To update once again on this Timothy Bradley vs ?????? situation, Fight Hype is reporting that Andre Berto vs Cornelius Bundrage for November 24 is a "done deal," and that Berto won't be fighting Timothy Bradley on December 15 at Marlins Park.
But wait!
Steve Kim is reporting that despite Richard Schaefer's claim that he represents Berto, Lou DiBella says that would be new information to him, and that he still promotes Andre Berto.
So here's what we've got right now:
- Timothy Bradley will fight on December 15 on HBO.
- There is a November 24 HBO card at least planned, or the date is available, anyway.
- Andre Berto is fighting on one of those dates, either against Bundrage (11/24) or Bradley (12/15).
- It is entirely possible that like the "Cotto negotiations" for Manny Pacquiao's December 8 fight, Berto is being used as a smokescreen for whatever reason by Top Rank. One way or another, it doesn't see like Berto knows much about a Tim Bradley fight on 12/15, or like his reps (whoever the hell they are at this point) know much about it, either. Throwing Berto's name into the mix keeps people talking about Bradley at the moment, whereas just going, "Yeah, he's fighting Ruslan Provodnikov" would not.
Steve Kim also reports that if the Marlins Park card goes ahead, Guillermo Rigondeaux could be part of the undercard.