Timothy Bradley this week inked a deal with boxing promotion big boys Top Rank, and will make his debut under his new promoters on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez III fight on November 12th. The announcement of the deal between the WBO Light-Welterweight Champion and Bob Arum’s Top Rank on Thursday came as no surprise to anyone, with many believing that it had been in the pipeline for months.
Bradley could be next up for Pacquiao. Photo credit www.livefight.com
Bradley will now be fighting against one time title contender Joel Casamayor (38–5–1), who has two defeats in his last four fights. This comes as somewhat of a disappointment as you would like to see Bradley fighting better boxers at this stage in his career, especially now that he will be working with Bob Arum. The 40-year-old Casamayor does not deserve of a title shot and the fight has clearly been organised so that the ‘Desert Storm’ can destroy an opponent on his Top Rank debut.
Despite being sued by his now former promoters by refusing to fight Amir Khan, he has gone ahead with announcing the deal with Top Rank. This is a good move for Bradley, in the sense that he should be able to land some bigger fights than he has had previously. This does however, mean that the chances of a big light-welterweight clash between Khan and Bradley are effectively over. Team Bradley refused to fight Britain’s Khan, turning down a career high purse of $1.2 million and a revised offer of $1.4 million and a 50/50 split of the UK revenue in the process – which is a very good deal. This left many confused, as Bradley has never been a big draw and had continuously stated his desire to be the best at 140 pounds and to do that Khan is the man to beat.
One can only assume that the ‘Desert Storm’ knew something that the rest of us didn’t. Bradley is without a doubt one of the best light-welterweight boxers on the planet, but he has never been a big draw with fans or a success in terms of PPV numbers, Bradley will tell you that himself. “Top Rank has had all the greats,” Bradley said at the announcement of his new promotional deal. “I’m here to be promoted. This is why I box, I want to be promoted. I’ve been winning my fights, but I haven’t been getting the top exposure I feel I deserve being a three-time world champion. I’m relatively unknown and I think that’s terrible. You hear about it all the time: Bradley can’t do this, can’t sell that.
“My main objective was to get a promoter to build the Bradley brand, and Top Rank is good at doing that. That’s why we chose Top Rank.”. Turning down over a million dollars plus a split of the pay-per-view money, the chance to win another world title and a chance to solidify his stance as the finest 140 pound boxer in the division, seemed to suggest that something else must have been on the table somewhere.
This spells bad news for ‘King’ Khan for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum prefers to match his fighters against other fighters in his stable and secondly because Golden Boy promotes Amir Khan and, well, they simply do not work together. So Khan might as well forget all about fighting his undefeated foe and focus on his other targets, which he seems to be doing, with Floyd Mayweather Jr. appearing to be his latest target. This is a shame for boxing as it would have been a brilliant fight and it looks like being another fight that we will never see.
Amir Khan’s misfortune is his stable mate’s gain as Bradley signing for Top Rank surely means that facing P4P king Manny Pacquiao is now a realistic possibility with Bradley admitting he would love to face the Philippine superstar. “They haven’t mentioned anything about Manny Pacquiao or whatever. I’m fighting Casamayor at the moment. He’s a tough guy. He’s a tough veteran. I have to get past this guy and we’ll see what’s next,” Bradley said. “I would love to fight Manny Pacquiao, but I’m not sure when.” It is not hard to see why the California native is interested in taking on the 8 weight-division world champion as it is reported than many of Pacquiao’s recent opponents have earned around $5 million for stepping in the ring with Freddy Roach’s charge.
I believe that a deal has already been agreed between the two camps and once the “Pac-Man” defeats Marquez on November 12th, expect an announcement from Top Rank head honcho Arum. Further excuses on why a fight with ‘Money’ Mayweather has failed to materialise yet again will be made, but rest assured details of a mega fight between his old and new charge will be announced.
Good write up! Bradley’s got a shot against the pacman with a couple more fights under his belt.
Well written and informative. Would love to see this in the paper or a sports mag. Most articles nowadays r wrtn in txt spk! Impressed.