By Edward Chaykovsky
According to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, he offered up Timothy Bradley as a potential opponent for Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 12th. There was no response from the Mayweather camp and then a deal was announced with Andre Berto.
Bradley, the current WBO welterweight champion, will defend his belt on November 7th against Brandon Rios at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
He captured the WBO's interim-belt earlier this year with a twelve round decision win over Jessie Vargas. The WBO made him the full champion after Mayweather failed to pay the sanctioning fee to continue being recognized as the champion.
Bradley was there live, at the MGM Grand, and watched Mayweather dominate Berto over twelve rounds.
He's confident that his skills would get Mayweather a much tougher test in the ring. Although Mayweather announced his retirement following the Berto win, Bradley feels that he might come back for one more.
“I sat there, I watched it live,” Bradley said to the Desert Sun. “And I know, I know, that I can get to that boy. I know. No doubt about it. I got speed. I know Berto’s got speed, but I’m a risk taker. That’s the difference between me and a lot of guys. I’ll take risks in there to get to Mayweather and I’ll make him fall into spots.”
“You’ve got to maul him. See me, I take risks. I know what I gotta do, but I know I can mix it up with that guy. I know I can hit him a lot more than a lot of people.”
