Cathedral City boxer will fight on Pacquiao undercard

WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley signed a promotional contract with world-renown Top Rank Promotions and is booked to fight on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas.

Bradley is scheduled to fight veteran Joel Casamayor, who has fought toe-to-toe with the likes of Marquez, Diego Corrales and Robert Guerrero. The 40-year-old Casamayor is also the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, but has gone 2-2 in his last four fights, losing to Guerrero and Marquez.

“I'm just so happy. I don't know what to say man. I'm so excited,” Bradley said in an exclusive interview with The Desert Sun. “Wow. It's unbelievable. It's very unbelievable. Everything was looking down, looking down, and boom. Now everything is starting to look up.”

This will be Bradley's first fight since Jan. 29, when he defeated Devon Alexander by technical decision to retain his WBO belt and win the WBC title for a second time.

But Casamayor also hasn't been in the ring much, with his last fight coming in March.

“He hasn't been very active, so it will make for a good fight since I haven't been very active,” Bradley said, laughing. “Somebody's gotta lose and it's not going to be me. Like I said, he's a worthy opponent, he's a tough guy. I know people will say, 'why did you pick him?' I didn't pick him; it's what Top Rank gave me. That's who they gave me and I'm getting ready for him.”

Bradley was in negotiations to fight in July against WBA champion Amir Khan, matching what is considered the top two fighters in the 140-pound weight division. But Bradley turned down a lucrative offer to fight Amir Khan over the summer. That led to a lawsuit by Shaw and Thompson. The WBC also removed Bradley's belt, which was won by Erik Morales two weeks ago.

Shaw and Thompson are suing Bradley for turning down the Khan fight, which was the last of a two-fight extension with the co-promoters. The actual promotional contract was supposed to end in June.

The lawsuit has not been settled. Bradley said he's not sure where that lawsuit stands.

“I'm not even worried about it. My lawyers are on it,” Bradley said. “This is my job, my livelihood and I'm contracted to fight.

“As far as the lawsuit goes, I'm not sure. All I know is my lawyers are on it, and they gave me the OK to fight.”

One of the beefs Bradley had with his former promoters was what he felt was a lack of promotional effort. After winning the WBC title in 2008 in an upset of Junior Witter in England, Bradley successfully defended his title five times and moved into the top-10 of several pound-for-pound rankings, which rates the top fighters regardless of weight class.

Yet, Bradley has been criticized as a fighter who doesn't sell tickets or attract fans. As far as name recognition, Bradley is behind such fighters as Victor Ortiz, who got a fight with top pay-per-view attraction Floyd Mayweather despite two losses.

Top Rank is owned by Bob Arum, a Hall of Fame promoter.

“Top Rank has had all the greats. They've had all the greats,” Bradley said. “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, he can't do 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.”

There had been speculation that Bradley would sign with Top Rank, because it would create an opportunity to fight Pacquiao, the other top pay-per-view attraction in boxing. Pacquiao opponents have reportedly earned $5 million.

And Bradley has made it clear that he dreams of fighting Pacquiao.

“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.”

Adding to Bradley's joy is the fact he'll fight at the MGM Grand, which has hosted some historic bouts. It will be the first time Bradley has fought in Las Vegas, and Nov. 12 will be a chance for him to fulfill one of his lifelong dreams.

Bradley doesn't even mind that it will be the first time in four years where he wasn't the main event.

“Ain't no problems at all,” Bradley said. “They'll come to see Manny Pacquiao, but they'll get a taste of Tim Bradley, too. It doesn't matter where I am on the card.

“It's a wonderful feeling to be fighting in Vegas, especially at the MGM. All the greats fought there. Tons of great fighters fought there, and I'll be another one to add to the list.”

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110930/S...-signs-Top-Rank

First fight scheduled against Casamayor? How pathetic.

Harvard Jews, man. Harvard Jews.

No shit. I can't even hate on it tho. It's brilliant. I mean, without Don King really being involved in the sport anymore, he's got no competition. Golden Boy and everyone else, including the media, is playing checkers while Arum's playing chess.

I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall at the Arum household. Those guys have GOT to be laughing their asses off at the dinner table.

Why? They laugh, they eat, they play Yahtzee. They also play their own version of 'who has grand daddy screwed the most' and frankly it is a toss up between 3 fighters: Fishnets, Gayweather and Pac=Juice. Either way they are still laughing.

FightHype reported this MONTHS AGO! lol

anyway I think Bradley is a BEAST and all of the other 140 lbs fighters people are trying to hype up, I think Bradley BEATS THEM ALL that INCLUDES OVERRATED A$$ A MERE CON

Bradley is very dangerous and I think he is going to be a MATCH UP NIGHTMARE for Pacquiao and even Mayweather at 147, watch and see how things shake down over the next few months, all people are going to come and post "HE LACKS POWER" blah blah blah but make no mistake...BRADLEY IS NO JOKE and some of these clueless fans will find out the HARD WAY when he takes out some of their favorite fighters, they will be making that "Larry Merchant Face:

once he beats their favorite fighter

Bradley is the REAL DEAL, the only thing Ortiz, Khan(CON), Alexander had better then Bradley while fighting at 140 was PROMOTIONAL BACKING from GBP and Don King

haha, style nightmare?? what does he do that will trouble Pac? He's got no head movement and his punches are wide. He gets eaten alive

he got no head movement? WTF? you clearly don't know what your talking about, that is why a lot of Accident Headbutts happen DURING HIS FIGHTS...because of the HEAD MOVEMENT, that is one of the things he does best, Bradley ducks under punches very well, also throws excellent Combos to the body and head, excellent footwork, he can dart in and quickly with Combos, his movements makes him hard to deal with, he is not that typical SLOW FLAT FOOTED FACE FIRST BRAWLER that Pacquiao is so use to fighting that is for sure, he was having Accuracy Issues with Mosley lol someone of TRULY has no Head movement or Defense AT ALL



^If you think one of Bradley weaknesses is "LACK OF HEAD MOVEMENT" then you need your eyes check, or maybe your mixing him up with Devon Alexander lol I don't know SMH...

FightHype reported this MONTHS AGO! lol

anyway I think Bradley is a BEAST and all of the other 140 lbs fighters people are trying to hype up, I think Bradley BEATS THEM ALL that INCLUDES OVERRATED A$$ A MERE CON

Bradley is very dangerous and I think he is going to be a MATCH UP NIGHTMARE for Pacquiao and even Mayweather at 147, watch and see how things shake down over the next few months, all people are going to come and post "HE LACKS POWER" blah blah blah but make no mistake...BRADLEY IS NO JOKE and some of these clueless fans will find out the HARD WAY when he takes out some of their favorite fighters, they will be making that "Larry Merchant Face:
once he beats their favorite fighter

Bradley is the REAL DEAL, the only thing Ortiz, Khan(CON), Alexander had better then Bradley while fighting at 140 was PROMOTIONAL BACKING from GBP and Don King

I just hope it is NO BS going on with Top Rank, if/when Bradley gets a shot at Pacquiao hopefully he is allowed to go out and at least TRY TO WIN! I don't trust Bob Arum AT ALL, he is probably paying guys to take the fall for Pacquiao

haha, this was the worst highlight I've ever watched. he swings wild and hits like my little sister. He ducked a couple shots in this video but his head movement isn't really that good. he has good reflexes and can move out of the way from some punches but he doesn't move his head to set up shots. He basically waits for you to throw and tries to slip it. he is the definition of FACE FIRST, thats where the headbutts happen. the guy mauls and leads with his head, good straight punches should be able to control this. Bradley is not that good. His footwork is terrible, he's always out of position. sorry you don't see this. he gets manhandled by Pac and beaten by Berto, Ortiz, and Khan imo

Bradley is his own nightmare, period. He'll get peppered and outworked by Khan all night, and Ortiz will steam roll this guy from the bottom up and get stuck at the head, lol. Maidana is his biggest nightmare, and Im sure Arum wouldn't mind feeding him to a dangerous fighter, being the fact that he isn't a cash cow or a ticket seller. I see Bradley beating a few guys at 140, but those welterweight pipe dreams of his, need to be put on hold. As a matter of fact, those dreams aren't as close as he thinks, if he is still fighting guys like Casamayor, who gave his last against Marquez back in '09.

The biggest question about a Pacquiao/Bradley fight is, who's gonna pay to see it? If Arum is thinking the same thing, then I dont see it happening any time soon, regardless of what he says. Bradley has heart, and I could never take that away from him, but he needs to beat some more top contenders like you've already professed that he would do easily, then sell some tickets. Period. No way Im gonna pay $50-$60 to watch him helplessly try to weather a Pacquiao storm and get stopped before the 3rd or 4th round.

haha, style nightmare?? what does he do that will trouble Pac? He's got no head movement and his punches are wide. He gets eaten alive

This is where all of the negative talk from the past comes back to haunt them. Bob Arum was one of the many that said that Lil Timmie couldn't sell out his own living room. That was an excuse that they used when he was with Gary Shaw. He was a virtual unknown that no one cared to see. It's interesting how they're promotional strategy is to put him in the ring with a former champion, now turned opponent, who happens to be 40 years old. They had a million and one excuses not to face this kid when he was with Shaw. Now that they have inked him, he's an excellent fighter who deserves a shot at Pacquiao. At this moment, he's best known for who he ducked, than he is for whom he has beaten. Not much has changed since his last outing. He wasn't ready then, he's not ready now. He's just a band-aid on a gunshot wound. The lesser evil of the undefeated fighters out there to choose from. Of course we all know who we'd like to see Manny in the ring with, but that fight seems not likely to happen for whatever reason(s) so we are in limbo yet again. Bradley signed with Top Rank with hopes of getting a shot at Pacquiao. Top Rank will make that fight happen and try to blame Floyd one way or the other, for the fight not being made. Clearly the people behind Pacquiao do not seem as interested in the fight as they try to make it look. We want to fight Mayweather but they already have contracts drawn up and almost finalized, before one week's time has gone by. We'll see what happens after Nov. 12th.

again we shall see over the next year or so how things turnout, I totally disagree about him getting outworked by Khan this is the same Khan who work rate slows down greatly by the 5th-6th Round and he starts back peddling and getting sloppy and leaning on the ropes, also struggled to hit McCloskey clean and McCloskey is not even that fast certainly not as fast as Bradley, I think Bradley Chops CON down with BODY SHOTS! then you have Ortiz who struggled with Peterson, the same Peterson Bradley out-boxed comfortably for 12 Rounds, Ortiz is EXTREMELY OVERRATED, his best asset is his SIZE and he doesn't even know how to use that to his advantage and all the talk about his Power lol Look at the Guys he Knocked Out? Vivian Harris? and that KO looked suspect SMH...as for Flat Footed Maidana....LOL Give me a Fukin Break! That dude is SLOW AND ROBOTIC and was Out-Boxed By a OLD MORALES!

but again we shall see over the next year or some how everything goes down, I think Bradley will come out on top of most of those Battles if they happen...Besides MAYBE Pacquiao and Mayweather

Bradley would beat Pacquiao, but we'll have to wait because Brandon Rios is no doubt the front runner for the fight. How do I know this? At the Pacquiao-Marquez III press conference in LA, Freddie Roach and Alex Ariza were trashing Rios saying that he'll never make it to the big time. Well, if you notice that every time Top Rank/Team Pacquiao trash somebody that means that they're probably next! In my initial story a few months ago, they were really hoping that Mike Jones and Tim Bradley would be a potential showdown but we'll have to see what goes from here.

Man I swear, Im gonna blow my brains out if I hear one more person say that Bradley will beat Pacquiao!!! Use your heads for once, please.

Get used to it with him, he's like jluv when it comes to hating on pac...it's a joke!

Bradley is just going for the money. When he fights Pacman he will just be fighting for the money. SMH Goddamnit Bradley I had really high hopes for him especially after outboxing Lamont Peterson and defusing Kendall Holts bombs. This guy just needed more charisma and fight more like when fought Carlos Abregu on his first welterweight fight. He brought the action in that fight and even stunned the guy who was a KO artist with a decent chin. Bradley is just fighting for the money, it's understandable these days.

We need more fighters like Maidana, Cloud, Martinez, and Rios who will fight anyone and fears nobody, no matter the price they fight mostly for the glory and legacy.

IMO, Bradley's biggest mistake was not fighting Khan!

Kinda like you huh?

So once again Pac has his next fight already raked up before the JMM fight is over. I wonder will people kept blaming May for this fight not happening? This is plan BS, what is the point of a Bradley fight? Bradley should either fight Maidana, Khan, or Peterson. If Pac signs on to this I don't know if I can say he is fighting the best competition especially if he plans on retiring in 2013. I wonder if Bradley has to pay Shaw and Arum?

Pac and May clearly can't come to terms on testing but Pac clearly wants/needs to keep fighting. So what is he supposed to do? Bradley is actually a more credible opponent than Victor Ortiz. At least he hasn't quit in a fight.

He hasn't knocked out anybody either in 7 years and him being 5' 4" fighting Pacman at 147 is a mismatch.

Bradley's got to be the "naivest of the naives" and he really reminds me of a child. When you are a child (or have a child-like mindset) and your parents (or another adult) promises you something, you hold them to that...not knowing that "life happens" in the adult realm. In other words, we as adults, are smart enough to pick our times to make promises, and we should be smart enough to not hold others to their promises or promising intentions.

In this case, Bradley believes the words of a man that cant really be trusted, and surely Arum's mind could possibly sway to another big fight for Pacquiao if the opportunity presents itself. This guy fails to realize that Arum is the father of the boxing industry, and everybody else is his son (whether we want to except it or not)...so why would this dude risk his career for a fight that could possibly fall through if another fighter with a "name" steps in? Cant blame Bradley for wanting more money, but sheesh, dont be blind about the situation.

Hence the reason why he had no problem turning down the Amir Khan fight. You want to hear something even funnier? From what I was told, he's not getting a signing bonus to join Top Rank. Instead, that signing bonus was added to his guarantee for this fight on Pacquiao's undercard. Evidently, his bout contract will probably read $600K...but here's the kicker...because he's fighting on a Manny Pacquiao undercard, MP Promotions is partially responsible for paying some of the undercard fighters...so guess what....the majority of Bradley's $600K is coming out of Manny Pacquiao's own pocket and he doesn't even know it. I'm sure Michael Koncz knows it...but he doesn't know it. THAT'S one of the things that VisionQwest discovered I hear. So Bradley's "signing bonus" is really being added on to that $600K he's getting to fight on the undercard...in other words, with a "signing bonus" of $600K, that means Bradley will make $1.2 million, as originally promised. That's the REAL story behind this, but I'm bored with certain people saying I'm too focused on Pacquiao's finances, so at this point, fuck it....keep doing what you're doing Bob. God bless you!

Bob Arum did the same with Tim Bradley that he did with Shane Mosley and likely did with Juan Manuel Marquez. He flew him out to his house, rolled out the red carpet, had dinner with the fam, and made him all kinds of promises, the main one being a fight with Manny Pacquiao.

And yes, provided he gets past the ever-so-dangerous Joel Casamayor (co-sign with Fitz on how pathetic that is), he WILL be Manny Pacquiao's next opponent in May. THERE WILL BE NO FIGHT WITH FLOYD MAYWEATHER. Oh sure, Bob Arum might try to make it sound like he's making the fight...then again, the way he's been acting lately, he probably won't even bother to put on the show, instead just saying Floyd won't agree to letting WADA do the testing in the Philippines (and just a reminder, WADA themselves have said that they do testing and rely on orgs like USADA to do it...in fact, they even said USADA SHOULD BE the org to do it since the event takes place in the US...and USADA has said it's not a problem to fly to the Philippines to collect samples).

THAT, my friends, is REALLY what's pathetic about the whole situation. Bob Arum has been planning Manny Pacquiao's May 2012 ever since May 2011. That's how far ahead of the game he is right now. It's been like this for the past 2+ years...ever since 2009 when he put the brakes on Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.

He hasn't knocked out anybody either in 7 years and him being 5' 4" fighting Pacman at 147 is a mismatch.

Clearly the fight that most want to see is obvious however if that fight can't or won't be made (and that is another conversation) then who would you want to see Pac face? he gets criticized all the time for fighting shot fighters and weight drained guys so now he will face a young hungry undefeated fighter.

Pac is not a big 147 pounder so I don't see the height and weight between the 2 as being a mismatch. I think Pac will win but it should be interesting to see what he can do against a young guy who doesn't know how to lose.

I actually would want for both Mayweather and Pacquaio to move up to 154. Both of them moved up in weight not casue they were struggling to make weight but because the big fights were at WW, right now there are no opponents at 147 or below that could give them any fits so they shoudl go up where they could fight Lara, Angulo, Vanes, PWill, Kirkland, Martinez, Canelo, Drizniuk, etc.

I hope this isn't a surprise to anyone. Danny Howard called this back in July when Jesse Reid told him that Bradley had already agreed that he would sign with Top Rank.

http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content10289.html

Then I told you he was promised a career-high payday of $1.2 million to fight on Pacquiao's undercard a couple weeks ago:

http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content10415.html

Hence the reason why he had no problem turning down the Amir Khan fight. You want to hear something even funnier? From what I was told, he's not getting a signing bonus to join Top Rank. Instead, that signing bonus was added to his guarantee for this fight on Pacquiao's undercard. Evidently, his bout contract will probably read $600K...but here's the kicker...because he's fighting on a Manny Pacquiao undercard, MP Promotions is partially responsible for paying some of the undercard fighters...so guess what....the majority of Bradley's $600K is coming out of Manny Pacquiao's own pocket and he doesn't even know it. I'm sure Michael Koncz knows it...but he doesn't know it. THAT'S one of the things that VisionQwest discovered I hear. So Bradley's "signing bonus" is really being added on to that $600K he's getting to fight on the undercard...in other words, with a "signing bonus" of $600K, that means Bradley will make $1.2 million, as originally promised. That's the REAL story behind this, but I'm bored with certain people saying I'm too focused on Pacquiao's finances, so at this point, fuck it....keep doing what you're doing Bob. God bless you!

Bob Arum did the same with Tim Bradley that he did with Shane Mosley and likely did with Juan Manuel Marquez. He flew him out to his house, rolled out the red carpet, had dinner with the fam, and made him all kinds of promises, the main one being a fight with Manny Pacquiao.

And yes, provided he gets past the ever-so-dangerous Joel Casamayor (co-sign with Fitz on how pathetic that is), he WILL be Manny Pacquiao's next opponent in May. THERE WILL BE NO FIGHT WITH FLOYD MAYWEATHER. Oh sure, Bob Arum might try to make it sound like he's making the fight...then again, the way he's been acting lately, he probably won't even bother to put on the show, instead just saying Floyd won't agree to letting WADA do the testing in the Philippines (and just a reminder, WADA themselves have said that they do testing and rely on orgs like USAD.A to do it...in fact, they even said USADA SHOULD BE the org to do it since the event takes place in the US...and USADA has said it's not a problem to fly to the Philippines to collect samples).

THAT, my friends, is REALLY what's pathetic about the whole situation. Bob Arum has been planning Manny Pacquiao's May 2012 ever since May 2011. That's how far ahead of the game he is right now. It's been like this for the past 2+ years...ever since 2009 when he put the brakes on Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.

Pac and May clearly can't come to terms on testing but Pac clearly wants/needs to keep fighting. So what is he supposed to do? Bradley is actually a more credible opponent than Victor Ortiz. At least he hasn't quit in a fight.

Bradley isn't a house hold name and no one outside of the boxing community has heard of him. By Ortiz quit to Maidana and beat Ortiz in a Fight of the Year match became a household name. Plus the 24/7 show and his back story only helped him. My thing with Arum/ and Team Pac is that they claim they want the Mayweather fight but yet they ink fights two years ahead of time. Which means, that you really did not have any intention on fighting Mayweather. All the while Mayweather gets the blame on the fight not happening. If they really wanted this fight it would of happened. I see that they are using fighter Mayweather as another way to sell tickets and keep interest in their guy. It is BS on another level.

Bradley just needs to shorten up those hooks and he would be the complete package. Pac would punch with him and his punches would get to Bradley first because they are more compact.

People shouldn't be shocked about this. Arum is always doing this. As for Bradley, most fighters don't care too much about legacy, they all want that payday.

Pacquiao vs Bradley is a good fight in the making, especially for casual fans. Both fighters will be going at it, wild, there will be headbutts, bruising, bleeding... Pacquiao will win by some sort of stoppage.

again we shall see over the next year or so how things turnout, I totally disagree about him getting outworked by Khan this is the same Khan who work rate slows down greatly by the 5th-6th Round and he starts back peddling and getting sloppy and leaning on the ropes, also struggled to hit McCloskey clean and McCloskey is not even that fast certainly not as fast as Bradley, I think Bradley Chops CON down with BODY SHOTS! then you have Ortiz who struggled with Peterson, the same Peterson Bradley out-boxed comfortably for 12 Rounds, Ortiz is EXTREMELY OVERRATED, his best asset is his SIZE and he doesn't even know how to use that to his advantage and all the talk about his Power lol Look at the Guys he Knocked Out? Vivian Harris? and that KO looked suspect SMH...as for Flat Footed Maidana....LOL Give me a Fukin Break! That dude is SLOW AND ROBOTIC and was Out-Boxed By a OLD MORALES!

but again we shall see over the next year or some how everything goes down, I think Bradley will come out on top of most of those Battles if they happen...Besides MAYBE Pacquiao and Mayweather