Luis Abregu will be bigger, tougher foe

The situation is fluid and Timothy Bradley is willing to swim in either direction – junior welterweight, where he is titled, and welterweight, where the big money beckons.

He just doesn’t want to tread water.

The undefeated Bradley will dip his toes into the rich 147-pound division next Saturday in HBO’s featured Boxing After Dark match from his home area of Rancho Mirage, California. It’s not like he’s going into the deep end. He’ll be opposed by Luis Carlos Abregu, billed as a "distant" relative of Luis Firpo, the Wild Bull of the Campas who in 1923 knocked Jack Dempsey out of the Polo Grounds ring before being stopped himself.

Abregu, 29-0 with 23 knockouts and a former South American welterweight champion, can obviously punch. Bradley said the Argentine has a dangerous right hand. But Abregu, while ranked highly by a couple of the alphabets, is designed more to see how the 5-foot-6 Bradley, regarded as one of the smaller junior welterweight stars, can handle the extra seven pounds against a 5-foot-10 slugger.

It would seem more appropriate for Bradley to compete in the loaded 140-pound division. HBO was talking about a junior welterweight tourney; Bradley and his top rival, Devon Alexander of St. Louis, were willing, but the other two title-holders, Amir Khan of England and Marcos Maidana of Argentina, were not.

A Bradley-Alexander match may be a bit premature. It needs to simmer.

Meanwhile, Bradley can look to 147 for promising paydays. The welterweights aren’t as loaded as just a few months ago.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are tops of the list – top of just about any list in boxing. But Miguel Cotto has moved to 154 pounds, Sugar Shane Mosley is going there next and Paul Williams may never get another welterweight to face him. With Joshua Clottey’s poor performance against Pacquiao and the problems of Antonio Margacheato to get licensed, there’s room for more than Andre Berto. Bradley of course has called out the top two names – but don’t expect any rush to fight the quick little guy.

So he bides his time, at the same time trying to increase his exposure and market base, against the likes of Abregu. Bradley’s about a minus $9 favorite and figures to have little trouble with the straight-forward approach of his rival.

"I’m going to Firpo all over him and knock him out of the ring," said Abregu.

Don’t bet on that. It’s not much of a betting match, even with an undefeated banger getting plus $5.50 or so in the buyback. But it’s the only bout even worthy of discussion for next weekend, where they’re either too small (Fernando Montiel vs. Eric Morel), too old (David Tua vs. Monte Barrett) or too irrelevant (would you believe a WBO cruiserweight eliminator between two Europeans?).

Bradley, 25-0 with 11 stoppages, is at least fun to watch as he slips inside bigger foes and attacks with high-speed fists from all angles.

He has looked very good against smaller, like Junior Witter, Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell and Lamont Peterson. He should look very good in this showcase, but I believe his immediate future will be in the familiar waters of 140 pounds.