Forget Mayweather, Bring on Bradley Vs. Pacquiao II
Bradley defeated Marquez decisively to retain the WBO welterweight title. Pacquiao returns to action and annihilates Brandon Rios to become the WBO international welterweight champion.
Top Rank is synonymous with WBO titles. Provodnikov, Rigondeaux, Garcia, and Andrade are all WBO title holders and fall with in the ranks. (Shame on your Peter Quillin for sneaking the super middleweight belt out of the fold).
In order to maintain their WBO stronghold, the likelihood of Top Rank making fights without people outside of their ranks is low. Championship belted fighters mean bigger ratings and pay per views and with the majority of today’s top fighters residing with the competition, holding on to the straps they have is a top priority.
Timothy Bradley is arguably one of the least respected champions of recent years. Undefeated with victories over the crown jewels (albeit one is controversial) in his keep, he is their most viable option for selling pay per views whether they like it or not. With his fight obligations complete for 2013, 2014 is right around the corner and so is the time limit on his current contract obligations (set to expire in December). With free agent status approaching, he is surely examining his options. Fellow stable mate (for the time being) Miguel Cotto crossed the street for a meeting and was offered a reported 10 million dollars so it makes you wonder what Bradley could command as an undefeated champion with victories over Pacquiao and Marquez. Not to mention the number of competitive options he has by fighting under the Golden Boy flag should he choose to leave.
If Top Rank wants to keep the WBO welterweight belt in their cabinet, the Bradley re-up is sure to be costly. There’s only so many round robins they can play with their current roster making the future of competitive prize fights at welterweight bleak.With Pacquiao’s return complete, speculations are in full swing on who his next competitor will be. While the majority of fight fans focus on Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, let’s look at the only match-up that is truly viable.
Timothy Bradley vs. Manny Pacquiao II
This is the obvious choice with ring vindication serving as the principle light at the end of the tunnel for both fighters for different reasons. A Bradley win proves the first outing was no fluke while a Pacquiao win avenges the previous victory many feel he was robbed of. Besides, a match with Pacquiao is substantially more lucrative than a Marquez rematch.
So what’s stopping this from happening? What’s the potential hang up? The same thing that derailed this from happening this past November 23rd, Bradley doesn’t want to fight in Macau. When a fight with Pacquiao was presented to both Bradley and Marquez, they both turned it down and agreed to fight each other for less money since they were both unwilling to travel to China.
If this fight can be made, is Top Rank willing to give Bradley the champion treatment and host the fight stateside? Boxing is proving to be quite lucrative in Macau but what do you do if the champion doesn’t want to go there? As far as the match itself, while Pac fans are singing from the rooftops about the return of the King, he was matched against someone he was supposed to beat, no different than Miguel Cotto’s return against Delvin Rodriguez: an exhibition fight tailor made for their respective styles. Bradley on the other hand fought three competitive matches in a row and still wades in the shallow end of the respect pool.
This is a fight that can happen and should happen. IF it happens is the $64,000 question. Will Bradley get the champion treatment or will he have to pack up the team and head for China to get the payday he wants?
