WBC 140-POUND CHAMP BRADLEY TO SURVEY HIS NEXT OPPONENT RINGSIDE AT HOLT-TORRES III
Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Special Edition of ShoBox: The New Generation
Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008, Live on SHOWTIME, 11 p.m. ET/PT
NEW YORK (Dec. 4, 2008) – World Boxing Council (WBC) 140-pound champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley will get an up close and personal look at his next opponent when he attends the highly anticipated rubber match between World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior welterweight champion Kendall “Rated R’’ Holt (24-2, 13 KOs) and Ricardo “Mochuelo’’ Torres (32-2, 28 KOs) in the final chapter of a thrilling trilogy on Saturday, Dec. 13, live on a special edition of ShoBox: The New Generation at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).
Bradley (23-0, 11 KOs), who made his first successful title defense on Sept. 13 on SHOWTIME with a unanimous decision over Edner Cherry, will face the winner and WBO champion in a unification bout in 2009.
One of the division’s brightest young stars, the 25-year-old Bradley will join SHOWTIME commentator Al Bernstein during the telecast for an exclusive interview where he will discuss his upcoming fight with the winner.
“I’m hoping Holt-Torres III is as exciting and explosive as their second fight so it will bring more anticipation to our mega-fight,” Bradley said. “It doesn’t matter who wins because I can outbox Torres and I can fight Holt.
“I’ll be ready to fight either of them to unify the belts. I just hope there’s no controversy so I can fight the decisive winner.”
The Palm Springs, Calif., native has had a meteoric rise to the top of the 140-pound division in 2008. Bradley defeated Junior Witter in England on May 10, 2008, to capture the title, In what may be the “Upset of the Year.” He went on to defend it just four months later against Cherry. The unification bout against Holt or Torres would be the biggest fight of his career.
“Whoever I fight, you will see the best in the division,” Bradley said. “I think that Torres’ style against me would be pretty electric for the viewers, but Holt would be really exciting too. It’d be nice to see what I could do against a taller opponent (Holt).
“I’m pretty sure Holt wouldn’t stand there and bang with me, but we’ll see.”
Bradley doesn’t care who he faces in the upcoming unification bout, and he isn’t scared to make a prediction as to who will win.
“I’m going with Holt, but he won’t try and slug it out like they did in the second fight,” Bradley said. “He will definitely try to outbox Torres.
“I think Torres will come out aggressive, but he’ll use his jab a little more. He’ll push the pace and won’t be as reckless, but, in the end it will be Holt.”
Tickets are now on sale for the event, which is promoted by Top Rank, Inc., for Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Tickets at $200, $100 and $50 are available on www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at 1-800-736-1420, or at any Ticketmaster outlet nationwide. Tickets can also be purchased at the Boardwalk Hall box office. The box office is open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. till 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. (event day hours are subject to change).
In the co-feature, undefeated prospect Yuri Foreman (26-0, 8 KOs) will face once-beaten James Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) in a 10-round junior middleweight bout.
Nick Charles will call the action from ringside with Steve Farhood serving as expert analyst and Bernstein serving as ringside reporter. The executive producer of ShoBox is Gordon Hall with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing. ShoBox recently celebrated seven outstanding years on the air.
For more information on SHOWTIME Sports, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and more, please go the new SHOWTIME Sports website at http://sports.sho.com.
