Now that the welterweight (147 pounds) megabout between five-time titlist Floyd Mayweather and seven-division champ Manny Pacquiao appears to be off, WBO junior welterweight (140 pounds) king Tim Bradley has one question.
“The real question is what about Tim Bradley,” said the 26-year-old titlist, who is 25-0 with 11 knockouts and is nicknamed, “The Desert Storm.”
“In fact, that should be the headline to all of this right now,” said Bradley. “‘What About Tim Bradley, Man?'”
Bradley is coming off of last month’s lopsided, 12-round unanimous decision over 25-year-old Lamont Peterson, who probably lost every round and was floored for the first time in his career despite entering with a record of 27-0, with 13 knockouts.
Bradley’s effort earned him honors as FanHouse’s Most Dominant Performance of the Year for 2009.
The negotiations for Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) and Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs), whose fight was slated for March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, stalled due to a drug-testing controversy.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but now that they’re not fighting each other, you’ve got a gentleman right here, and I’m screaming and I’m waving my hands up in the air saying, ‘Let’s fight!’ You know? ‘Come on, let’s fight!'” said Bradley, from his home in Palm Springs, Calif.
“I don’t know how true this is, but this is what I’m reading is that I understand that I guess that Floyd is supposedly trying to get a fight with Paulie Malignaggi. But I’m like, ‘Malignaggi? What about me?'” said Bradley, who was a whirlwind, blur of action from the start to finish against Peterson.
“And then, you’ve got Pacquiao going up to try to make history by winning his eighth title by going up and to face Yuri Foreman?” said Bradley. “I’m like, ‘Who is Yuri Foreman? He just won a world title and he gets a title shot already?'”
Malignaggi (27-3, five KOs) is a 140-pound pure boxer, and Foreman (28-0, eight KOs) dethroned Daniel Santos in November to become WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion.
“I’d go up to 147 pounds to face any of these guys. And I’m a 140-pounder. I’ll do whatever it takes,” said Bradley.
“If they tell me that I have to fight this guy and then that guy and that if I beat this guy over here then I have an opportunity, just let me know what I need to do to get a fight with [Mayweather or Pacquiao],” said Bradley. “Just let me know what I need to do. Please let me know.”
Bradley’s manager, Cameron Dunkin, said Bradley had been looking at Colombian-born IBF titlist Juan Urango (22-2-1, 17 KOs), but the 29-year-old fighter apparently will take a unification matchup with 22-year-old, southpaw WBC champion, Devon Alexander (19-0, 12 KOs) of St. Louis, Mo.
And it appears that 23-year-old WBA champ, Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KOs) of England, is looking at a bout with hard-hitting Marcos Rene Maidana (27-1,. 26 KOs).
“I’m reading that Amir Khan don’t want to fight, and he’s got a purse bid coming up against Maidana, and that if he has to face Maidana then he’s going to vacate,” said Bradley.
“Yesterday, he put an article up saying that he wanted to face me later on at the end of the year,” said Bradley. “I don’t know how true that is, but I’m right here, waiting for anybody. Bring it on. Come and get some.”
Dunkin said that he and Bradley’s promoter, Gary Shaw, will be discussing potential opponents on Thursday.
“Gary and I are looking at a lot of people and everybody. Unfortunately, there are a lot of guys who already have taken fights. Gary and I are going to have a long talk today and see what we can up with,” said Dunkin.
“But Tim’s ready and available as he has said that he is, and he would fight either [Mayweather or Pacaquiao.] Whether we’ll get offered anything from either of them, I don’t know. But Tim Bradley is ready to go, believe me,” said Dunkin.
“Tim is a bad, bad dude who can really fight, which can make it tough to make fights,” said Dunkin. “Anything’s possible, but we’ve got a guy who most people think is the best 140-pounder in the world.”
