Bradley, 29, was defending his WBO welterweight belt for the first time since controversially dethroning Manny Pacquiao in June 2012 and was a heavy favourite to overcome first time world tilte challenger Provodnikov.
As all expected Bradley to bamboozle Provodnikov on the outside, ‘Desert Storm’ then amazingly proceeded to fight inside against the tough Russian in the first two rounds and was rocked on his heels before switching strategies in the mid-rounds.
Despite reverting to back to the wrong type a couple more times during the fight, including the final session where he suffered a knockdown, Bradley scraped through the fight to retain his belt and has now confirmed in pulbic what we all already knew.
“Standing there and trading with a big puncher was an idiotic move,” Bradley told ESPN. “I really don’t know (why) I did it, I really don’t.
“I guess I had to do what I had to do. The game plan was to box him, but I didn’t do it. I wasn’t listening to my corner. A lot of the things that happened I don’t even remember.”
Heavy-handed Provodnikov, also 29, has managed to come out of the fight with an enhanced reputation, whilst Bradley is left to reflect on what might have been a straightforward defence of his title on home soil.
“I don’t think it was the toughest fight. I could have made it easy, but I made it hard for myself. But definitely the hardest fight in my career as I’ve never taken this much punishment in my life,” added Bradley.
