Okay, but can we just talk about this guy for a moment? He's only in three episodes and the Over the Nexus game (which kind of mangled his personality), but he's connected with one of the most popular characters, Kalin/Kiryu, he's funny, he's quirky (when's the last time you heard a character say "itty-bitty"?), he's pretty, and ... okay, so he is technically part of the problem in Crash Town, but has anyone stopped to think that he actually stopped things from going completely out of control? Look what happened to Crash Town after Lawton showed up and completely humiliated him by not even letting him get off one Duel move! They could only assume total control and oppress the people like they wanted after removing not just Kalin, but Radley, as a threat. (Actually, Radley uses a Crystal Beast deck, as shown in Over the Nexus, so had he gotten the chance to play a fair duel and bust out Hamon or Rainbow Dragon, Lawton probably would have been done for.) And we don't know how long the guys were feuding before Kalin showed up, so Radley was being a scrapper and not letting go of Crash Town even without Kalin's help.
Also, we actually don't even know what his part of the mine is like; we only ever see Malcolm's part. It's possible that Radley doesn't mistreat his labor. Unlike with Malcolm and Lawton, we see Radley hanging out with his gang and seeming to treat them as equals. (Like Lawton would ever do that!) He also tries to reach out to Kalin. In the Japanese when Kalin brushes him off, he even says, "He could be friendlier." He's definitely put-out, possibly even hurt, that Kalin is treating him like this. It likely isn't the first time it's happened, either.
During the duel with Yusei, Kalin starts revealing what makes him tick and that he really wants to lose to punish himself. A lot of people in Radley's position would probably recoil in horror or freak out, and Radley's reaction is, instead, calm, cool, and, "Sure, Kalin may be crazy, but I still believe in him."
Okay, so Radley does freak out and get upset at Kalin when he, Kalin, and Yusei end up in the mines, but I think that is a very human reaction under the circumstances. He thinks they're there for life and Malcolm's Crew is clearly brutal. I think he's allowed a freak-out moment.
I am not pleased that Kalin and Yusei just left him in the mines when he was sent there with them. The writers and the characters all completely forgot about him. It would have been utterly fascinating if he had been with them. Maybe he would have whined a bit, or scoffed that they could really escape, but I believe he would have pulled through in the end. He just wasn't portrayed as a complete sleaze like Malcolm, Lawton, and Barbara were. There is an intriguing character here and he is so grossly underrated and ignored, it's incredible.
Kalin knew him for almost two months (he won 50 days in a row). Come on, fic writers and fanartists, surely I'm not the only one who finds him, and his relationship with Kalin, worth exploring. :)
