By Rob Smith: If WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s) can pull off a huge upset against WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao next month on June 9th, Bradley will get a rematch against Pacquiao on November 10th, according to boxing news from the Manila Bulletin. Pacquiao, 33, has a rematch clause built into his control so that if he loses to Bradley, he’ll be able to get an immediate rematch against him instead of having to wait for Bradley to possibly fight someone else.
The chances are small that Bradley would be interested in facing anyone else other than Pacquiao anyway unless Floyd Mayweather Jr. emerged as a possibly option. Bradley would no doubt take that fight if it was there. Of course, that can’t happen because Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, was sure to include the rematch clause in the contract.
Arum told the Manila Bulletin “This is the reason why I haven’t talked about any other fight with Manny other than this upcoming fight with Bradley. He is getting well paid in this fight and it’ll take care of his children. And if he wins and fights Pacquiao in a rematch, the money he gets will take care of his grandchildren.”
Bradley is making a guaranteed $5 million for the Pacquiao fight, but that number can go up substantially due to the pay-per-view upside that Bradley will be getting. If the fight brings over 1 million PPV buys, Bradley could end up with significantly more money to add to his guaranteed purse. A rematch with Pacquiao would net Bradley even bigger money.
Getting past Pacquiao is going to be a really tough task for Bradley, because it’s very hard to get a decision against him as we’ve seen in his three fights against Juan Manuel Marquez. In the last two fights, Pacquiao appeared to lose to Marquez, but the judges still gave Pacquiao the fight. It’s going to take a super human effort by Bradley to win by a decision and it take a two to three knockdowns to ensure he gets a decision win.