Timothy Bradley Signs, Will Face Joel Casamayor on Pacquiao vs Marquez Card

Timothy Bradley has officially signed with Top Rank, and will be fighting on the November 12 undercard of the Pacquiao vs Marquez show on HBO pay-per-view against former lightweight champion Joel Casamayor. Bradley is getting sort of a showcase fight, and is being lined up as a likely 2012 opponent for Manny Pacquiao.

"I’m just so happy. I don’t know what to say man. I’m so excited," Bradley said. "Wow. It’s unbelievable. It’s very unbelievable. Everything was looking down, looking down, and boom. Now everything is starting to look up."

... "Top Rank has had all the greats. They’ve had all the greats," Bradley said. "I’m here to be promoted. This is why I box, I want to be promoted. I’ve been winning my fights, but I haven’t been getting the top exposure I feel I deserve, being a three time world champion. I’m relatively unknown and I think that’s terrible. You hear about it all the time: Bradley can’t do this, can’t sell that, he can’t do that.

"My main objective was to get a promoter to build the Bradley brand, and Top Rank is good at doing that. That’s why we chose Top Rank."

I won't lie and say I'm interested in the fight between Bradley (27-0, 11 KO) and Casamayor (38-5-1, 22 KO). Casamayor is a shot fighter at this point and fighting over his best weight, and hasn't looked good at all in three years. The 40-year-old Cuban lost the lightweight crown to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2008, which was a competitive and good fight, but since then he's been inactive and struggled to beat club fighters Jason Davis and Manuel Leyva, in between getting easily beaten by Robert Guerrero.

But one thing that does seem odd about the choice of opponent is that Casamayor is still crafty enough to make a fight ugly, and Bradley isn't exactly known for his thrilling fights in the first place. To get interest behind Bradley as a Pacquiao opponent, it would seem as though you'd want to get him in a fight that will be seen by a lot of people who order Pacquiao shows (that part is done) and maybe one that doesn't run a very high risk of being dull (that part, not so much with Casamayor).

So here's the lineup for November 12:

Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez III
Timothy Bradley vs Joel Casamayor
Luis Cruz vs Juan Carlos Burgos
Mike Alvarado vs Breidis Prescott

Jorge Arce has also been rumored as part of the card, which could potentially bump Cruz vs Burgos (arguably the most competitive and best fight here) off the PPV card, at least if Arce is really going to fight on the show. This is a solid PPV llineup, but does pale in comparison to the December 3 Cotto vs Margarito show, which to be fair doesn't have the main event fighter like Pacquiao making it an instant moneymaker, and could use the help from the exceptional undercard more than this show could.