When I initially reported that Timothy Bradley may have already began discussing making fights with Top Rank, every boxing news outlet disputed the report. Some "journalists" even took jabs at FightHype for running the story, but it looks like my story has indeed come to fruition. According to various sources, including a report by FightHype's own Ben Thompson that ran two weeks, it looked like Bradley would be making his Top Rank debut on the undercard of Pacquiao-Marquez. Those reports turned out to be true as both Bradley and his new promoter, Bob Arum, announced his signing with Top Rank late Thursday evening. He'll be fighting on the November 12 undercard of Pacquiao vs. Marquez 3 against an opponent yet to be finalized, however former champion Joel Casamayor appears to be the frontrunner to land the assignment. Bradley can make big money against future stablemates Brandon Rios, Mercito Gesta, Mike Jones, but he'll no doubt be looking to land a big fight against Manny Pacquiao down the line.
Bradley remains in litigation with former promoter Gary Shaw, but it seems that the legal proceedings could be closer to the end now that he was informed he could sign with a new promoter. Outside of the publicity generated from the initial story, Bradley had come out of exile every now and then to talk trash towards the likes of Amir Khan and Erik Morales. For his sake, hopefully we'll hear more from Bradley in the near future. Don't say I didn't tell you so.
The Best of the Rest...
Antonio Tarver may not understand why Danny Green is fighting for a world title after he knocked him out, but Tarver himself is to blame for not finding himself in the ring with a world champion. I do recall Steve Cunningham calling Tarver out repeatedly to step up to the plate and get his ass kicked, but the Magic Man did his best magic trick and vanished. Tarver-Cunningham is easily one of the best Cruiserweight fights to be made at this time.
WBO Middleweight Champion Dmitry Pirog will be ringside to scout Sergio Martinez this weekend and generate interest for a fight down the line. Pirog captured his paper title after Al Haymon got them to strip Martinez of the belt to put on Danny Jacobs, but Pirog smashed Jacobs in five round to win the title. Being that nobody wants to fight Martinez, Pirog should be the front-runner to face him in early 2012 and would make for an interesting scrap.
Oscar De La Hoya is insisting that Floyd Mayweather give Victor Ortiz a needless and unnecessary rematch, citing Mayweather's honor would be on the line. Ironically though, De La Hoya himself never gave rematches to Pernell Whittaker, Ike Quartey, or Felix Sturm out of honor, and after his first fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Sr ended in a anti-climatic fashion, he waited four years before giving him a chance again. Time to cut your losses Oscar; let it go.
Danny Howard can be reached via e-mail (dhoward@fighthype.com) Twitter (@DBHoward126) and on Facebook.