Timothy Bradley told everyone that would listen that they hadn’t seen the best of what he has to offer leading up to the Brandon Rios fight, Saturday night proved him right.
Bradley dominated the entire fight before knocking out Brandon Rios with a right hook to the body in the 9th round and it looked as though Bradley cut out the minor bad habits that he built up over the past few years. No longer did he get tricked into late-round slugfest or leave himself open to overhand hooks during close exchanges. His trainer, Teddy Atlas, was able to focus Bradley in less than 7 weeks and create a polished counter puncher. This version of Bradley looked to be able to compete against the highest caliber boxing can offer at 147 lbs and quite possibly move up to 154 lbs to challenge others.
With this victory Bradley places his name in the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes. April could very well be Manny’s last fight as a professional and a rubber match against the revitalized Bradley could trump a match up against the inactive Amir Khan & the rising star Terence Crawford.
If Bradley was to miss out on the Pacquiao fight then he’d be primed to fight whichever fighter wasn’t chosen, creating a number one contender scenario. Bradley, and Atlas for that matter, may feel as though they are above having to prove themselves for a title fight and they could choose to take a trip to the U.K. To challenge Kell Brook for his championship. Brook hasn’t fought much since upsetting Shawn Porter and many consider him to be an unproven champion. With another major belt in his possession Bradley would become an A-side fighter for Top Rank and command big money fights in late-2016.
Another option, as unlikely as it may seem, is a move up to 154 lbs to challenge Canelo Alvarez. Canelo would be the biggest name in boxing if he is able to defeat Miguel Cotto and a fight against him would net Bradley the largest payout. Also, a loss in a higher division doesn’t endanger his titles at 147 lbs and allows him to continue defending those titles for good pay days.
In synopsis, Bradley is in the best situation a boxer signed to Top a Rank could hope for and until there’s an end to Boxing’s Cold War we won’t see any better fights than these offered to Bradley or any other Top Rank fighter at 147 lbs.