By Brad Jones: Timothy Bradley has finally signed to fight Devon Alexander, but what took him so long? The IBF are no longer sanctioning this fight as IBF chairman Lindsay Tucker informed Alexander and his promoter Don King they must defend his IBF crown against No. 1 mandatory challenger Kaizer Mabuza from South Africa.

King then informed them that Bradley had signed to fight and that the fight had been agreed but in actually fact it would be well over 3 weeks until Bradley signed to fight so now The fight is set but now it’s only for the WBC and WBO titles.

If Bradley would have hurried up and signed a few weeks ago this fight would have been for all 3 major titles and surly the Ring Magazine would have sanctioned it for their 140lb title. So now there is no IBF title at stake and most likely no Ring magazine belt at stake.

So does this fight really decide who is the man at 140lb? Whoever wins this fight on 1/29 will not be universally recognized as the man at 140lb but just a holder of 2 titles. We could still even have people saying Amir Khan is the man or whoever wins the vacant IBF belt.

My point being that fighters and sanctioning bodies need to work together to get a unified champion in each weight division so there is no doubts as to who is the best in each weight class.

I mean Bradley has already held both these titles so is there any point in him regaining his WBC title? If Bradley would have signed earlier or the IBF weren’t so hungry for money the winner on 1/29 would have 3 titles and the Ring belt and there would be no doubt as to who the man at 140lb is and for any few doubter (British public and Khan fans) the winner could face Khan for all the marbles at 140lb.

Is this not the ultimate goal to have one guy at each weight hold all the 4 titles? I mean what better way for Khan, Alexander or Bradley getting a shot at Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. What boxing needs are undisputed champions! After this fight we will still have 3 different champions and no more clarity as to who the best 140lb is.