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Lem Satterfield
Boxing Editor
WBO junior welterweight champion Tim Bradley (pictured above, at right) of Palm Springs, Calif., told FanHouse moments ago that he will sign the fight contract "over the next couple of days" agreeing to terms for a Jan. 29 , HBO-televised unification bout with southpaw WBC and IBF counter part Devon Alexander (pictured above, at left) of St. Louis, Mo.
"I've got the contract, and I'm going to be signing it over the next couple of days. Finally, now everything is pretty much ready. I'm happy about this fight. Even though I feel like I'm taking this fight on short money, I still want this fight," said Bradley, who is 26-0, with 11 knockouts.
"Devon Alexander and his camp have been doing a lot of talking, and the fight has been a big buzz in the boxing community and in the media," said Bradley. "And, you know, now we're going to see who is truly the best in the world in the 140-pound division. So on Jan. 29, I'm going to be very excited."
Although the 27-year-old Bradley expects to successfully sign, completing his negotiations with promoter Gary Shaw, the 23-year-old Alexander (21-0, 13 knockouts) had already agreed to terms with his promoter, Don King, and signed for the bout.
"In a couple of days, like I said, I'm going to be signing this contract," said Bradley. "There are a couple of little things in there that we're going to try to work on and fix, but it's looking good, put it that way. To all of my fans out there, it's looking good, baby, and without a doubt, you will be seeing this fight on Jan. 29."
But recently, the IBF chairman, Lindsay Tucker, declared that Alexander must defend his IBF crown against No. 1 contender, Kaizer Mabuza, of South Africa, by Dec. 28 or be stripped of his title.
The IBF went forward with a purse bid for on September 28 for an IBF mandatory bout between Alexander and Mabuza. An IBF letter was sent on Aug. 9 which notified King, and, Mabuza's promoter, Branco Milenkovic of South Africa, to begin negotiations for a period that ended on September 9, with the purse bid set for September 28.
Initially, the purse bid was postponed because King notified IBF President Daryl Peoples that an agreement had been reached for Alexander (pictured at far right) to unify his crowns with Bradley. But the IBF claims that Shaw did not send them a copy of the agreement in time, so that the purse bid proceeded as scheduled.
During the purse bid, Milenkovic was the only bidder with $101,500, and paid the 20 percent deposit of $20, 3000. The purse bid split will be 75 percent to Alexander, and, 25 percent to Mabuza if the fight is made. The executed contracts must be submitted to the IBF within 15 days of the purse bid or no later than October 13, 2010.
"Under the IBF rules, a unification takes precedent over the mandatory, so Alexander could have fought Bradley before the date of the purse bid. We gave Alexander from Aug. 9 until the purse bid date, which was Sept. 28, and we never got sufficient proof that the fight with Bradley was going to happen," said Tucker.
"So we went to the purse bid, so now, you can't come back and say that you want to do a unification," said Tucker. "You can do it before the purse bid, but after the purse bid is done, you can't come back and say that I want to do a unification, or I want some kind of special exception. It's too late after the purse bid is done, and that's where we are."
In the event that Alexander accepts the Bradley fight and is stripped, the IBF crown will be considered vacant, and the 30-year-old Mabuza (23-6-3, 14 KOs) would face the winner of a Nov. 6 bout between 32-year-old former titlist Zab Judah (38-6, 26 KOs) of Brooklyn, and, 27-year-old Lucas Matthysse (27-0, 25 KOs) of Argentina for the crown.
Mabuza, of Johannesburg, is coming off of February's sixth-round knockout of Kendall Holt (25-4, 13 KOs), whom Bradley got off the canvas to defeat by unanimous decision in April of 2009. Mabuza has now won eight consecutive fights, six of them by knockout, and is considered the IBF's No. 1 contender.
Nicknamed "The Desert Storm," Bradley said that he fully expects Alexander to fight him, even if it means giving up the IBF crown.
"Without a doubt, without a doubt, I definitely have something to say to Devon Alexander, and that's that he had better be ready. I mean, he really had better be ready, because I'm coming, and, basically, I'm going to smash him," said Bradley.
"I'm going to bust him in his big mouth. Now, he's about to get shut up," said Bradley. "The boxing world is going to see who the best 140-pounder in the world, and that's Timothy Bradley, The Desert Storm, baby. Believe it."
Bradley is coming off of July's HBO-televised unanimous decision over welterweight (147 pounds) Carlos Luis Abregu (29-1, 23 KOs) of Salta Salta, Argentina, in a non-title bout before his hometown fans at Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Alexander is coming off of last month's disputed, 12-round unanimous decision over Ukrainian-born former WBA titlist Andriy Kotelnik (31-4-1, 13 KOs) that drew some 10,000 of Alexander's partisan fans to the Scottrade Center in his hometown of St. Louis.
"This is a great fight for the sport of boxing, it's a great fight for the boxing fans, and I think it's great for both of these two fighters. They're getting a golden opportunity," said Bradley's manager, Cameron Dunkin.
"We appreciate HBO doing the fight, and I want to thank everybody involved," said Dunkin. "Including Gary Shaw, HBO, Timothy Bradley, and of course [Alexander's manager and trainer] Kevin Cunningham and Don King. I think that it's good for the fighters, good for boxing, and we should see more fights like these."
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