By Rick Reeno
Promoter Gary Shaw informed BoxingScene.com that unbeaten WBO junior welterweight champion Timothy Bradley is one fight away from targeting Manny Pacquiao, the WBO champion at welterweight and the WBC champion at junior middleweight. Pacquiao will not remain at 154 and plans to return to 147-pounds in his next fight. Bradley has a scheduled fight with unbeaten WBC champion Devon Alexander on January 29. If Bradley wins, Shaw will attempt to make the Pacquiao fight with Top Rank, who promote the Filipino champion.
"[Top Rank CEO] Bob Arum said that Pacquiao beat all of his guys, but he hasn't beaten my guy, Tim Bradley, and he won't beat Bradley," Shaw told BoxingScene.com.
Arum's top priority is to secure Floyd Mayweather Jr. as Pacquiao's next opponent. If he can't secure Mayweather, Shane Mosley has been mentioned as a potential frontrunner to fight Pacquiao next. According to Mosley, he reached an internal agreement with Golden Boy Promotions to fight outside of their promotional banner. Shaw doesn't believe the boxing public will get behind a Pacquiao-Mosley fight.
"The fans will not support a Pacquiao-Mosley fight. This guy just lost eleven out of twelve rounds to Floyd Mayweather. What happened to [Antonio] Margarito is the same thing that will happen to Mosley...maybe worse. Pacquiao needs to fight a young, undefeated American champion like Tim Bradley," Shaw said.
