By Eric Thomas: WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s) has reportedly signed with Top Rank Promotions after many months out of the ring. Bradley will now be fighting on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez November 12th fight card against 40-year-old Joel Casamayor (38-5-1, 22 KO’s), who has lost two out of his last four fights. That’s a bad mismatch. You’d like to see Bradley fighting better guys at this stage in his career. Casamayor is a gatekeeper now and not someone that is deserving of a title shot, even if this is supposed to be a showcase fight for Bradley to make him look devastating.

Bradley will likely be Pacquiao’s next opponent after Marquez, provided that Pacquiao can beat the 38-year-old Marquez.
Bradley is still dealing with legal problems with his former promoter, but will move ahead anyway with Top Rank, and likely to a big money fight against Pacquiao in 2012.

It’s unclear how this will affect Bradley in terms of arranging a fight with Amir Khan in the future. That would seem to be the next logical step after Bradley faces – and likely loses to – Pacquiao next year. Khan fights for Golden Boy Promotions, and it wouldn’t seem likely that we’ll see a fight between the two fighters now that Bradley has signed with Top Rank. We could see Bradley facing Top Rank fighters now one after another.

The good thing with Bradley signing with Top Rank Promotions is that he’ll now be able to fight in front of huge crowds instead of the smaller ones he’s been fighting in front of in Rancho Mirage, California. I still don’t know that Bradley will ever be a huge star because he’s not attracted a big following despite having his fights shown on cable. His fighting style just isn’t exciting like Marcos Maidana, a fighter that should be considered the gold standard in terms of excitement. Bradley is nowhere near as interesting to watch.