Q&A with Timothy Bradley: Khan ducked me first!

Undefeated WBO junior welterweight champion Timothy Bradley addressed the media today via international conference call in promotion of his upcoming WBO title defense against former lightweight champion Joel Casamayor on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, scheduled for November 12th on Pay Per View. Bradley recently signed with Top Rank and was joined on the call by his promoter Bob Arum as well as by his trainer Joel Diaz and manager Cameron Dunkin. Bradley sounded upbeat about his new career direction and about his upcoming fight against Casamayor - whom Bradley says he must "destroy" before he can think about any other opponents. "I respect every fighter but nothing about Casamayor concerns me and he's not gonna beat me. No way."

Bradley discussed his future at junior welterweight by reminding the boxing media that he's still the champion at 140, but says he would love to move up to welterweight. "140 is getting tight to make the weight, I'll be more comfortable at 147 and based on the opportunities available. But if there's a big fight at 140, I'll squeeze down. Everybody knows I want face the pound for pound best out there and that's Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao."

KO Digest then asked Timothy Bradley for his thoughts on the roughhouse tactics of Joel Casamayor, performance based bonuses in boxing, critics who say he ducked Amir Khan, his ranking in RING Magazine and finally about his thoughts on the upcoming Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez fight which Bradley fights on the undercard of, in what promoter Bob Arum called the "semi-wind up fight."



Bradley on the roughhouse tactics of Joel Casamayor: "I'm rough in there too! He can get rough all he wants, I've got my tricks of the trade as well and we're gonna talk to the referee before the fight about his dirty tactics. I'm prepared for all that, we trained for it. He's not gonna sneak me with anything."

Bradley on critics who say he ducked or avoided fellow 140 pound champion Amir Khan in order to take a safer path to a fight with Manny Pacquiao: "It doesn't bother me. Criticism doesn't pay the bills. One day, me and Khan will get it on in the ring and we can settle it then but I was supposed to fight Khan way before - in fact I was supposed to fight him after I fought Lamont Peterson but then Khan went on to sign with Golden Boy and Golden Boy didn't want no part of it. He ducked me first! We tried to make the deal, we kept calling but they never picked up. When the time is right, me and Khan will settle our differences, and we're gonna get it on."

Criticism doesn't pay the bills! Big fights do!

Bradley on being rated #8 P4P by RING but below Amir Khan in their divisional rankings at junior welterweight: "Doesn't bother me at all. I'm #8 pound for pound, he's not even in the pound for pound ratings. Amir Khan, at 140, he can't move without me. He needs me, I don't need him. I'm just gonna fight my fight - fight by fight- and that's it."

Bradley's prediction on who wins the main event on November 12th, Pacquiao or Marquez: "Manny. I say he's gonna stop Marquez in the late rounds, say 8 or 9, he's gonna take him out."

Bradley on 'performance bonuses' in boxing: "Heck ya! It's beneficial, fans want to see a good fight, a good show, so why not? I'm definitely on board with that."

Promoter Bob Arum then chimed in to add his thoughts on the idea of performance based bonuses in boxing, "Sometimes we see some fighters too anxious to quit the fight. We saw that with Josh Clottey against Manny. We saw that with Mosley against Manny and we saw it with an undefeated Argentinian, Omar Narvaez, against Donaire. This is prizefighting, that's what it's called, prizefighting. To induce fighters where the cause doesn't look so promising to get in there and try to pull it out by becoming aggressive - we feel this gives them an incentive to do that, and that we would get better performances and better fights. Top Rank President Todd deBoef announced this to Kevin Iole and I agree with it."

Hit play below to here the whole conference call.