Manny Pacquiao has agreed to terms to defend his welterweight title against
Manny Pacquiao has agreed to terms to defend his welterweight title against junior welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr. on June 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s adviser, told ESPN.com on Monday.
The Bradley side still needs to finalize its deal with promoter Top Rank.
“From our end, the fight is done,” Koncz said. “I just got off the phone with (Top Rank’s) Bob Arum and Manny, so we’re done. I don’t assume there will be a problem from the Bradley side. We came to terms with Top Rank on the fight and Manny has approved everything. This morning I had a number of conversations with Bob negotiating the June 9 fight and I relayed everything to Manny.”
The hopes for a long-anticipated Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight ended last week when, after the sides once again did not come to terms, Mayweather announced he would challenge junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto on May 5. Cotto had also been in the running to face Pacquiao in a rematch, but Pacquiao and Cotto could not agree on the weight for the fight. Pacquiao wanted the 147-pound welterweight limit, which Cotto said was too low for him, and he accepted a deal from Mayweather.
The other names in the running to face Pacquiao in the pay-per-view fight were junior welterweight titlist Lamont Peterson and Juan Manuel Marquez, who is 0-2-1 in three incredibly close and exciting fights with Pacquiao, including a majority decision loss to him in November.
Marquez would have been good! Mayweather is just waiting for Pacquiao to slow down!
via espn.com