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ESPN.com's Dan Rafael tweeted tonight that he's hearing a July 23 date between the top two junior welterweights in the world, Timothy Bradley and Amir Khan, may be in jeopardy. The word is that Bradley (27-0, 11 KO) would rather take less money to fight someone else than the purse offered for Khan. Rafael notes that this could be a negotiating tactic, but we'll see soon enough, I'm sure.
If this does turn out to be the case, and Bradley effectively ducks a fight with Khan (which would net a better payday than anything he could do outside of fighting Pacquiao or Mayweather), it will of course look horrible, simply because Bradley has talked such a big game. Here's a snip from a recent interview with Fightnews.com:
"You know I'll fight anybody and that's definitely a fight I would love to fight. You know I'll fight anybody, any place, any time. I don't have to chase anybody, I'm the number one fighter at 140 and if someone at 140 wants to fight me and it makes sense then let's do it, and Amir Khan makes sense so if he's next then let's do it. ... He fought against a journeyman [Paul McCloskey] and his performance was ok and that should tell the boxing world that Amir Khan isn't ready for me, he's not ready."
You just can't talk that tough and then back out to take less money against someone else. Are they waiting to let this one "cook"?
If Bradley-Khan doesn't come off, who would you most prefer to see Khan (or Bradley) face? The only fight that must happen at 140 now is Bradley-Khan, so what's the best fight otherwise?