Bradley vs. Abregu: Timothy hoping a win will get him some big fights

By Boxing News - 06/29/2010 - Comments

By William Mackay: WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11 KO’s) is moving up in weight to the welterweight division to fight knockout artist Luis Carlos Abregu (29-0, 23 KO’s) on July 17th at the Agua Caliente Casino, in Rancho Mirage, California. Bradley, 26, has arguably been the best fighter in the light welterweight division for two years now, yet he’s been ignored by more popular big named fighters like Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

Bradley is hoping that by moving up in weight to knock off the top five ranked Abregu, Bradley might look like a more appealing option for fighters like Mayweather and Pacquiao to fight.

Bradley, 5’6”, has picked one of the bigger and more powerful welterweights in the division. Abregu, 5’10”, is ranked #5 IBF, #5 WBC and #9 WBO, and can punch hard with either hand. Bradley has a bad habit of standing close to his opponents and slugging it out with them. Whether that will cause him problems against Abregu remains to be seen.

To be sure, Abregu doesn’t have the best chin and his boxing skills aren’t the best in the division. Bradley will certainly have the advantage in hand speed and boxing ability. However, the question is whether Bradley will be able to take Abregu’s big power shots once he starts to connect on a regular basis with Bradley. He’s going to be able to find Bradley, because he’ll likely be right in front of him trying to trade all night long.

In an article at the Examiner.com, Bradley says “After this fight, win it, the next fight can be with any of the big guys.”

Previously, Bradley was set to fight WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana. However, Maidana pulled out of the fight due to a back problem. It later turned out that Maidana didn’t have back problems. Instead, he had managerial problems. Never the less, it took the Maidana fight off the table. This is why Bradley is fighting Abregu.

However, as it turns out, Abregu may be just as good opponent as Maidana, because he likely hits about as hard and will make the fight just as entertaining. But the best thing is if Bradley can stop an unbeaten highly ranked welterweight like Abregu, then he will have his foot in the door in the welterweight division and will be hard to ignore by the best fighters in the division.

If the best fighters in the light welterweight division aren’t willing to fight Bradley, then the next best thing is for him to get fights against welterweights. Bradley will be able to really help himself a lot if he’s willing to fight younger guys in the welterweight division like Saul Alvarez. That would really help Bradley a great deal in finding fights.

Abregu thinks the Bradley fight will help him out to, because it will give him a good name to add to his collection. Even if Bradley is four inches shorter and fights in a division below him, it would still be a good win for Abregu.



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