By Jim Dower: World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11 KO’s) will be moving up in weight to take on top 10 ranked welterweight contender Luis Carlos Abregu (29-0, 23 KO’s) on July 17th in a non-title fight at the Agua Caliente Casino, in Rancho Mirage, California. Bradley, 26, was supposed to be fighting WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KO’s). However, Maidana injured his back and needed to cancel the fight. Abregu, an exciting fighter with a lot of power and terrible defense, is ranked #5 WBC, #8 IBF and #10 in the WBO.

At 5’10”, Abregu will have a four inch height advantage and a considerable power advantage over the 5’6” Bradley. However, Bradley will have the much better hand speed and boxing skills compared to Abregu and this fight could end up being a one-sided fight. Abregu, 27, traded early knockdowns in beating Richard Gutierrez by a 10 round unanimous decision in February of this year. It was, like a lot of Abregu’s fights, an exciting bout with both fighters going toe-to-toe for the entire fight.

Abregu stopped Irving Garcia in the 4th round last year in April, and in December 2008, Abregu struggled to beat David Estrada by a 10 round split decision. The fight could have gone either way. Abregu has power, there’s no question about that, but he’s vulnerable to hard punchers and he takes too much punishment in his fights. This should be a fairly easy fight for Bradley unless he’s unable to cope with Abregu’s size and power.

Bradley is hoping to get a fight with Amir Khan and some of the bigger stars in the sport like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, Bradley would really help himself if he were able to fight both in the light welterweight and welterweight divisions, so that he could knock off as many top fighters as possible to increase his name value. Staying and fighting strictly at light welterweight won’t do it for Bradley, because there are really not enough talented fighters in the division with a name.

At welterweight, Bradley could take WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto, Shane Mosley, if he continues to fight, Miguel Cotto, Mike Jones, Zab Judah, Carlos Quintana and Jan Zaveck. Even if Pacquiao retires without fighting Bradley, which is very likely, he would still be better off being able to fight out of both divisions at once to get the biggest possible fights.