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Timothy Bradley vs. Carlos
Abregu
Teleconference
Transcript
Gary
Shaw: The HBO-televised portion of the July 17 card
in The Show at Agua Caliente Casino Resort will open with a
12-round junior middleweight fight between Alfredo Angulo
and Joachim Alcine. Angulo is one of boxing’s most exciting
fighters and Alcine, a former world champion, presents the
single toughest fight of Angulo’s career. Everybody is
calling this a pick ‘em fight. So it’ll be a very, very
interesting fight to see if Alfredo can hunt down another
foe and advance to the front of the line of the
154-pounders.
The main event, Timothy
Bradley, the single best 140-pound fighter in the world,
recognized on everyone’s Top-10 pound for pound list, is
moving up to 147 pounds to show off his wares. Against
Carlos Abregu, who is Argentinian Arturo Gatti. Carlos
fights like Garrt, and when he gets knocked down, he comes
back roaring and has produced some spectacular knockouts
himself.
So it’ll be a very, very
excellent card. I want to thank HBO and Agua Caliente for
presenting the card to the fans.e fans.
Alex
Camponovo: I want to thank HBO for giving us the great
opportunity to be on their network. Also, to Agua Caliente
Casino Resort and Spa which has become the official house of
Timothy Bradley. This will be his third fight at that
wonderful venue at the show. And also to Gary Shaw, who is
a partner and more than anything a great dear friend. And
we’re very excited and thrilled to see Timothy Bradley move
up into the Welterweight Division.
As Gary just mentioned, this
will be a fantastic event, not only with the opening bout
between Alcine and Angulo, but the main event of Bradley and
Abregu. Abregu is a guy that always comes to fight. He’s a
real threat to Timothy Bradley, an undefeated fighter that
is going to have the attitude of taking no prisoners. And
Timothy is going to be testing himself in what should be a
very, very intriguing fight.
Timothy
Bradley: First of all, I want to thank God for this
opportunity and thanks to my promoters, Gary Shaw and
Thompson Boxing, my manager, Cameron Duncan, HBO, for
putting me on for the first time, and Agua Caliente for
hosting it. It’s going to be a great, great, exciting
fight.
I can’t wait to see what I can
do at 147 pounds. I’ve been looking at Carlos Abregu. He
looks like a strong fighter, a basic fighter. Let’s get it
on. Let’s get it on, baby. I’m excited. I’m very happy.
I’m back in my hometown at
Agua Caliente. I’ve got 2,000 of the best fans. It’s not
about how many fans there are, it’s about how the fans act.
They’re going to see another great fight and a great
victory.
Carlos
Abregu: I appreciate greatly this opportunity to fight
against Bradley. I’m very comfortable as a visitor to fight
him. I have any problem fighting in Bradley’s territory.
I’m going to win this fight.
Q: Since this is your first fight
as a welterweight what exactly differently have you been
doing in training to get prepared for this big fight?
Timothy
Bradley: I’ve been doing a little bit more strength
training. You know me, I don’t do a whole lot of strength
training when I go down at 140, but I’ve been doing a little
bit more strength training a couple of days during the week
to keep my strength up there.
I don’t want the big guy to
try to bully me around in there. I want to be just as
strong as he is, if not stronger. But that’s pretty much
it. It’s basically the same. I train hard for every single
fight like it’s my last fight. And I’m very excited about
this fight. And I’m ready to show the world, man, what I
can do at 147 pounds.
Q: Timothy, I’m looking at your
boxing record and you did fight as a welterweight earlier in
your career. Can you talk a little bit about that? I
believe it’s four years ago, you fought at 147 pounds in
California. What was that experience like?
Timothy
Bradley: I fought Francisco Rincon. I fought at 147
pounds. He’s like a 6 foot 1, 6 foot, very tall, very
strong, big puncher. He wasn’t that different. He was just
bigger -- a little bit bigger. I like my opponents bigger.
I like to definitely get inside of them.
I’m a lot quicker than they
are. They leave their hands down a lot – a lot longer than
I do, and maybe I will make them pay. That’s pretty much
it.
I know Abregu is a big
puncher. But he can’t hit what’s not there. So he’s going
to have a hard night in there with me. I’m quick. I’ve got
a lot of footwork. I’m going to give him a lot of angles
I’m going to give him and he’s going to see a big difference
from the opponent that he is used to fighting and me. He’ll
see a big difference.
Q: You were hoping to fight at 140,
but I’m wondering if you’re successful in this fight that
you’re just going to leave 140 and stay at 147 and hopefully
get, big, big money fights with somebody be it Mosley,
Pacquiao, Mayweather, whoever.
Is that kind of the game plan
you and Cameron Dunkin and Gary have come up with?
Timothy
Bradley: I don't know. I’m not sure what’s going on.
I’ll fight any weight. Cameron and Gary have been doing a
great job. They’re picking my fights and whatever these
guys want me to do, I’m willing to do it.
If I need to fight at 147
pounds, that’s what I’m going to do. If they want me to go
back down to 140 and face anybody at 140, we’ll do that
too. So it really doesn’t matter to me, man. It really
doesn’t matter.
Q: Cameron, what are your thoughts
about the idea of Timothy staying at 147 if he does a good
job on July 17th?
Cameron
Dunkin: Well, in fact, when Gary and I first talked about
this, Gary said that it’ll open up a whole new division to
him and there are a lot of big names there and a lot of
money.
So, I think we’ll just sort of
play it out. It’s been hard to get anybody (in the ring)
with Timmy. So I think Gary thought, and you can ask Gary,
that it opens another door and then we’ll see what happens
from here.
Q: Gary, what are your thoughts?
Gary
Shaw: Exactly what everybody else said. This gives
us another opportunity. If he beats Carlos Abregu we move
up to 147 if there’s a fight there with Pacquiao or
Mayweather. And if not, there is Devon Alexander, who does
nothing but talk about Timmy Bradley from morning until when
he goes to sleep with his trainer.
Q: Timothy, you have been thinking
for awhile about fighting Maidana and, of course, we all
know what happened and he pulled out twice. How difficult
is it for you specifically to be thinking about one
particular fighter and then starts training for somebody
else?
As far as psychologically, is
there a transition that you have to make to psych yourself
up for a different fighter?
Timothy
Bradley: No, not at all. We had enough time to prepare
for the switch. They’re both power punchers. They both come
forward and like to fight. So there wasn’t a big change.
We have more than enough time
to really focus on our techniques and our plans. Not a big
problem at all.
Q: Timothy, what would a victory
over an undefeated 147-pounder like Abregu do for your
career just as far as the way people think about you? How
much would it (enhance) it?
Timothy
Bradley: I hope it’ll move me in a – I hope it’ll move
me in Pound for Pound, top 10 Pound for Pound. I just hope
this launches another big fight. I want to fight the big
names in the game and I feel that I – I should get my just
due sooner or later.
But if that doesn’t happen,
I’m just going to continue on fighting, continue on winning,
and that is what’s important right now. As long as I can
continue on winning, the fight has to happen sooner or
later. A big fight.
Q: Gary, what were your thoughts
when you found out the real skinny on Maidana and why he has
to pull out? I guess he admitted finally that he does have
some pretty serious managerial problems. What were your
thoughts about all of that?
Gary
Shaw: I was very angry at both Maidana, his manager
and Golden Boy. Because to tell us and HBO that he’s
injured, two times, and make Timmy sit on the sideline is
just plain wrong. And then he lied and he should be
punished for it.
For
Carlos Abregu, it opened up a new door for him to get this
fight so it wasn’t all bad news.
Q: The one thing I want to ask you
Timmy and your management team is, now you’re fighting at
147, is this going to be the case for you as you’re going
after the opportunities whether it’s 147 or 140, or would
you prefer to stay in one weight class and focus on that for
a while? Does that make sense?
Timothy
Bradley: Yes. You know, that’s – that’s a question for
my manager and promoter, man.
Q: But you, what would you prefer?
Timothy
Bradley: It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter at all.
As long as it’s the right fight I want to fight the big
names. It depends if I win this fight or when I win this
fight and for a big name to come out. I would definitely
take that fight. If not, then I can always go back down to
140 and stay down at 140.
Q: Gary and Cameron, is it OK for
Timmy to bounce around in weight classes or ideally would it
be better for him to focus on one weight class for awhile?
Gary
Shaw: I’ve got to speak to Cameron, and I’m sure
Cameron agrees with me, you go where the biggest fights are
for Timmy Bradley. He’s the number one fighter at 140
pounds in the world.
And if there’s enough money at
147 and he shows he can handle the weight and he’s
comfortable and Mosley is there, Berto is there, or Pacquiao
or Mayweather, then he’ll fight them. If not, we know Devon
Alexander is sitting there by his dog bone, panting.
Q: Timmy, coming in to this fight,
are there any worries, on your part, about rust, because
it’s been a little while since you fought?
Timothy
Bradley: No, not all. Just a lot more sparring and the
ring rust shouldn’t be there. Just put the work in the gym
and you shouldn’t have the ring rust. I’m not worried about
it at all.
I’ve
been off for a little while, though. (I’m not going to
lie). I’ve been off for a little while, but as soon as we
get into the ring my body just naturally reacts. I’m a
fighter. I’ll be in there. I’ll be ready. It’ll be a good
fight.
Q: Take us through the procedure,
33 days out from this fight, as to how you come in at 147?
You gradually gain weight over the next month or do you
already have that weight and you just chisel it and keep it
in good condition until fight night? How does that actually
work?
Timothy
Bradley: I’m coming down right now on weight. I went
up, I went up about 165 pounds and now I’m tearing it down
to 147 pounds. Right now, I’m about 155…
I’ve
been training for about four weeks now. I’m feeling great.
I’m just going to maintain it. I’m going to maintain it at
about 155 pounds and then I’m going to slowly start tapering
it down, you know, closer to the fight.
I don’t want to come in too
light.
Q: I’ve seen some of your fights
and speed is critical to you. Do you feel that you might
lose a little speed because you’re holding around the extra
poundage?
Timothy
Bradley: Not at all. I think that I’m going to be a
lot stronger and a lot quicker at this weight.
Gary
Shaw: Timmy, I didn’t know you were that high, maybe
we’ll go to 154 next. I’ll call Cameron, you know, after
this call.
Timothy
Bradley: Hey, we can go there too. Let’s go up 154 and
fight Cotto, right?
Gary
Shaw: Oh, I will do that in a heartbeat.
Timothy
Bradley: Let’s go fight Paul Williams. Spiderman. We
call him the Spiderman, with his freaking monkey arms,
longer arms, man.
Q: I’m looking forward to seeing
you fight in the 147 weight class. But, as you mentioned,
you can go back to 140 pounds and your co-promoter Gary Shaw
has been talking a lot about the comments that have been
coming out of the camp of Devon Alexander and his trainer,
the manager Kevin Cunningham.
Please give your take on the
division as a whole. You are at the top and then there’s a
bunch of other guys that have a lot of talent and probably
can make quite a few good fights also. What are your
thoughts about future fights potentially with guys like
Alexander or Amir Khan or maybe if Maidana can get his stuff
together that matchup, which I know had been planned at one
point.
What do you think, it’s a good
division?
Timothy
Bradley: I want to fight all of them. I want every
last one of those guys. It just has to be right.
You know, these fights should
mature a little bit longer – maybe a year from now, maybe at
the beginning of next year. I get a couple of good wins.
Devon gets a couple of wins. Maybe HBO can put us both on
the same card, build the fight up so it can be worth some
megabucks, man. You know, that’s pretty much it.
But all those guys, I want to
fight all of them, all of them. I want to fight Devon. I
want to fight Maidana because we definitely need to see
who’s the best at 140. Even though they’ve got me number
one at 140, I’ll be only the best at 140 here. So until
that happens then we can say that I am absolutely the
champion at 140.
Q: What do you think of those
fights in the future? Can bounce around?
Timothy
Bradley: No doubt. No doubt. Those fights – and they
have to happen. They have to happen, you know, and they
will happen.
Q: You mentioned Devon and Maidana.
I didn’t hear you mention Khan. Is that somebody in your
mind as well even though they probably wouldn’t want to make
that fight with you?
Timothy
Bradley: You know, we’ve been trying to get at Khan for
awhile now. I know Mr. Shaw told me that he tried to get in
contact with Khan’s people before he went over to Golden
Boy. He was negotiating with them. And then the phone went
dead. You know what I mean?
So we’ve been trying to get a
fight with Khan. Freddie Roach knows we want that fight.
Maidana, and Alexander too. But it’s like I said, it’s just
have to make sense dollarwise.
And I know people don’t like
to hear that, but it’s the business. It is a business and I
do want to fight these guys. I’m not afraid of these guys
and I am willing to go to St. Louis or wherever Devon
Alexander is and I will fight him in his hometown. That is
an option too.
Q: I’ve heard the comments from
both sides, your side as well as from Devon Alexander’s side
in particular. The way I see this – and I – it’s kind of
fun actually, I don’t see this as anybody, particularly,
literally ducking somebody or another, but it’s just good
fun back and forth in two sides trying to build up a fight
that would be big now, but certainly can be much, much
bigger in a little bit.
Is that how you take it? You
don’t honestly think that Devon is ducking you, do you? Or
do you just see it the way I do that it’s good back and
forth to try to stoke interest in what could be a very major
fight?
Timothy
Bradley: That’s exactly it. That’s exactly what we’re
trying to do.
Gary
Shaw: Timmy, let me bring you and everybody else on
this call up to date.
I was up at HBO this week,
unbeknownst to anybody. I offered to do 140-pound
tournament with Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Amir Khan,
and if Marquez beats Diaz, he could be in the tournament as
well.
I suggested that we have a
press conference and we pull names out of a bottle. If we
pulled Devon Alexander, then we fight Devon. If we pull
Amir Khan, then we fight Amir Khan or Marquez or any other
140-pound that they want to put in there. Then Golden Boy
said no.
And of course Amir Khan
doesn’t want to fight Timothy Bradley. Timothy Bradley will
fight anybody, and, to Devon Alexander’s credit, he’ll fight
anybody. But it’s the other two that wouldn’t fight.
Q: Well hopefully that can happen
at some point. This is going to be your first fight on HBO
among boxing fans that are really hardcore. They sure know
who you are because they’ve seen many of your boxing matches
on Showtime. HBO, I guess, is in almost double the homes
that Showtime is in.
What does it mean to you to go
from what’s been a series of very good fights on Showtime, a
good network, of course, onto what is a much bigger stage on
HBO?
Timothy
Bradley: It’s a dream come true. Fighting on HBO means
a lot to me and my team. Finally we get an opportunity to
fight on HBO which definitely should bring my name up. It
definitely should help – HBO is definitely going to help me
brand Timothy Bradley, and that’s exactly what I’ve been
waiting on.
And Showtime did an excellent
job with me, building me up. I take none away from
Showtime. Showtime’s always going to be in my heart, but
HBO’s a bigger network. Who’s going to view my fights in
more homes around the world and it’s going to be a good
look, man. It’s going to be a great, great opportunity and
I’m looking to take advantage of it.
I’m here to win, man, and I’m
here and I’m not worried about how I look or what people say
about me. As long as I get the W at the end of the night,
that’s all that matters to me.
Q: What you’re doing right now
reminds me a little bit of what Ray Leonard did before he
fought Tommy Hearns. He went up in weight class, but he got
a title out of Ayub Kalule, and it did kind of stoke
interest. Do you see this as that type of a risk -- moving
up in weight? And is it worth all that you will get out of
it?
Timothy
Bradley: It’s a big risk. It’s a big – it’s a big
risk, moving up in weight. This is a type of fight that
separates stars. If I can do this and go up in weight and
be successful I can become a star.
Winning another World Title on
147 pounds, that would be awesome.
I’m just looking for the best
fights out there. I’m just trying to – like my manager and
my promoter said -- put ourselves in a position for some
good fights out there, either at 140, 147 pounds.
Q: This is a double question for
both Cameron and for Gary. Is part of this also the
frustration of what you see down the line of not being able
to make those potential 140-pound fights that you’ve been
trying to make?
Gary
Shaw: As the promoter, no, I’m not frustrated. I
know I have the number one fighter in the world at 140
pounds, and I know that Top Rank right now, like Golden Boy,
is trying to do all their fights in-house. Well, eventually
the public and the writers hopefully will force their
fighters out of their in-house mentality to fight the best
in the world. And what’s hurting our sport is that the
greatest fighters in the world are not fighting the greatest
fighters in the world.
So, right now, we’re doing
what we think is the right thing, Cameron and I, and Alex,
with Timmy, and opening up a new vista for him at 147
pounds. Like you said, he fought at 152 in the amateurs and
if we have to take on some of those 154s, maybe we will.
When someone has real talent like Timothy Bradley, and he
has real talent, he’ll fight anybody in the world. And
credit to Carlos Abregu, he’ll fight anybody in the world,
and that’s why he’s undefeated.
This fight is very, very
interesting for Timmy. Can he move up in weight and fight
one of the premier guys at 147 pounds. He’s not fighting a
guy that has 10 loses on his records. He’s fighting a guy
who’s absolutely 100 percent undefeated. And for Carlos
Abregu, it’s his opportunity to show the world that he’s a
legitimate 147 pound contender and that he belongs on HBO.
Q: Cameron, can you address that
question also?
Cameron
Dunkin: Sure. Timmy Bradley is a real, real talent, and
whether it’s 140 or 147 or whatever, he’s in a position in
his career where he’s got to fight big fights and make his
money and it always comes back to money. But Timmy also has
a lot of pride and he wants to fight them all as he keeps
telling you.
So, yes. Gary and I just
thought we open another door and we’re not chasing anybody.
He’s champion of the world, like Gary said. He doesn’t have
to chase anybody. He’s still going to fight, and HBO is
going to love him and Showtime’s going to love him and his
fans are going to love him, and true boxing fans are going
to love him.
So, that’s going to happen
anyway, but it just opens another door where everybody can
say, hey, this guy can fight anybody and he should be
fighting the best fighters in the world.
Q: Tim, do you lose anything in
making 140? Is it hard to make 140 and easier to make 147
for you?
Timothy
Bradley: It’s not really hard to make 140. It’s not
that hard. I just have to be on a diet a lot longer. But
it’s a lot easier to make 147 because I don’t have to
squeeze down and take a little bit of my water out of my
system.
I can just leave it there, and
I can have a heck of a performance, because I have all of my
vitality and all my vitamins and minerals and everything,
and I haven’t depleted any of them, so I’m curious to see
how I’m going to feel, man, at 147 pounds. I should just be
just as strong at 147 than I am at 140.
Gary
Shaw: Before (inaudible), before you ask that
question, I’m going to say something, but I’m just going to
(caution you) that I’ve not spoken to Timmy about it nor
have I spoken to Cameron about it. But I believe if Cotto
would fight him, I would do that fight. But, again, I want
to (caution you) that I’ve not spoken with Timmy or Cameron,
or Alex, to that matter. But that’s my own personal
opinion. I think he knocks Cotto out.
Q: Carlos, do you feel that you are
in any way being overlooked, not only during this conference
call but in general by Tim?
Carnlos
Abregu: No. Bradley is making a mistake not taking me
seriously. I’m going to win this fight and I’m a definite,
serious opponent for Bradley.
Q: Hey, Tim, your camp is pretty
close to Abregu’s former camp. Did you guys ever spar
together?
Timothy
Bradley: No, we never sparred together.
Q: You’ve probably seen a lot of
tape – a lot of his fights because he is on Showtime too.
How would you describe the style?
Timothy
Bradley: He’s a basic fighter, big right in, big right
uppercut. I know what he likes to do. He likes to set up as
much as off his jab, and that lower left hook he likes to
throw, especially for the big right hand.
Every now and then he likes to
throw a straight right hand to the body.. He doesn’t move a
lot. His defense is not all that great. He’s a good
fighter, He’s dangerous because he can punch. He’s very
dangerous because of his punch and he’s very unorthodox.
He’s very tall, got long arms, and that’s what makes him
dangerous.
And he can take a punch. He
has a big heart. He’s been knocked down twice and knocked
the guy out. So, it’s a dangerous fight, man. It is. It
is a very dangerous fight.
He’s a basic fighter. I
should be able to do what I want in that ring with him, and
use my speed, use my knowledge and my experience against him
to win this fight.
Q: Tim, did you have to bring in
some bigger sparring partners?
Timothy
Bradley: Yes. I’ve been sparring with middleweights,
160, 165 pounders, 154 pounders, 6 foot, 5’10”, 5’11”, some
nig guys that my trainer Joel Diaz has been bringing in.
I’ve been doing really well with these guys.
They’re not in there pushing
me around. I’m looking pretty good during sparring.
Q: Joel, what kind of sparring do
you have for Tim? What are some of the things that you got
to do to prepare for Abregu?
Joel
Diaz: Well, most of all, you just got to avoid
his solar plexus. Abregu is just a basic fighter. He
doesn’t have a lot of skills, but he is very strong.
His defense is not that great
either. He’s very accessible. He gets hit with every
punch, and Timmy comes from every angle and he hits you with
every punch in the book.
I brought some heavy sparring
for him for this fight. Bigger guys. The first days of
sparring were a little tough, but, now, we’re getting it
down. We’re already there. He’s looking good. He’s been
looking real good.
Q: My first question is for Abregu.
I’m wondering if Carlos has seen Bradley fight. I want to
know if he regards Bradley as a top fighter and does he
consider this fight the biggest opportunity of his career so
far.
Carlos
Abregu: Yes, of course I consider Bradley a top contender,
just like I am. I hope this is a fair fight and a good
fight.
What surprises me about
Bradley is his size – he’s very muscular, and big for his
height..
Q: Timothy, and I – I’ve seen you
fight at welterweight and there’s no difference. I mean,
you’re just as fast and powerful at 147 pounds as he is at
140.
My question for Timothy is I
understand that he fought a current undefeated welterweight
title holder, Andre Berto, in the amateurs and I think it
was maybe a National Golden Gloves final, and that was in
the 152 pound division. But I heard it was a barn burner,
and I wanted to hear it from you, what was that fight like?
What kind of a fight was it? Do you feel that you won the
fight?
Timothy
Bradley: It was a toe to toe fight. It was a high
octane, it was – it was fast-paced, and we went toe to toe
in our fight. It was a great, exciting fight but I didn’t
think that I won the fight when I fought Berto. But it was
a great, exciting fight. I thought it was a really good,
exciting fight. It could have gone either way.
But like I said, I think he
had the upper hand. I was sick when I fought him. I don’t
really like to make excuses, but I was sick when I fought
him, believe it or not, and I did pretty well against him.
Q: What year was it and was it the
National Golden Gloves?
Timothy
Bradley: It was the National Golden Gloves. It was up
in Las Vegas. Caesars, I believe. And I believe it was ’03
or ’04. I think it was ’03. It was in ’03.
Q: Hey, Gary. I had a quick
question for you. When you were at HBO last week, about
this 140-pound tournament, was Golden Boy there at the
meeting as well?
Gary
Shaw: No, they were not at the meeting, but…
Q: How did you – how did you find
out they weren’t interested?
Gary
Shaw: Because HBO kept talking about Timmy and Devon
Alexander, and I had spoken to them. I went up there in
person. I’ve been speaking to both Ross and Kerry Davis
about this 140-pound tournament for about a little more than
a month now. And they, of course, wanted Tim and Devon, and
I said to them, why should two undefeated Americans fight
one another? Let each one of them fight one of the
international fighters and then the winners will meet.
And then if you do a press
conference and you pick a (chit) out of a hat or a bowl or
whatever the device is, it would gain great interest. I
just said, if you want to add more interest to it, give
$500,000 to the winner of the tournament strictly for the
fighter, not for the manager, not for the team, not for the
promoter. The bonus check right to the fighter.
And, they liked my ideas. The
problem is, Amir Khan, obviously doesn’t like the idea and I
would assume Golden Boy doesn’t like the idea, too. But we
would do it and Devon Alexander would do it.
Gary
Shaw: And you can confirm it. It’s just a call.
I’ll give you Richard Schaefer’s number if you want it. You
call him and ask him if Amir Khan will fight Tim Bradley, or
Maidana will fight Tim Bradley. Or Marquez fight Tim
Bradley. You’ll get your answers direct.
****************************************************
Promoted by
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$150, $130, $100, $50 and Box Seats -$225, can be purchased
at The Show box office, by
calling 800-585-3737 and online at
www.HotWaterCasino.com/TheShow.
HBO Boxing After
Dark will televise it live at 9:45 p.m.
ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast)
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