By Dave Lahr: You got to really respect WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11 KO’s). Not only is he moving up in weight to take on one of the hardest punchers in the welterweight division this Saturday night in the unbeaten knockout artist Luis Carlos Abregu (29-0, 23 KO’s), but Bradley is doing it all without the courtesy of a catch weight limit for his non-title fight at the Agua Caliente Casino, in Rancho Mirage, California.

In an article at Mydesert.com, the 26-year-old Bradley says in explaining why he didn’t use a catch weight to bridge the gap from his previous fighting weight of 140 to the 147 of the welterweight class: “I don’t believe in catch weights. I believe if you’re going to go to the next weight class, you need to go to the next weight class. You have to fight the real weight class, not a catch weight. You need to fight the best in the weight class, don’t fight at a catch weight. That’s pathetic.”

I totally agree with you, Mr. Bradley. But I guess Manny Pacquiao feels differently about it, because he used a catch weight to win the WBO welterweight title against Miguel Cotto, and there’s talk of Pacquiao fighting for the light middleweight title at yet another catch weight. That’s so bad. I don’t even count the catch weight fights as being anything more than an exhibition bout because of the weight draining and strength depleting affect it has one some fighters.

Cotto looked like a human skeleton at the weigh-in before his fight with Pacquiao last November, with dry lips and dark circles under both eyes. Cotto looked like he had come out of a war zone before the fight had even started. I’m with Bradley on catch weights. I think it’s pathetic.

Abregu, 27, is a decent fighter with good power, but he’s pretty limited with his offensive arsenal. He looks really easy to figure out. Bradley should have no problems beating this guy. I’ve seen Abregu struggle badly against fighters like David Estrada and Richard Gutierrez, getting hurt by both of them. Abregu got up off the deck in the 2nd round in his last fight against Gutierrez to put him down in the 3rd and move on to win a 10 round unanimous decision in February.

It was the perfect opponent for Abregu – a slugger who is there for him to hit and who is starting to show age. Bradley can punch a little, but he’s not going to be standing there in front of Abregu like an idiot, begging to be hit. Bradley will be sticking and moving and making Abregu pay for his mistakes.

This should be an even easier fight for Bradley than his recent one-sided 12 round decision over Lamont Peterson in his last fight in December 2009. If Bradley stands in front of Abregu, then, yeah, I would give Abregu a chance of connecting with something big and possibly stopping Bradley.

However, I see this one playing out like the last part of Bradley’s recent fight against Peterson in which Bradley hit and ran for the last two rounds to preserve the win. Abregu is a beast of a puncher, but just not quick or skilled enough to beat a talented fighter like Bradley.