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Underdog Boxing: Is Timothy Bradley a good option for Manny Pacquiao?


He had a clear shot at WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan but he chose to shoot it down. The boxing world was up in arms because that fight could have been one of the better fights in all of boxing this year. A few weeks ago, no one knew why Timothy Bradley (27-0-0, 11 KOs) chose not to fight Khan. “I’ll fight anybody," he said after beating Devon Alexander. “I am out to be the best in the division," he added. But when it was time to back his words up, he hesitated. Now, no one’s questioning Bradley anymore. He signed up with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions and has landed on the Manny Pacquiao versus Juan Manuel Marquez undercard this November. Bradley will be taking on the shot-as-hell Joel Casamayor in what appears to be his only roadblock to a financially-rewarding showdown with Pacquiao next May. Many casual fans don’t even know who Bradley is. His biggest wins are over Devon Alexander, Lamont Peterson, Luis Carlos Abregu, and Kendall Holt; all good fighters but none of them can be considered great. Bradley’s style is not fan-friendly and that might be the biggest factor why he hasn’t been able to break into the consciousness of casual fans. Why is he even being mentioned as a possible opponent for Pacquiao? Well, quite simply because there is no one else. Of course there’s WBC champion Floyd Mayweather. In a perfect world, Pacquiao and Mayweather should have fought thrice already but it’s not and we all just need to deal with it. In the welterweight division there are only two options other than Mayweather. There’s Victor Ortiz who’s coming off a loss to Mayweather and there’s IBF champion Andre Berto who recently lost to Ortiz. I honestly cannot even spell the name of the WBA welterweight champion (it is, with Google’s help, Viacheslav Senchenko). In the light welterweight division, the only other guy who can challenge Pacquiao is Amir Khan. The problem is that Pacquiao and Khan are both trained by Freddie Roach and are very close friends so that fight is highly unlikely. So we end up with Bradley. Does he deserve a shot at Pacquiao? Personally, I don’t think so. If he fought and defeated Khan, it would have been the perfect set-up for Pacquiao-Bradley but he chose to swerve that light welterweight mega-match. Beating Casamayor, even if he does it in 15 seconds, should not earn him a shot at Pacquiao. However, “deserving it" is very hard to define. Boxing, at the end of the day, is both a sport and a business. Now that Bradley is also with Top Rank, a Pacquiao-Bradley match is much easier to make. It will also earn their promoter the most money as he won’t have to deal with another promoter to make the match. For Pacquiao, the only bright side of facing Bradley is that he is an undefeated fighter who’s in his prime. Pacquiao’s detractors often harp about the advanced age of his opponents and fighting a prime athlete in Bradley will eliminate that discussion. Bradley may not be the fans’ top choice as a challenger for Pacquiao but by the looks of it, that match is highly likely for next May. -OMG, GMA News

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