By Jim Dower: WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11 KO’s) takes a new step in his career when he moves up to the welterweight division to take on one of the hardest punchers in the division in unbeaten Argentinian Luis Carlos Abregu (29-0, 23 KO’s) on July 17th at the Aqua Caliente Casino, in Rancho Mirage, California.

This is move that Bradley, 26, is making so that he can put himself in line for a possible mega fight against Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Andre Berto or Shane Mosley.

Bradley would like to take on Pacquiao and Mayweather before those two fighters retire from boxing. At only 5’6”, with a slim build, Bradley will have to deal with getting used to fighting the bigger and stronger fighters. Rather than work his way up to fighting the harder punchers in the division, Bradley has decided to face one of the hardest punchers immediately with his choice of Abregu.

This could end up hurting Bradley if he gets beaten or is made to struggle to get a win over Abregu. However, Bradley has little other choice if he wants to get attention quickly and have boxing fans side with him taking on Mayweather and Pacquiao.

Without really shaking things up, Bradley will probably be ignored by Floyd and Manny forever. Bradley is going to have to find a way to deal with Abregu’s power somehow. He’s mentioned using movement and defense to keep from getting hit too much by Abregu. That will be interesting to see, because Bradley often mixes it up with his opponents and is there to be hit.

He likes to slug and that’s what Abregu is especially good at. Unless Bradley can focus on staying away from Abregu for most of the fight, then he’s going to get hit with some big shots that may really test his chin. Bradley can punch a little but he’s not considered to be that hard of a puncher.

It might take a lot of shots for Bradley to put Abregu in any of kind trouble. Bradley would be better off not to even try to take Abregu out, because that will leave him vulnerable to getting hit by Abregu’s big shots. But Bradley has put himself in a position where he has to look good if he wants to make a name for himself in the welterweight division.

This means that he will probably have to come out looking to slug with Abregu, and take some chances with his defense. U.S. boxing fans like fighters that are willing to take risks, and that is something Bradley needs to keep in mind while he’s in the ring with Abregu.

He has to be much more daring in the ring and be willing to take some of Abregu’s shots to land his own hard punches. As long as Bradley’s chin holds out, he should be okay.