By Dan Ambrose: According to Steve Kim, the proposed fight between super featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa and WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 16 KO’s) is coming down to whether the two fighters can agree on a weight between 140 and 147.
Gamboa, 31, is moving up from 130 at super featherweight to take the fight, but he’s going to need a catch weight 140 to 143 lbs for the fight to take place. Kim says he’s hearing that this likely won’t happen. In other words, Bradley won’t agree to fight Gamboa at a catch weight. That’s too bad considering Bradley already turned down a rematch against Lamont Peterson last December that would have given him a big payday of $2.3 million, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.
If Bradley isn’t willing to accommodate Gamboa with a small catch weight then that’s another decent fight Bradley will be walking away from. Obviously, Bradley is hoping that he’ll be able to get a big money fight against Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr., but it doesn’t help Bradley that he’s inactive waiting for big fights.
Bradley hasn’t fought since his controversial 12 round split decision over Manny Pacquiao in June of 2012. That was Bradley’s only fight in 2012, and if he says no to the Gamboa fight, then we may not see Bradley for a while. It’s hard to imagine him sitting until summer waiting for a fight to happen. Bradley should be fighting at least three times a year or at least twice a year. It can’t be good for his skills to be so inactive.
Gamboa would be a tough fight for Bradley given his speed, power and ability to move. Gamboa has problems against guys with big power but Bradley isn’t even close to being a puncher. This is a winnable fight for the 5’5” Gamboa even though he’d be giving away a little the size department against the 5’6” Bradley.
They’re roughly the same height, but Bradley has put on weight since moving up to welterweight, so he’d likely be in the low 150s if they fought. The extra weight hasn’t helped Bradley’s game at all. He seems slower and his power isn’t any better than it was when he was fighting at 140.
Comments are closed.