• Welterweight

Pacquiao poised to agree Bradley battle

ESPN staff
January 30, 2012
Timothy Bradley is the WBO light-welterweight champion © Getty Images
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Floyd Mayweather Jnr will definitely not fight Manny Pacquiao on May 5, according to promoter Bob Arum - leaving Pacquiao poised to face Timothy Bradley a month later.

After talks between the Mayweather and Pacquiao camps showed no sign of progress earlier this year, Arum drew up a list of four potential opponents for Pacquiao: Bradley, Lamont Peterson, Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Cotto.

But three of those options have fallen away: Cotto is refusing to drop to the welterweight limit; Peterson has been ordered to give Amir Khan a rematch and Marquez wants a March bout in his native Mexico.

"Does it look closer to being Bradley? It looks closer to being Bradley, obviously, by the process of elimination," Arum said to ringtv.com. "What happens if Miguel Cotto comes back and says, 'Okay, I'll make the weight'? That opens up another possibility. But right now, he's saying that he wouldn't.

"Floyd is out of the picture for May. He put himself out of the picture for May. Any discussion with Floyd was over when he said he wouldn't go for the 50/50 split."

Bradley, the WBO light-welterweight champion, is unbeaten from 29 professional fights (including one no contest).

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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