By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) dropped a big hint this week in an interview where he said he doesn’t have to continue fighting if he whips Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) in their rematch this Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bradley probably will continue his career, but he’s saying that he really won’t need to because he’ll have accomplished all that he wanted to in the sport in beating Pacquiao twice.
In truth there’s probably not a whole lot left for Bradley after he beats Pacquiao again, because with him re-signing with Top Rank recently, he’s looking at a whole lot of rematches with the same guys – Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov – and there’s not likely going to be much in terms of variety/choice for him.
“I don’t ever have to lace up another pair of gloves again if I don’t choose to do it,” Bradley said via esnewsreporting.com. “It’s a must win for me. Anything after this is just gravy. It’s just icing on the cake.”
In other words, Bradley will be financially set in a way where he won’t need to get in the ring and continue fighting other guys. He’ll no doubt continue, but I just hope that he doesn’t let years go by between fights like Joshua Clottey did after he got a big money fight against Pacquiao in 2010. Clottey has fought only twice since his loss to Pacquiao in 4 years.
It’ll be different for Bradley, because if he beats Pacquiao, he will be expected to defend his title later this year against the winner of the Mike Alvarado vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight. The World Boxing Organization will push Bradley to defend his title, so we’re not likely to see him sit on it for over a year without making a defense.
Bradley retiring after a big win over Pacquiao on Saturday would probably not make Bob Arum or Pacquiao too happy. It would mean that there couldn’t be a third, fourth and fifth fight between them, and it would further narrow Pacquiao’s options in terms of opposition. Without Bradley for continued rematches, Pacquiao would be stuck fighting Brandon Rios, Alvarado. Provodnikov, Jesse Vargas, Khabib Allakhverdiev and Mikey Garcia for pretty much the remainder of his career. I wouldn’t be too excited about seeing him fight any of those guys, not even Garcia.
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