Mayweather: Pacquiao has to avenge his losses to Marquez and Bradley before I’ll fight him

02/23/2013 ESB

may3 By Rob Smith: If Bob Arum of Top Rank and Manny Pacquiao want a huge money mega fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. to take place in 2014 then Pacquiao is going to have to avenge his defeats to Juan Manuel Marquez and Tim Bradley, Mayweather says. He says Pacquiao has unfinished business with those two fighters before he’ll even consider a bout against him.

Speaking with ESPN, Mayweather said “First Manny Pacquiao has to get past Marquez, a fighter I beat with ease. I mean, that was one of my easiest fights. Manny Pacquiao still has Tim Bradley problems, he still has Marquez problems. First Manny Pacquiao has to get those guys, then he can step inside the lion’s den with Floyd Mayweather.”

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Tim Bradley vs. Yuriorkis Gamboa on March 16th?

01/18/2013 ESB

bradley123 By Rob Smith: Bob Arum of Top Rank says his fighter WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) will be facing a well-known opponent in his next fight on March 16th. Arum isn’t saying who it is but it’s rumored to be super featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa (22-0, 16 KO’s). This would be an interesting fight if it happens because Bradley pretty badly flawed to where even a guy like 5’5” Gamboa would have a decent chance of beating him by moving up three divisions to take the fight.

Arum said to ringtv “The matchmakers are working on a sensational opponent. Once it’s announced, people are going to say, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to see that fight.’”

Gamboa would be a lot of problems for a guy like Bradley because of Gamboa’s superior speed and punching power. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gamboa’s power carries up to the welterweight division because he looked pretty heavy for his last bout and he showed good power.

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Is Adrien Broner vs. Tim Bradley on the Menu?

09/15/201612/03/2012 ESB

Is Adrien Broner vs. Tim Bradley on the Menu? by Robert Jackson: 8 rounds of destruction highlighted Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner’s decisive victory over former champion Antonio DeMarco a few weeks back. Broner fought with power, and Broner fought with skill. The underskilled but game DeMarco didn’t have an answer for what ‘The Problem’ brought to the ring that night. Finally DeMarco’s corner made the right decision to throw in the towel because the warrior in DeMarco would’ve never quit and as it was he was taking heavy shots. Shots that a lot of fighters never come back from.

During the post-fight interview Broner went verbal as his alter ego the ‘Can Man’ suggesting that everyone ‘Can’ get some, but never specifically called anyone out. This writer was wondering whether Timothy ‘Desert Storm’ Bradley was watching the HBO telecast. As we all know Bradley who fights under the Top Rank banner has nothing lined up currently and no future bouts involving him have been mentioned. It’s also possible for Bradley to drop down to 140lbs to make a fight against Broner.

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Roach still wishes Pacquiao had chosen Bradley to fight rather than Marquez

10/05/201210/03/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Trainer Freddie Roach says he wished that his fighter Manny Pacquiao had selected WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley to fight next instead of facing Juan Manuel Marquez for a fourth time when they meet on December 8th. Roach has made it clear in the past that Marquez is a really tough fight for Pacquiao and he doesn’t see anything to be gained from fighting him yet another time after having already faced him three separate times.

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Tim Bradley – Robert Guerrero possible for December 15th

09/14/201609/25/2012 ESB

Tim Bradley - Robert Guerrero possible for December 15th By Rob Smith: A fight between interim WBC welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO’s) and WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) is being negotiated between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank for December 15th in a venue still to be determined. If this fight can be put together it’ll be one of the rare recent occasions where the two rival promotional companies can work together.

Guerrero, who is very eager to get a big money fight, said on his twitter page on Monday “I want Tim Bradley, period! Golden Boy and Oscar De La Hoya make it happen! Fans want it, HBO Boxing wants it! No reason for it not to happen.”

It’s sad this may be the closest thing that Guerrero has gotten during his career to a big fight, and you can’t really call this a big fight, at least not compared to the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

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Bradley targeting Mayweather Jr

09/14/2012 ESB

By Marcus Richardson: Tim Bradley is now officially out of the running for a mega fight against Manny Pacquiao for December 8th. Bradley had to wait around for months to finally discover that he’s not going to get the fight. Needless to say he’s not happy about being passed over by Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum for the big money rematch. However, Bradley is now hoping to hit the ground running by getting an even better money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

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Bradley stunned that Pacquiao will be facing Marquez next

09/14/201609/13/2012 ESB

Bradley stunned that Pacquiao will be facing Marquez next By Marcus Richardson: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley is less than pleased with the news that Manny Pacquiao won’t be fighting him next in a rematch to try and avenge his loss to Bradley from last June. Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum have chosen to go with a proven pay per view money maker in 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez for Pacquiao’s next fight on December 8th.

Bradley told the Desert Sun at mydesert.com “I can’t believe these guys. He didn’t want any part of me. Marquez is an easier fight. He knows that a fight with me and two good legs are going to be hell…Any champion who lost his belt, you would want to redeem yourself.”

In fairness to Pacquiao, he probably does want to avenge his loss to Bradley, but it’s not just Pacquiao making the decisions here. It’s a team process and and I think he realized after hearing the arguments from his fellow team members that it was simply more logical to go with Marquez because of his potential to draw in more PPV buys from his large Mexican fanbase. Bradley still doesn’t have a large fanbase and it’s going to take a while for him and Arum to build one up.

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Bradley Sr: Timothy would have knocked Pacquiao out if he hadn’t injured his leg

09/14/201609/07/2012 ESB

Bradley Sr: Timothy would have knocked Pacquiao out if he hadn't injured his leg By Rob Smith: Tim Bradley Sr., the father of WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s), feels that Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) got a lucky break last June when Bradley injured his leg in their fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although Bradley still ended up winning the fight anyway by a 12 round split decision, Bradley Sr. feels that his son would have knocked Pacquiao out had he been fighting on two good legs in that fight.

Bradley Sr. said to Examiner.com writer Chris Robinson “I feel that Pacquiao would have got knocked the h*ll out if my son would have been able to shift the power on either leg but he could not do that.”

Bradley showed little in the way of power in that fight, and it pretty clear to most boxing fans that Pacquiao was the much harder hitter of the two. However, Bradley has shown some decent power in past fights against the likes of Lamont Peterson and Joel Casmayor. But Bradley has never been a huge puncher and it’s doubtful that even with two good legs working for him that he’d have been able to knock out the 33-year-old Pacquiao in that fight.

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Tim Bradley could wind up out in the cold if Pacquiao chooses Marquez to fight next

09/14/201609/01/2012 ESB

Tim Bradley could wind up out in the cold if Pacquiao chooses Marquez to fight next By Rob Smith: With Manny Pacquiao possibly ready to make his pick this weekend for his December 8th fight, it’s expected that 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez will selected by Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum for his next fight. However, this leaves Pacquiao’s recent conqueror WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) out in the cold with no opponent for his next fight. Bradley intentionally waited all this time to see if Pacquiao would want to fight him and he’s now on the verge of having nothing to show for it.

Miguel Cotto won’t be around to fight Bradley, and if he was he wouldn’t waste time fighting this guy. Bradley is going to have to look to defend his World Boxing Organization strap against the best possible contender, unless he’s interested in milking his title agaisnt the lowest rank WBO contender in order to have a better chance of holding onto the WBO strap long enough to get another shot at fighting Pacquiao.

There only a limited amount of options in Bob Arum’s Top Rank stable, meaning that Bradley is almost guaranteed a shot against Pacquiao at some point in the future as long as Bradley remains with Top Rank. Arum likes to put together in house fights with he matches Pacquiao, so Bradley should be getting a crack at the Filipino fighter at some point next year.

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Pacquiao’s options down to Marquez and Bradley after Cotto chooses to fight Trout

09/14/201608/31/2012 ESB

Pacquiao's options down to Marquez and Bradley after Cotto chooses to fight Trout By Marcus Richardson: Manny Pacquiao’s options are now greatly limited after Miguel Cotto announced that he’ll be fighting WBA World light middleweight champion Austin Trout on December 1st at Madison Square Garden, in New York. Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum now much choose from Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) and Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) for Pacquiao’s upcoming fight in December. It’s not even a choice, is it? Arum wants to maximize his fighter Pacquiao’s payday and it seems pretty clear that the only option they have if they want to do that is to fight 39-year-old Marquez next.

Who knows how many more fights Pacquiao has in him, so it kind of makes sense for Arum to be looking to squeeze every last cent out of the remaining fights of his Filipino star’s career because the Pacquiao train seems to be slowing down now that he’s showing signs of aging.

Marquez would be smart to jump on the Cotto news and demand a bigger slice of the revenue for a Pacquiao fight, because there’s really not many options for Pacquiao now. To be sure, Pacquiao can take the Bradley rematch, make less money for himself and Arum, and possibly get beaten again if Bradley uses movement and a more consistent attack. With Pacquiao limited to fighting hard in the last 20 seconds of every round, Bradley would have a good chance of beating him again.

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