Now that the junior welterweight (140 pounds) clash between, 26-year-olds, Tim Bradley (25-0, 11 knockouts), the WBO champion, from Palm Springs, Calif. and Argentinian WBA interim titlist, Marcos Rene Maidana (28-1, 27 KOs), is off because of a back injury suffered by Maidana, Bradley has a date set aside on HBO for July 17 at the Agua Caliente Casino, Rancho Mirage, in Calif..
Meanwhile, southpaw, 23-year-old WBC and IBF titlist, Devon Alexander (23-0, 13 KOs), of St. Louis, Mo., who is coming off of last month’s eighth-round knockout of then-IBF champion, Juan Urango (22-3-1, 17 KOs), also has an open date for Aug. 7, also with HBO.
FanHouse spoke to Bradley concerning the proximity of the dates, the prospect of facing Alexander in this Q&A.
FanHouse: So are you disappointed about the Marcos Rene Maidana fight being canceled?
Tim Bradley: Yeah, I’m disappointed, man. But you know, I’m just, you know, man, that would have been a great chapter in my book, man, if I would have gotten that fight if it had gone down. But it comes with the territory, man. It comes with the sport of boxing, man.
And you know, things can change overnight. Nothing’s ever solid. I knew something was up. They said the fight was going down, but I never received my contract. So, you know, I knew that something was up.
How do you feel about a fight with Devon Alexander?
We can make that fight happen, but the money has to be there for me. He’s the No. 2 fighter in the division, and they’ve got me in the No. 1 spot. We’re the two best in the divison is how I feel. It just depends on the money on that man, you know? If HBO is willing to definitely give me a number that I would be worth, then we can make that fight happen.
He’s a two-belt holder, and a unified champion. I have the WBO belt. This is a huge, mega fight for the fans, and the boxing fans want to see it. It just depends on if HBO wants to put up the money for it. I’m game. I’m not afraid of Devon. You know? Let it be known, that I ain’t afraid of Devon.
But money-wise, it’s got to make sense to me. If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense.
Where would you want a fight between you and Devon Alexander be fought?
The [Agua Caliente Casino, Rancho Mirage] only holds 2,000 people. I would love to have the fight in Las Vegas. If not Vegas, then we could do it in his hometown. We could go to his hometown and fight in front of 30,000 people, or over 20,000 people, man. We could do it there.
It really don’t matter to me. Just let the money be fair across the board, as far as the judges. Maybe a judge from California, a judge from his place, a judge from another country or something.
After the Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley fight, one that was between two, African Americans, do you feel that it would help boxing to continue that sort of momentum of not only of giving the fans the big fights between two, African Americans, but that the fans are asking for?
You know, I didn’t think about Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley that way. I knew that, but I didn’t really see that in the promotional things that were being done. Man, they really blew that one over the top. There were so many promotional things going on, so many adds.
I mean, it was on so many channels, and there was the 24/7 series. There was just so much going on. They made it a huge, mega fight, man. It was amazing me. But I never really thought about it as two, African Americans getting into the ring. Actually duking it out on such a large level.
That was a little different to see. I used to see that a lot back in the day, but it’s something that you rarely see nowadays.
So is that any more of a motivation for you to perhaps get it on with Devon Alexander?
Like I said, we can get it on. It don’t really bother me at all. That fight, we can definitely get it on, like I said, it just depends on the money.
Do you see any irony in the fact that you came over from Showtime, where you were sort of the odd-man out with all the main, 140-pounders being on HBO, your two fights with Luis Carlos Abregu and now Maidana did not happen, and now, you and Devon Alexander have dates that are open within relative proximity to each other?
That’s the buzz right now that’s going around, you know. I would love to fight Manny Pacquiao, or a big name like that, and I would love to fight Devon Alexander — whoever comes first. But you know, it goes back to the same thing — the money. I’ll fight anybody. As long as the money is right, let’s do it. I ain’t afraid of no man.
