By Dan Ambrose: Former two division world champion Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) will be fighting #10 IBF Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) on December 13th in a fight televised by HBO at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The Bradley-Chaves fight is part of a triple-header. The other two fights are still unknown at this time.
The negotiation terms have been agreed upon for both fighters, and they’ve been sent the contracts to sign, according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael.
This is a potentially good fight for #3 WBO, #5 IBF Bradley as long as he chooses to mix it up and not move for 12 rounds like he did in his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez last year in October. That was a really dull fight to watch if you’re a boxing fan that likes to see action. In Bradley’s last fight, he opted to punch with Manny Pacquiao, and the result was Bradley losing by a 12 round decision. However, Bradley was in a situation where he likely would have lost to Pacquiao even if he had chosen to box him. He was simply out of his class in that fight.
“I’m excited to get back into the ring and showcase myself,” Bradley said to Dan Rafael ESPN.com. “Chaves is not that well known but the boxing fans know him. The boxing fans know that this guy can fight and that it won’t be a walk in the park for me. I think it’s going to be a great fight. I can’t wait.”
Chaves lost his last fight to Top Rank fighter Brandon Rios by a controversial 9th round disqualification. That was the fight where Rios was sticking his head into the face of Chaves each time he would clinch. The referee working the fight Vic Drakulich should have arguably docked Rios multiple points for the head-butting, but instead he opted to disqualify Chaves for throwing an elbow.
It was a baffling stoppage by the referee because Chaves wasn’t seen throwing an elbow in the round. Drakulich obviously saw something, but it was a very, very odd stoppage. What was more disturbing was that Rios, the house fighter, was losing to Chaves and the disqualification saved his hide. It would have been yet another loss for Rios, and that obviously wouldn’t have been a good thing for his career.
Many boxing fans thought that Chaves was going to lose to Rios coming into the fight, which is probably why the Argentinian was picked out for Rios. But he ended up giving him major problems, and if not for the referee Drakulich twice docking Chaves points, Rios would have been in a hopeless situation going into the 9th round of their 10 round fight.
The Bradley-Chaves fight might be a good one if Bradley stands and trades with Chaves for 12 rounds like Bradley did in his 2nd fight against Pacquiao or in his fight against Ruslan Provodnikov. But if Bradley chooses to stay on the outside and box the entire fight, we’re probably going to be looking a dull affair like his fight against Marquez. Bradley can make it very boring to watch when he’s boxing from the outside, especially when he’s facing a slow plodder like Chaves.
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