By Rick Reeno
As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, an agreement was reached for Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11KOS) to defend his WBO junior welterweight title against Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27KOs), the WBA's interim-champion, on June 19 with HBO televising. Since our earlier report, BoxingScene was advised by Bradley that the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California is the frontrunner to host the fight.
Bradley is regarded as one of the nicest guys in boxing, but on Thursday he was sporting a much bigger smile than usual as he discussed the upcoming collision with Maidana.
"It's a great fight, a boxer vs. a puncher. I'm fighting another top fighter. I like to fight the best, everybody knows that. If I win this fight, it will put me in position for bigger fights....like Amir Khan, Devon Alexander or Mayweather, or Pacman, or somebody with a big name, and even Ricky Hatton if he decides to come back," Bradley told BoxingScene.com.
Bradley studied Maidana's decision loss to then champion Andreas Kotelnik in 2009, and he carefully watched the impressive knockout wins over Victor Cayo and Victor Ortiz. After studying his style of fighting, Bradley respects Maidana's power, but also views the big puncher as being a bit one-dimensional. He expects the same Maidana in June. If Maidana attempts to make it a war, and he will, Bradley may oblige him by accepting the offer.
"Absolutely, he is just seek and destroy. His number one game plan is to knock you out. He doesn't care how long it takes, he is coming to knock you out. Kotelnik outboxed him and stayed on the outside, used a tight defense and outmaneuvered him," Bradley said.
"I just think he's going to come for me. He's going to be aggressive and he's going to press the fight. I'm going to be more of a boxer because of his heavy hands and use a lot of movement and counter-punching. But it all depends on what he brings to the fight. I bring two or three gameplans with me. If I have to fight him, I'll fight him. If I have to box him, then I'll box him."
Bradley was originally scheduled to make his HBO debut against unbeaten Luis Carlos Abregu in a welterweight contest. He was actually looking forward to his welterweight debut. Making weight is a struggle, Bradley admits. He was hoping to impressively beat Abregu to open some high-paying welterweight doors. For the moment, he plans to stay at 140. If the right offer comes along, Bradley would accept a welterweight jump without hesitation.
"I just wanted to show my skills at 147 and give HBO and the boxing fans a good look. I think I'm a beast at 147 and I think I'm stronger too. Getting down to 140 is not an easy task for myself. It takes a lot of months of dieting and it hurts getting down there. My mission is to dominate 140, but if a fight comes along at 147 like Shane, Mayweather or Pacquiao - I would move up there without a problem," Bradley said.
"In the mean time, I'm the number one guy at 140 because my resume is better than everyone else, but there is still a lot of raw talent out there, like Amir Khan, Devon Alexander, which is a fight that everybody wants to see right now and I consider him the number two in the division, and Victor Ortiz, and Nate Campbell. The division is loaded."
