Merchant thinks Bradley win over Pacquiao could lead to Mayweather bout

By Boxing News - 01/06/2014 - Comments

bradley14By Chris Williams: Former HBO analyst Larry Merchant thinks WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley could put himself in position for a big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he can beat Manny Pacquiao for a second time on April 12th. Merchant thinks there would be a lot of pressure to make a Mayweather vs. Bradley fight if beats the 35-year-old Pacquiao.

For some reason Merchant seems to think that Mayweather would be more willing to negotiate with Bob Arum of Top Rank if Bradley beat Pacquiao. I don’t know why Mayweather would. If Mayweather’s not interested in ever dealing with the 82-year-old Arum again, why would he change his mind just because Bradley beat Pacquiao in a rematch by moving around the ring all night, playing hit and run?

“To get that fight [against Pacquiao] he [Bradley] might have to extend his contract with Top Rank,” Merchant said to Hustleboss. “Then you see what happens. Maybe he wins legitimately or decisively the next time out. How big would that possibly make a fight with Mayweather and would that put pressure on both promoters to make an agreement for that fight?”

Mayweather would obviously see Bradley as an easy mark, because he’s a lot slower than him and his style of fighting is limited. But what ultimately comes down to is whether Mayweather would want to work with Arum again and help him out by fighting one of his Top Rank stable fighters in Tim Bradley. I don’t think Mayweather is going to do that. It would likely be the same situation as Pacquiao.

If Bradley wants to fight Mayweather, he’d likely have to leave Arum before a fight like that could happen. And if Bradley has to sign an extension of a year or so just to get the Pacquiao fight, then you can forget about Bradley fighting Mayweather anytime soon. Bradley’s contract with Top Rank expires in 2 fights, and it should be up by the end of 2014, unless he suffers an injury that prevents him from fighting twice this year.

I don’t believe Bradley is going to be anymore popular if he beat Pacquiao a second time than he is now. You can take Bradley and have him headline his own PPV fight if/when he beats Pacquiao a second time, and it still won’t bring in huge PPV numbers. He’s not someone that has the fighting style and/or the personality to become a PPV attraction. Therefore it won’t likely interest Mayweather in fighting Bradley no matter how many times he beats Pacquiao.

It’ll just make Pacquiao look like more a shot fighter than he already appears. Pacquiao is 35 and he’s lost 2 out of his last 3 fights. Bradley isn’t going to be seen as a great just because he beats a 35-year-old Pacquiao. Boxing fans will still remember how Bradley got battered by Ruslan Provodnikov, and they’ll still figure that he’ll get knocked out if he ever faces the Siberian Rocky again. Mayweather doesn’t need to fight Bradley. It’s a waste of time.



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