By Jason Kim: Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions signed WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s) with the objective of making him a huge star and possibly matching him up against Arum’s biggest star WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao.

Bradley is about as far away from being a huge star right now as Lamont Peterson is. Bradley, for some reason, has failed to catch on with boxing fans. It could be his lack power, lack of size or his tendency to come charging in head first during his fights resulting in a lot of headbutts.

Arum said this to the washingtonpost.com: “We didn’t sign Tim based on baloney, based on false promises. If the stars are aligned, that’s [Pacquiao vs. Bradley] the fight we’d be inclined to make.”

Bradley thinks Top Rank can make him a big star even without a fight against Pacquiao, but that’s a little to believe. There’s really not a lot of big named fighters around the welterweight division with Top Rank other than Pacquiao. They do have unbeaten welterweight contender Mike Jones, but he’s a complete unknown among casual boxing fans and it’s unclear whether Jones has the talent to ever be a big star even if he wins a title or two.

Something appears to be missing from his game that may keep him from becoming a big star in the sport. But like Bradley, Jones could get a fight against Pacquiao as well by Arum. Being matched against Pacquiao doesn’t make a fighter an automatic star as we’ve found out with recent Pacquiao victims Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito. It only makes you a victim unless you beat Pacquiao, and no ones done that for a long, long time.