth round and that was enough for his corner, who stepped in and stopped him from taking any further punishment.
Bradley did what he needed to and won, but it was far from an exciting and impressive bout and likely did little to build up Bradley as a future Pacquiao opponent.
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