In lining up WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao?s next opponent, candidate Timothy Bradley?s name is in danger of being erased.
Bradley, the reigning WBO lightwelterweight titlist, saw action in the undercard of Pacquiao?s fight against Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas last weekend. He bludgeoned Cuban veteran Joel Casamayor into submission at 2:59 of the eighth round in a lopsided contest but failed to impress the sellout crowd of 16,368 because the challenger, who fought sluggishly, managed to hang around longer than he should have.
Top Rank chairman Bob Arum had announced Bradley?s candidacy before the Casamayor fight. His presence in the undercard was a tell-tale sign that Arum had big plans for the fighter known as ?The Desert Storm.? Bradley pulled out of a unification showdown with WBA 140-pound champion Amir Khan last July for the chance to join Arum?s stable and get a shot at Pacquiao. Khan, promoted by Top Rank rival Golden Boy, resented the withdrawal as did promoters Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson who sued Bradley.
If Bradley is scratched out of contention, the list will narrow down to Marquez in a possible fourth encounter, WBC welterweight king Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a dream face-off, WBA welterweight titleholder Vyacheslav Senchenko of Ukraine, IBF welterweight ruler Andre Berto and power puncher Mike Jones. Khan has also been mentioned as a future opponent although like Senchenko, he is trained by Freddie Roach.
The working plan was to match Bradley against Pacquiao in May but both had to win impressively last weekend to seal it. The fighters won as expected but not has handily as oddsmakers predicted. Bradley, coming off a nearly 10-month layoff, was emotionless in his Joe Frazier routine, pursuing a listless Casamayor until the Cuban defector took three straight uppercuts to the chin, prompting his trainer Miguel Diaz to throw in the towel. Casamayor went down in the fifth and sixth rounds then took another mandatory eight-count in the eighth.
