The Showtime stable of fighters is red-hot in the welterweight division with several up-and-comers, but the cream of the welterweight crop at the moment is Timothy Bradley, who is plying his trade on HBO.
He recently vanquished Juan Manuel Marquez in October; many felt he won the battle decisively, but Marquez isn't one of them. After seeming to contemplate retirement after the loss, Marquez, 40, has stated he plans on fighting two more times. The first one is slated to be a tune-up fight in Mexico City, followed by a Bradley rematch.
The problem there is that Bradley seems interested in moving on from "Dinamita." At the moment Bradley's turned his attention to a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, whom many feel was robbed when they first met.
"Hopefully he will get into the ring with me," Bradley told On The Ropes. "Hopefully we can fight again, and after I beat Pacquiao, then there is nothing else said about it, there is nothing else said about Pacquiao, 'Oh he beat you once.' No, I'm going to beat him fair and square and then I can move forward, then I can go forward, but I have to go back revisit that fight, I have to fight this guy."
Looming in the shadows for all three of these fighters is the "Siberian Rocky," Ruslan Provodnikov. Provodnikov nearly earned a stoppage vs. Bradley in their first fight, and owns a victory in Denver over hometown fighter Mike Alvarado.
According to Bob Arum, minus a fifth fight with Marquez, Provodnikov is the fans' choice for Pacquiao's next opponent.
"If you ask people who they would want to see Manny fight next, everybody would say Mayweather, but next to Mayweather, they would probably say Provodnikov," said Arum. "He's the next logical fight. Who else would you want Pacquiao to fight?"
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