Bradley Trainer Says He'll Fight Cotto, Canelo, Bundrage
By Keith Idec
Timothy Bradley has been a junior welterweight or a welterweight throughout his 10½-year pro career.
Joel Diaz, Bradley’s trainer, is still confident Bradley is ready to thrive at 154 pounds. Diaz said the 31-year-old Bradley (31-1-1, 12 KOs, 1 NC) will return to the gym next week following a two-month break and they’ve already discussed the possibility of the Palm Springs, Calif., native moving up to junior middleweight for his next fight.
“He’s open to any offer,” Diaz told BoxingScene.com. “If there’s a fight at 147, we’ll fight at 147. If there’s an offer at 154, we’ll fight at 154. We were talking about it at the gym the other day. Tim looks extremely well and strong when he’s at 155. When we’re in camp and he’s getting to the point where he’s hitting 155, he’s really strong and fast.
“Once he drops under [150], then I start noticing something in him. So that’s something I would consider. We’ll fight at 154, no problem. If the offer’s good, we’ll do it. Tim, right now, he’s in the position where he’s in the big leagues. If anybody comes around – if it’s Amir Khan, if it’s Miguel Cotto, if it’s ‘K-9’ Bundrage, if it’s Canelo – it really doesn’t matter. Tim is open to anybody.”
Fights against Cotto, a bout promoter Bob Arum has repeatedly mentioned, Cornelius Bundrage and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez all would have to be contested at a minimum of 154 pounds. Detroit’s Bundrage (34-5, 19 KOs, 1 NC) owns the IBF 154-pound title, Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) remains a junior middleweight and Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs), though also the WBC middleweight champion, would prefer fighting at 154.
None of those possibilities overly concern Diaz.
“Tim was fighting at 152 late in his amateur career,” Diaz said. “He fought Andre Ward, he fought Andre Dirrell, he fought [Alfredo] Angulo. He fought all those guys late in his amateur career. So it’s not something we haven’t seen before.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
