By Dan Ambrose: Joel Diaz, the trainer for WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s), admits that they might have made a big mistake by turning down the fight offered to them against Lamont Peterson for $2.3 million not long after Bradley pulled an upset win over Manny Pacquiao.
Diaz says they were hoping to get a rematch with Pacquiao or at least a fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, but instead they were only offered a rematch against Peterson, who Bradley easily beat in 2009 by a 12 round unanimous decision. So instead of taking the fight with Peterson, Bradley said no, and then there were no more offers.
Speaking with thaboxingvoice.com, Diaz said “They offered Provodnikov. They offered Peterson back in December, maybe we made a mistake not taking it. Maybe we were excited coming out of the Pacquiao fight…People were treating us like trash.”
Diaz went on to say that Bradley had no other choice but to fight Provodnikov or else remain inactive because there were no other fights out there for him after he chose not to fight Peterson, and also said no to fighting Yuriorkis Gamboa at a catchweight of 143 lbs. Both of those fights would have been considerably bigger than fighting ESPN2 fighter Provodnikov.
In hindsight, Bradley is going to have to be a little more open and flexible to fighting the guys that are being offered to him because if not he’s going to end up fighting more guys like Provodnikov, and who knows what can happen?
Bradley is far from invincible and one of these days he could lose to one of those ESPN2 type fighters, if he doesn’t get beaten when he faces Provodnikov on March 16th at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California, USA. Surprisingly, HBO will be televising the Bradley-Provodnikov fight, even though it’s probably a fight that would be better for ESPN2.