Bradley vs. Marquez: What Win for Desert Storm Would Mean for Career

Timothy Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs) is scheduled to fight in roughly five months, but it won't be against Manny Pacquiao.

According to ESPN's Dan Rafael, Desert Storm will defend his welterweight title against Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs) in either September or October of this year.

For now, Mayweather is scheduled to fight Robert Guerrero on May 4, but according to Rafael, Mayweather wants to return on Sept. 14, which could push the Bradley-Marquez fight to October.

If there's one main accomplishment that both fighters share it's that Bradley and Marquez each have a win over Pacquiao in the past year.

Bradley's controversial victory came in June 2012 on a split-decision victory that gave Pac Man his first loss in seven years, while JMM beat Pacquiao in his most recent fight—a sixth-round knockout on Dec. 8, 2012.

Bradley is already thought of as one of the better fighters in the boxing realm, but a win over Marquez would solidify him as a top contender.

Think about it.

Bradley already has a win over Pacquiao on his resume, and with a win over Marquez, Desert Storm would have just beaten the fighter who knocked out Pac Man—commonly known as one of the best boxers of this era—making him an instant star.

It's true that Pacquiao is in the decline of his career—both Bradley and JMM could have opted to fight Pacquiao but instead chose to fight each other—but Pac Man was still considered one of the best in the game when Bradley took him down.

After earning the welterweight title after that controversial win over Pacquiao, the 29-year-old Bradley successfully defended his title against Ruslan Provodnikov on March 16, 2013 and enters the JMM fight having never lost a bout. 

A win for Bradley over Dinamita would add another quality victory to his resume and bolster his standing as a star in the boxing world. 

Move over, Manny. Here comes Timmy.

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