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Trainer Freddie Roach is now favoring Timothy Bradley to be Manny Pacquiao's opponent in early June, and not Lamont Peterson or Miguel Cotto. From RingTV.com:
"I think that we need some new blood in there, and Bradley poses a little bit of a problem," said Roach, from his Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood, Calif., on Monday. "So I would rather go with Tim Bradley than a Miguel Cotto or somebody else."
... "I have't talked to anyone yet, but I think that [Top Rank CEO] Bob Arum's choices, to me, are Cotto or Bradley," said Roach. "I don't think that Mayweather is going to happen until November. I think that's going to be the best date for that fight."
Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO) has reportedly made his choice, but Bob Arum isn't going public yet.
A few things are going on here, just to brief on this:
- Miguel Cotto is rumored to be in the lead, and may or may not have been Manny's choice. But Cotto is also talking about a fight with Canelo Alvarez, and Top Rank wants to match Cotto with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in July, too.
- The Mayweather fight, obviously, is not happening. Talk has died down in the last couple of days, as it always does. The general strategy is for EVERYONE TO SCREAM ABOUT IT!!!!! for a week, then hit the weekend, and basically pretend they weren't just screaming about it. They like to let the talk fade. It saves from answering questions or anything like that.
- Juan Manuel Marquez appears to be out. Nobody is saying that outright, but none of the talk for the June fight is about Marquez anymore. Whether it's because his demands are too high or they just don't think it's the right fight for June, or because they want to have something useful to save for November when the Mayweather fight also doesn't happen then, it doesn't look like the fourth Marquez fight is next.
- Lamont Peterson isn't a legitimate option. He never really has been.
If this does play out with Bradley getting the fight, it'll be step one to confirming that Richard Schaefer is a better fortune teller than Bob Arum.
So let's say it's down to Cotto or Tim Bradley: Which fight do you want to see more?