Anyone think Bradley struggles with Abregu?

He is short and small and he is moving up vs a difficult opponent it may be like Hatton Collazo all over again a good fighter vs some one below him but the 7 pound jump may be too much

However I still have Bradley by wide UD if the "Collazo" scenario plays out I think he still wins

 

bradley wears his opponents down with a high paced combination of boxing and pressure. abregu isn't a wild brawler, only when hurt and enticed into a dogfight (ala irving garcia). he's neither a technical boxer but he possesses some foot movement and boxing ability, like he showed against gutierrez in spots. i'd be suprised if bradley is able to put abregu down considering tim has ko'd less then half of his previous opposition. I see abregu, with his natural weight advantage, heart and power giving bradley the toughest fight he's had thus far.

 

Is there even tape of this guy?

 

can't wait to see the odds on this one, Abregu has a real shot here
if Bradley wins this fight he will chase both the winner and loser of Pac / May assuming it takes place.

the end game is always money. But even if he beats Abregu there is no guarantee he gets a big money fight at welter. and he is going to have to dominate Abregu, otherwise he won't be looked at as an attractive opponent for a megastar, if he struggles.

So if he stops or dominates Abregu and than gets Pac or Mayweather in the ring and a huge payday, you can say it was a smart move.

Its a high risk low reward fight with no guarantee a win does anything major for his career.

He should have stayed at 140 where he is a light hitter anyways. Watching him vs Peterson throwing combinations that weren't very damaging, but scoring, I just can't see how moving up he is going to be better. He is far from drained at 40.

On the other side, if Abregu can win, even a marginal victory, it will be a huge huge boost for him and put him in the mix at welter.

I think Tim and his people got too money hungry. The path to money and greatness is clearly laid out for them. He could have gone on a tour in which his money and legend would have risen with each victory.

Every fight would be on HBO.

Start of by decisioning Alexander in a close, exciting fight.
Then knock out Meidana after getting floored early.
decisions Marquez in a barnburner
a revitalized Ortiz gets TKO'd late.
rematch with Alexander, Tim squeaks by again.
easily decisions a rising McCloskey in a stay busy fight
decisions a rejuvenated Urango
decisions Amir Khan in what is at this point a megafight
decisions Alvarado another megafight at this point
decisions Provodknikov

somewhere along the line there he would become a megastar just from beating those guys, even if he lost one like Pac did to Morales, it might only add to his aura. pretty soon Mayweather and Pac would come looking for him he wouldn't have to chase them.

Pac had people from higher weights challenging him but it was only after he started to build up a lot of heat, and Pac wasn't ducking anybody and now it appears that Bradley is, even if he isn't, it appears that way. He should be fighting at 40, which is red hot right now and he is abandoning the hottest division its really really really dumb.

 

Kirk, appreciate your analysis as always but disagree with a lot of the points you make.

He is 1 inch shorter than Miguel Cotto, who is now a belt holder two divisions higher than Bradley's current division. While lacking the punching power of Cotto, I see him as still improving with the advantages in skill and workrate as you identify above. I agree with you that he should stay and solidify the 140 division but I have no problems with him taking on tougher challenges and trying to put himself on P4P lists and in a position to fight the big boys at 147.

IMO Bradley's power is underrated due to people focusing on his 11 stoppages in 25 fights and ignoring the fact that he KDs many of his opponents and rocks all of them at some point during their fights. He is not Paulie Malignaggi.

5'6" Pacquiao, who as you say has world class skill, looked average many times at 135 and looks completely dominant at 147. His speed and power translate better at 147, but I'm willing to see what Bradley has got and am confident he will do well.

Time will tell.

 

Don't know much about Abregu but I've heard he's pretty good. I think Tim will have struggles with the bigger man but should pull out the win. I think he goes back down to Jr WW after the fight.

 

Bradley is the faster and more skillful of the 2, he should get a decision. They go toe to toe, he's giving Abregu a puncher's chance. I think he beats Abregu to the punch in a decision. If Abregu had the speed to go with the pop and show better defense, he'd have a much better chance, but he struggled with Gutierrez he's not beating Bradley.

 

Struggles? Hell no. Runs all over Abregu like a buzzsaw and somehow gets caught with something late or random MLI.