By Allan Fox: Former two division world champion Tim Bradley (31-1-1, 12 KOs) is targeting fights against IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, IBF junior middleweight champion Cornelius Bundrage or 41-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez in 2015, according to Bradley’s trainer Joel Diaz.
Bradley was held to a 12 round draw in his last fight against Diego Chaves last month in Las Vegas, Nevada. While Bradley fought well enough to arguably deserve a narrow 12 round decision win, he still looked terrible in the fight and took a lot of punishment.
The left side of Bradley’s face was badly swollen from Chaves’ hard right hands he kept nailing Bradley with all night long.
“The list said [IBF welterweight champion] Kell Brook. At 154, [IBF junior middleweight champion] ‘K-9′ Bundrage, and another one said maybe a [Juan Manuel] Marquez,” Diaz said to Hustleboss.com.
Bradley would have a pretty decent chance of getting fights against Brook and Bundrage, because those guys need an opponent with a big name to fight. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn would likely jump at the chance of making that fight with the light hitting Bradley rather than having Brook really tested by someone like Marcos Maidana or Keith Thurman.
It would be an interesting move for Bradley if he were to move up to 154 to challenge Bundrage for his IBF junior middleweight title. Bundrage is a big guy with excellent punching power.
Even if Bradley bulked up to fight at 154, he’d still be giving up a great deal of natural power to the bigger Bundrage, and it could turn out to be really bad for Bradley. If a small welterweight like Diego Chaves was able to give Bradley problems with his power, you can only imagine what a bigger guy like Bundrage could do to him as well.
Bradley could definitely get the fight against Bundrage, but it would have to be seen as a bad career move for Bradley. The fight is just too risky. Bradley would be better off staying busy until the smoke clears from the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight. Bradley might be able to luck out and get the winner of that fight. I’m sure Canelo or Cotto would love to fight Bradley instead of a real threat.
Marquez would be off limits for Bradley because Marquez isn’t going to waste his time fighting Bradley again with no belt involved. There’s no real upside in facing Bradley now since he lost his WBO title to Manny Pacquiao in April of 2014.
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