ESPN Boxing

Unbeaten junior welterweight champion Timothy Bradley Jr. has an answer for everything.

Tell him he lacks power, and he'll tell you to ask the opponents he has been in the ring with whether they think he punches hard.

Bring up that he has a rep as a dirty fighter who leads with his head, he'll tell you it's merely the result of his style -- no different, he says, than that of others before him, like Evander Holyfield.

And if you think that casual fans -- and maybe a few educated ones, too -- don't know, or worse, couldn't care enough to watch his fights, well, he's got an answer for that, too.

"I think the fans and the general public simply haven't seen me fight," Bradley said.

So what does a guy with all the answers do to fix that?

For Bradley, it meant facing a breach-of-contract lawsuit from his former co-promoters in order to sign with Top Rank. It also meant enduring almost a year of inactivity and pubic mockery after turning down a career-high payday against Amir Khan in hopes of landing a fight with boxing cash cow Manny Pacquiao.

With Pacquiao's advisers having narrowed down the list of candidates for his next fight to a group that appeared either more deserving or more enticing at the box office, Bradley's chances appeared slim.

But just as the Palm Springs, Calif., native has overcome seemingly every obstacle placed in front of him professionally, Bradley (28-0, 12 KOs) is the lone name left standing. He'll move up in weight to challenge Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) on June 9 in Las Vegas on pay-per-view.

"It was definitely an uphill battle taking all of the criticism from the fans and media in 2011," Bradley said. "Everyone was laughing at me and saying I'm scared of Amir Khan. But I felt that after winning three world championships, I still wasn't really known. Now I'm with the best promotional company in the world and I'm sitting pretty, ready to fight the best fighter in the world. So who is laughing now?"

With an upcoming starring role in HBO's documentary series "24/7" to build up the fight, Bradley will get his opportunity for crossover appeal to the casual fan. It's in line with something that he agrees the sport glaringly lacks: a wholesome American PPV star.

So what's the solution? Don't think he's out of answers yet.

"I'm that next big face in boxing, I truly believe it," Bradley said. "I definitely want to bring a good image and a good vibe back to boxing. My personality is very friendly and I'm very kind to the fans. Just the way that I carry myself, I try to be a good role model for the kids and boxing in general. I think the fans will also gravitate towards my willingness to fight the best out there."

Bradley is good-looking, intelligent and hard-working, with a skill set predicated on the overachieving, all-American values of discipline and perseverance. He is often compared to Holyfield, mostly for their shared penchant for head-butting. It's a shame that it usually ends there, when you consider that both fighters have consistently overcome perceived slights in size and power with heart and unparalleled conditioning.

Still think he's overrated or undeserving of such a marquee fight? Go ahead and criticize. It's the fuel that stokes Bradley's desire.

"When people talk bad about me, I love it," Bradley said. "I eat it up. Keep talking bad about me! You hear that everyone? I love it. You say whatever you want to say about me, because at the end of the day, it's motivation. The more confident you get, the more wins you get and the harder you work in the gym. Soon you find yourself winning fights that a lot of people count you out of."

But Bradley will have a tough time finding many who are willing to give him more than a puncher's chance against Pacquiao.

"Manny Pacquiao has had a lot of wars, and I think his outside life might catch up with him a little bit," Bradley said. "His mind is in a thousand different places at once, and he is going to have his hands full in the ring because they won't know what to expect from me. There is no way Manny Pacquiao works harder than me. There is no way.

"I don't believe I can be beaten. This is my moment. This is what I believe."

How Bradley handles the moment will dictate the level of crossover stardom that comes his way. But for the man who seemingly has all the answers, just one question remains come June 9: Can he answer the final bell with his hands held high?

Don't count him out just yet.

"Friday Night Fights" host Bernardo Osuna discusses Manny Pacquiao's high-risk low-reward fight with Timothy Bradley Jr., set for June 9 in Las Vegas, plus more top bouts in the months ahead.

We know that Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. won't be fighting each other in the first half of 2012. And we know who Mayweather will be fighting instead on May 5: Miguel Cotto.

So that leaves one part of the spring-season super-duper-star equation left to be revealed, and that's PacMan's June 9 opponent.

Initially, the list of options included four names: Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley Jr. and Lamont Peterson. Then Mayweather's name was added. Then it was scratched out. Then Cotto crossed himself off.

That leaves three. All indications coming out of every corner of the boxing world suggest that it will be officially announced next week that Bradley will get the assignment.

Nothing against Bradley, an excellent fighter by any measure, but it's time to say what not enough people seem to be saying: This fight should have gone to Marquez. In every conceivable way, he's a better opponent for Pacquiao than Bradley. In fact, as he's proven repeatedly, he's a better opponent for Pacquiao than anyone not named Floyd Mayweather.

In terms of entertainment value, every Pacquiao-Marquez bout is a fight of the year candidate. Every Bradley bout is a technical draw candidate.

From a business perspective, Marquez is the fourth-most bankable name in boxing (behind Pacquiao, Mayweather and Cotto) and his third fight with Pacquiao last November generated an estimated 1.4 million pay-per-view buys. Bradley doesn't have a fan base, meaning a Pac-Bradley pay-per-view will draw however many buys the Filipino legend can draw with just his name and face on the poster.

With regard to who deserves the fight more, the majority of fans believe Marquez deserved the victory over Pacquiao last time out -- in a fight nearly everyone expected PacMan to win by knockout, by the way. Bradley is the top-rated junior welterweight in the world, but his lone fight in the past 12 months, against a used-up Joel Casamayor, hardly qualifies him for a shot at the people's champ.

Looking at what's best for the fans, for fairness and for the folks counting the receipts, it's Marquez over Bradley all day long. So why was Marquez never given serious consideration for a fourth fight with Pacquiao in June? Why was Cotto the frontrunner initially, and why is it Bradley now?

The only explanation that makes sense is that Marquez fought a little too well for his good in November. Say what you will about Bob Arum and his team at Top Rank, but there are no dummies working in that Las Vegas office. Goal No. 1 is to not let Pacquiao lose (except maybe against Mayweather, when Manny is a fight or two away from retirement). And with Marquez, the third fight illustrated that at any weight and on any date, JMM gives Pacquiao fits.

Again, there's nothing wrong with a Pacquiao-Bradley fight. The man known as "Desert Storm" is a top-10 pound-for-pounder and a credible foe.

But he's no Marquez. Not in terms of name value, not in terms of in-ring excitement and not in terms of what's best for the sport.

I guess the Mexican master was never getting a fourth fight against Pacquiao, no matter what transpired last November.

If Marquez had gotten bowled over, as many predicted, it would have provided a conclusive end to their trilogy.

Instead, we got an ending inconclusive enough to ensure that another chapter won't be written.

Within the bowels of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, amid the furor regarding the unpopular decision to award Saturday's main event to Manny Pacquiao, fans and press alike have had a swath of issues to debate.

Let's get one thing out of the way: Pacquiao lost on Saturday. Yes, he lost. Although the record books will forever show a "W" on the ledger and his bank account is accordingly larger, in every other sense, this weekend was a humbling experience for boxing's one true transcendent star.

Pacquiao maintained that he took a third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez to definitively settle the issue of who won their previous two bouts, which had been ruled a draw and a split decision in Pacquiao's favor. On both occasions, large enough sections of the gladiatorial gallery had crowned Marquez the winner, making it an eternal niggling asterisk on the Filipino's Hall of Fame CV.

So how vehemently vexing it must have been for Pacquiao to be interviewed amid an ocean of jeering after the judges awarded him yet another victory against his most capable foe.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, along with the majority of the press corps, claimed we would see a knockout. We didn't. Marquez's age and bloated size would be vanquished by the younger, lithe and mercurial Pacquiao, many asserted. Not the case.

But the real cherry on this not-so-trifling matter is that Pacquiao's camp now seems to be avoiding a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., something the boxing world has lusted after for years. The two have been verbal sparring partners of late and have fought pitched battles in the courts, but it seems perhaps the war -- in the media at least -- may have been won by Mayweather.

Marquez showed us a glimpse of the solution to the Pacquiao algorithm, one that will likely be solved if Mayweather and Pacquiao ever square off in the ring. And although Pacquiao walked away on Saturday with at least $22 million, 28 stitches and the official win, some losses perhaps are harder to quantify.

Pacquiao Khan't beat Marquez

When your own sparring partner and training stablemate thinks you lost, it's probably a bad sign. With the rigmarole of Saturday's boxing circus unwinding, light welterweight supremo Amir Khan chose to pipe up.

"He's got away with it against Marquez," Khan told The Daily Mail. "Even I had him losing by two rounds. He's my friend and I'm happy for him that he won. But for his sake, we have to be honest. He would not beat Floyd Mayweather on this performance."

Rumors abound that the longtime sparring partners are now banned from sparring in case Khan becomes an option for Pacquiao further down the line. For Khan, he sees good reason for these drastic measures.

"Well, let me just say that in our sparring lately, he's not the one getting the better of it."

Trout has no doubts

For those wondering who might face the winner of the Dec. 3 battle between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, look no further than Austin Trout.

Who? Yes, that's right. For the less hard core among you, Trout's waist is adorned with a rather meaningless WBA junior middleweight belt. But more meaningful is the fact that Trout is fast, hard-punching and willing to travel anywhere to seek out fights -- something he has done with little fanfare and that has ensured he remains one of boxing's best-kept secrets.

After Trout made his successful network debut last week, his manager, Greg Cohen, announced he expects his fighter to face the best in the division.

"If [Cotto or Margarito] choose not to fight us and vacate the belt, then we'll be the only ones with a rightful claim to be WBA champion," Cohen said. "In that case, we'll make our mandatory against [Anthony] Mundine in a fight that would have not only all the new fans Austin made over the weekend, but the entire continent of Australia also buzzing the day it was made."

Manfredo mans up
In a sport that oozes bravado, honesty and realism can sometimes be the most refreshing of tonics. Peter Manfredo Jr., a fighter who has always tried to maximize his self-confessed limited gifts, will take on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on Saturday in a middleweight bout at the Reliant Arena in Houston.

Having often faced the best, including Joe Calzaghe, and having come up short, Manfredo knows that his shot against Chavez is his last shot at glory and looks at the opportunity in the most endearing of ways.

"I've been very satisfied with my boxing career," Manfredo said. "I was an unknown kid from Providence, R.I. I was not a great amateur boxer. If I lose, I hang it up and concentrate on being a good father to my kids."

Refreshing indeed.

Tweet of the week

@JRoche3MR: "Bradley wins the second, if we're lucky Casamayor will headbutt himself unconscious soon and end this"

Timothy Bradley Jr. is angry.

Don't take my word for it. He says so himself.

"I've been angry for the last eight or nine months," he told reporters at the MGM Grand on Thursday. "I've been angry. I've got a chip on my damn shoulder, I really do."

What is he angry about? Well, how much time have you got?

For one thing, he is angry about what he continues to feel was the ineffective way he was promoted in his career prior to joining Top Rank, for whom he will fight his first fight, against Cuban veteran Joel Casamayor, in the chief support bout for Manny Pacquaio's clash with archrival Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday.

"I felt like I was standing still. I've been standing still for a while. I've only fought twice in the last two years, guys. And I don't understand why," Bradley said. "I came off one of the biggest fights in my career [January's junior welterweight unification victory over Devon Alexander], and I didn't really move anywhere. Fighting the Devon fight didn't do nothing for my career, man. Nothing. Didn't do anything for me. I don't know, man. This boxing game can be tricky, it can use and abuse you. Only the strong survive in this game, and I've learned that now."

Signing with Top Rank, Bradley believes, will give him the push over the top so that he receives the acclaim and fame he clearly thinks he deserves. "I've got a true, real-life promoter now that's going to push me and push me and push me to be superstar in this game," he said. "I'm a three-time world champion. I shouldn't be able to walk down these dang corridors right here. People should know who I am. People should know exactly who I am. I'm a three-time world champion."

But that isn't all. If not angry exactly, Bradley is certainly unhappy about the fact that, as he puts it, "I'm still fighting for respect."

"All the criticism, everything everybody said about me, I want to prove everybody wrong," he said. "People saying I don't deserve a shot at Manny, don't deserve a shot at this, or I'm going to get knocked out: Prove it to me. I don't fear any man. I don't. I don't fear Joel Casamayor. Do I feel he's a threat? Absolutely not. I'm going to destroy Casamayaor on Saturday. Period. Hands down. There's nothing he can do to beat me."

Bradley does, however, acknowledge that he lost a fair deal of the respect he had built up when he turned down an offer to fight rival titlist Amir Khan earlier this year. But as he insists, "I'm going to win it all back. I probably have lost respect from fans, yeah. Even after the Devon fight, people lost respect for me. But it's OK, it's alright."

That path begins Saturday, with a bout he recognizes he needs to win impressively to grab people's attention and perhaps put himself in line for a bout with the man who headlines Saturday's pay-per-view show:

"It's been a while," Bradley said. "This is serious business. I'm ready to go, man. Casamayor, I respect him. I respect him as a fighter, but his time is over. It's Timothy Bradley time. It's 'Desert Storm' time. I'm in the best shape I could possibly be in, man. There's nothing that I fear. There's no one that I fear. I don't fear anybody. Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather -- I'm ready for anybody. Any time. Right now, man. I'm ready. And I'm going to have a great performance Saturday night. I feel it. He can't stop me.

"I'm stronger than ever. Everything that I went through these last nine months has made me strong. My character is stronger than ever. I've grown. I've grown a heckuva lot, man. I'm a little emotional right now because I want it. You know what I'm saying? I want it."