Bradley – Khan discussions extended until Wednesday

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that discussions for the 140-pound unification bout between Timothy Bradley and Amir Khan have been extended until Wednesday at 4pm eastern after Monday’s deadline came and went without a deal.

The fight is tentatively scheduled for July 23rd in Las Vegas, Anaheim or Los Angeles.

Khan has already reached an agreement with his promoter, Golden Boy Promotions while Bradley is still mulling over an offer which will pay him $1.3 million.

“HBO asked me to extend the deadline with the understanding that if Bradley doesn’t take it we will go forward and lock in another opponent for Amir for July 23,” Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions said. “Bradley was calling out Amir for so long and questioned if Amir would ever fight him and then Amir agrees to fight him and agrees to terms, and Bradley doesn’t. I find that ironic.”

“I’m going to have to call my fighter and see if I can get him here sooner than later,” said Cameron Dunkin, who manages Bradley and lives in Las Vegas. “I don’t think he’s coming in until Thursday night, so a deadline of Wednesday at 4 isn’t going to do us any good. Timmy’s perspective is that he needs some time to think about it and what he wants to do with his career. There are issues for us to discuss. But I want to get this worked out. I would have liked to see him get more money for this fight, but that’s obviously not what they’re going to do.”

“We’ll see Amir in Las Vegas this weekend. He’ll be at the boxing writers’ dinner to receive his fight of the year award and we will have some conversations with him about what he wants to do if Bradley does not take the fight,” Schaefer said. “I’ve already had some conversations with Amir and his father and the fact is they don’t care who they fight. They will fight anyone. It is refreshing to have a fighter like that.

“Khan is ready and willing to fight Bradley. That’s the fight HBO wants to buy. But if Bradley does not take the fight, HBO is not going to punish Amir. He’s willing to take the fight they want. It’s not Amir turning down the fight, so he will still fight July 23. I don’t know what is going on with Bradley. I know Timothy Bradley is a terrific young man and a great fighter and $1.3 million is a very good purse. It would be the biggest purse of his career.”