Pacquiao agrees to June 9 fight

CEBU, Philippines - Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38KOs) has agreed to defend his welterweight title against the unbeaten Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley, Jr. (28-0, 12KOs) on June 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This was confirmed yesterday by Pacquiao's adviser Michael Koncz to boxing writer Dan Rafael of ESPN.com.

Bradley, however, is yet to sign the dotted lines with Top Rank although the company's big boss Bob Arum is expected to make a formal announcement regarding the finality of the deal within the week.

"From our end, the fight is done," Koncz told ESPN.com "I just got off the phone with (Top Rank's) Bob Arum and Manny, so we're done. I don't assume there will be a problem from the Bradley side. We came to terms with Top Rank on the fight and Manny has approved everything. This morning I had a number of conversations with Bob negotiating the June 9 fight and I relayed everything to Manny."

In the same report, Top Rank president Todd duBoef said he is still in the process of striking a deal with Bradley.

"We are going to be having further conversations with Bradley and his management early this week and hopefully finalize the deal," duBoef said. "But the truth is my (promotional) agreement with Bradley lays out certain parameters for a Pacquiao fight, so there is a framework already."

Koncz, meanwhile, said Bradley is in his prime and could give Pacquiao a tough challenge inside the squared arena.

"Bradley is a young, undefeated fighter who deserves a chance," said Koncz. "Manny is excited. Until we name an opponent, boxing is out of Manny's mind. He's busy working in (the Filipino) congress. But he gets interested in boxing again when he has an opponent and a fight. Now we know we have a date (and) an opponent and he's excited." - THE FREEMAN