Unbeaten WBO junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion, Timothy Bradley, wants "a big fight," whether it be against welterweight (147 pounds) titlists, Manny Pacquiao, or, Andre Berto, of the WBO and WBC, respectively, or WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) king, Miguel Cotto.
Bradley would even like to face former three-time world champion, Paul Williams, a nearly 6-foot-3 fighter who has campaigned as a welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight (160 pounds).
"I'm coming down right now in weight. I went up to about 165 pounds, and now I'm tearing it down to 147 pounds. Right now, I'm about 155. I've been training for about four weeks now. I'm feeling great," said Bradley, who is sparring with middleweights and above.
"I'm just going to maintain it," said Bradley. "I'm going to maintain it at about 155 pounds and then I'm going to slowly start tapering it down, you know, closer to the fight. I don't want to come in too light."
The 26-year-old Bradley (25-0, 11 knockouts), of Palm Springs, Calif., isn't prepping for a 140-pound defense, but instead for a July 17, nontitle, over-the-weight-limit welterweight bout opposite Carlos Luis Abregu (29-0, 23 KOs), of Salta Salta, Argentina.
"I'm back in Agua, and it's not about the total number of fans. The arena only fits 2,000, but I'll have 2,000 of the best fans," said Bradley. "It's about how the fans act, and I'll have 2,000 of the best fans in the world at Agua. They're going to see another great victory."
Nicknamed "The Desert Storm," Bradley will meet Abregu in an HBO-televised bout slated for the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Bradley is coming off December's 12-round, unanimous decision victory over 26-year-old Lamont Peterson (28-1, 14 KOs), of Washington, D.C., against whom Bradley won virtually every round and whom Bradley dropped for the first time in Peterson's career.
"It's not really hard to make 140. It's not that hard. I just have to be on a diet a lot longer. But it's a lot easier to make 147 because I don't have to squeeze down and take a little bit of my water out of my system," said Bradley.
"But "I'll fight any weight. [Manager] Cameron Dunkin and [Promoter] Gary Shaw have been doing a great job. They're picking my fights, and whatever these guys want me to do, I'm willing to do it. If I need to fight at 147 pounds, that's what I'm going to do," said Bradley. "If they want me to go back down to 140 and face anybody at 140, we'll do that too. So it really doesn't matter to me, man. It really doesn't matter."
Bradley has been angling for a bout against one of the other top 140 pounders such as southpaw, WBC and IBF king Devon Alexander (20-0, 13 KOs), and, WBA champ, Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KOs).
"This gives us another opportunity. If he beats Carlos Abregu, we move up to 147 if there's a fight there with [Manny] Pacquiao or [Floyd] Mayweather," said Shaw. "And if not, there is Devon Alexander, who does nothing but talk about Timmy Bradley from morning until when he goes to sleep with his trainer [Kevin Cunningham.]"
Nicknamed "The Great," Alexander will make the second defense of his WBC title, and the first of his IBF crown, against Ukrainian-born 32-year-old former titlist Andriy Kotelnik (31-3-1, 13 KOs) of Germany before his hometown fans in St. Louis on Aug. 7.
Alexander is coming off of March's eighth-round knockout of then-IBF champion, Juan Urango (22-3-1, 17 KOs), who was stopped for the first time in his career.
"I want all of those fights. I want every last one of those guys. It just has to be right. People think I'm ducking Devon Alexander, I'm not ducking anybody. We've been trying to get at Khan for while. My promoter was in negotiations with Golden Boy and then phone went dead," said Bradley.
"You know, these fights should mature a little bit longer – maybe a year from now, maybe at the beginning of next year," said Bradley. "I get a couple of good wins. Devon gets a couple of wins. Maybe HBO can put us both on the same card, build the fight up so it can be worth some megabucks, man."
Bradley has had a matchup with interim WBA titlist, Marcos Rene Maidana (28-1, 27 KOs) be postponed twice and eventually canceled.
"All those guys, I want to fight all of them, all of them. I want to fight Devon. I want to fight Maidana because we definitely need to see who's the best at 140. Even though they've got me number one at 140, I'll be only the best at 140 by fighting those guys. So until that happens, then we can't say that I am absolutely the champion at 140," said Bradley.
"So we've been trying to get a fight with Khan. [Trainer] Freddie Roach knows we want that fight. Maidana, and Alexander too. But it's like I said, it's just have to make sense dollarwise. And I know people don't like to hear that, but it's the business," said Bradley. "It is a business, and I do want to fight these guys. I'm not afraid of these guys, and I am willing to go to [Alexander's hometown] St. Louis or wherever Devon Alexander is, and I will fight him in his hometown. That's an option too."
Bradley was originally scheduled to face the 27-year-old Abregu on June 19 until being replaced in February by the 26-year-old Maidana. Bradley-Maidana was subsequently postponed to July 17 and then canceled on May 3 due to back injuries reportedly suffered by Maidana.
As it turned out, however, those postponements by Maidana may have stemmed from some serious managerial problems, according to Bradley's promoter, Gary Shaw.
"I was very angry that he made Timothy Bradley sit on the sidelines and that he lied and said that he was injured two times. He lied and he should be punished for it. But it was great for Abregu. It opened up some doors for him," said Shaw.
"If there's enough money at 147 and he shows he can handle the weight and he's comfortable and [Shane] Mosley is there, Andre Berto is there, or [Manny] Pacquiao or [Floyd] Mayweather, then he'll fight them," said Shaw. "If not, we know Devon Alexander is sitting there by his dog bone, panting."
Among the bouts Bradley would look for beyond 140 would be those against the 26-year-old Berto (26-0, 20 KOs), and, the newly-crowned WBA junior middleweight king, Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs).
In April, Berto scored an eighth-round stoppage over southpaw, former world champion, Carlos Quintana (27-3, 21 KOs). Quintana is 1-1 against Paul Williams (39-1, 27 KOs), winning a decision and having lost a first-round knockout.
Bradley actually faced Berto in the national golden gloves as amateurs and lost in a slugfest.
"It was a toe to toe fight. It was a high octane, it was fast-paced. It was a great, exciting fight but I didn't think that I won the fight when I fought Berto. I thought it was a really good, exciting fight. It could have gone either way," said Bradley.
"But like I said, I think he had the upper hand," said Bradley. "I was sick when I fought him. I don't really like to make excuses, but I was sick when I fought him, believe it or not, and I did pretty well against him."
Bradley sees things going differently if he were to meet Berto again.
"I think that I'm going to be a lot stronger and a lot quicker at this weight [147 pounds.] Hey, we can go there [154 pounds] too. Let's go up 154 and fight Cotto, right?" said Bradley. "Let's go fight Paul Williams. Spiderman. We call him 'The Spiderman,' with his freaking monkey arms, longer arms, man."
Cotto recently teamed with Hall of Fame trainer, Manny Steward, for a June 5, ninth-round knockout that dethroned WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-1, eight KOs) at the new Yankee Stadium.
Fighting in his highest weight class ever, the 29-year-old Cotto earned $2 million to Foreman's $750,000, after delivering a left to the body 42 seconds into the ninth round that crumpled Foreman to the canvas.
In victory, Cotto earned the WBA junior middleweight crown to become the sixth Puerto Rican fighter to win a fourth title over the course of three weight classes.
Cotto rebounded from a November, 12th-round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs).
"Oh, I will do that [Cotto] in a heartbeat, maybe we'll go to 154 next," said Shaw. "We would go up and beat Miguel Cotto by a knockout."
In the end, Bradley simply said that he hopes that a victory over Abregu opens up even more praise than he already has being considered the No. 1 fighter at 140 pounds.
"I hope it'll move me into the top 10 pound-for-pound. I just hope this launches another big fight. I want to fight the big names in the game and I feel that I should get my just due sooner or later," said Bradley.
"But if that doesn't happen, I'm just going to continue on fighting, continue on winning, and that is what's important right now," said Bradley. "As long as I can continue on winning, the fight has to happen sooner or later. A big fight. No doubt that those fights, they have to happen. They have to happen, you know, and they will happen."
Tim Bradley Calls Out Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Others
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