Kell Brook a possibility for Tim Bradley in 2015

By Boxing News - 12/12/2014 - Comments

bradley3By Chris Williams: Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) is talking about all kinds of difference scenarios for potential big fights in 2015. He’s interested in fighting Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

You can now add IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) to that list, as Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti is saying that Brook is someone that they’d like to match the 31-year-old Bradley up against next year if they can get that fight made.

“I had some conversations with [British promoter] Eddie Hearn and Kell Brook if he can’t get the Amir Khan fight put together [for Brook],” Moretti said via Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “Tim, ironically, won his first title at 140 against a Brit [Junior Witter], so maybe he will have to fight another to win the title at 147.”

This is a good fight for Brook if he can’t get Amir Khan to agree to fight him. It would give Brook the biggest possible name to face him, and it would be a fight where Brook would have the advantage in power. Hearn would likely take that fight in a second if he can get it.

The whole thing depends on how well Top Rank feels that Bradley would do against Brook, because if they’re not confident that he can win then they’ll likely have Bradley wait until the WBO welterweight title opens up.

Bradley is interested in challenging for the WBO welterweight title against possibly Marquez when/if Manny Pacquiao vacates the belt. Pacquiao is moving down to light welterweight and he’s not expected to continue to defend his WBO 147 pound title. This will enable Bradley to slide in and challenge for the belt against the highest available contender. Bradley previously held the WBO title before losing it to Pacquiao in April of this year in losing by a 12 round decision.

“Manny Pacquiao is talking about going back down to 140, so his welterweight title may be vacant and maybe [Juan Manuel] Marquez would want to fight again to get that fifth title.”

It wouldn’t be surprising if Bradley chooses not to fight Brook and instead waits for Pacquiao to vacate his WBO title. That would then put Bradley in a situation where he could be facing #1 WBO Marquez, #3 WBO Brandon Rios or #4 WBO Luis Abregu. Bradley would be in a much better position to pick up an easy title if he were to fight for the WBO title then it he were to challenge the bigger punching Brook for his IBF title.

Before Bradley can start thinking about fighting Brook or for the WBO title, he’s going to need to get past the tough Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) this Saturday night on HBO at 10:00 p.m. from the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.



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