Bob Arum: 'I can see a lot of ways where Tim Bradley beats Gennady Golovkin'
Timothy Bradley wants Gennady Golovkin, and he just might get his wish. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Paste BN Sports)
CARSON, Calif. - Don't laugh, because Timothy Bradley vs. Gennady Golovkin is a real possibility for the fall.
The welterweight contender shocked the boxing world by calling out Golovkin last week and then doubled down in an interview with Paste BN Sports on Thursday. Bradley faces Jessie Vargas on Saturday (9:45 p.m. ET, HBO), and if he wins, he wants the middleweight boogeyman.
"I don't just talk just to blow smoke, it's always serious," Bradley, 31, said. "I just figured since everybody starts stuttering and is scared of Golovkin - he's not too far from where I'm at, 13 pounds - let's get it on. If everything's right, why not? They say he's big, he's this, he's that. I'm a fighter, man. I'll fight anybody. My team is obviously going to have a different say so, a different opinion, because I'm crazy, I take punches, I'm in the hurt business for a living."
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Bob Arum, Bradley's promoter, likes the match-up and doesn't believe the public should be surprised if it happens. After all, Arum made Manny Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya a reality in 2008. The possibility of the fight was first mentioned in 2007 when Pacquiao was competing at 130 pounds and De La Hoya at 154. When it was finalized, The Golden Boy was a big favorite, but Pacquiao won every second of every round, stopped De La Hoya and sent him into retirement.
"I can see a lot of ways where Tim Bradley beats Gennady Golovkin," Arum told Paste BN Sports. "He can't knock him out, can't stop him. But he's going to be very tough to hit and Golovkin is going to take a lot of punches from Bradley. So I really think that can be a super, super fight."
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Arum said the bout could "absolutely" take place in the fall and said it could definitely be a pay-per-view event with the right undercard. First, though, Bradley must get past Vargas on Saturday, and Golovkin will be sitting in the stands at StubHub Center to scout his potential future opponent.
"I think it's very viable," Tom Loeffler, Golovkin's promoter, told Paste BN Sports earlier this week. "If Tim is willing to come to 160 to fight Gennady, who's a middleweight, I think that's a big statement. Tim has been in with the biggest names in boxing. He fought Manny Pacquiao twice. He beat the guy that knocked out Manny Pacquiao in (Juan Manuel) Marquez and had a number of other high-profile fights.
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"That's what the old-time greats used to do. When Tommy Hearns moved up to middle or Ray Leonard - all the legends of boxing - they would move from welterweight to middleweight to make a mega-fight. I think it would be a great fight if he wins this fight against Jessie Vargas."
Floyd Mayweather might not be ready to answer the Golovkin challenge, but Bradley is willing and able, a true throwback fighter that commands respect. Fans laughed at first, but if it becomes reality, the public will be intrigued.
"I just see his mentality and I respect his opinions and he doesn't avoid anybody" Bradley's trainer Joel Diaz said, "and he's trying to throw out a message that's he's trying to fight anybody out there."