Timothy Bradley dismissing lure of Manny Pacquiao fight for now

The two greatest purses of Timothy Bradley Jr.’s boxing career have been against Manny Pacquiao, but with a third meeting possible, Bradley says it’s not on his mind.

“I’m really not thinking about it,” Bradley told The Times. “Hasn’t even been a thought.”

Promoter Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters, has said a Bradley victory Saturday night in his World Boxing Organization welterweight title defense against Oxnard’s Brandon Rios at Thomas & Mack Center will make him one of three front-runners for a Pacquiao fight in 2016.

Bradley is a 5-1 betting favorite in the fight, which will be broadcast on HBO.

The other candidates for Pacquiao are unbeaten light-welterweight champion Terence Crawford and former 140-pound champion Amir Khan of England.

Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach told reporters Wednesday that he prefers Crawford, but noted that Pacquiao has the final say. The Filipino will review Bradley-Rios after looking at Crawford’s fight last month against Dierry Jean. Khan was formerly trained by Roach and would probably generate the most money.

Bradley (32-2-1, 12 knockouts) beat Pacquiao by a controversial split decision in 2012, then was beaten handily in the rematch.

“I know [a trilogy] is realistic, but the opportunity can’t be there unless I beat Rios,” Bradley said. “I can’t think about the opportunity, because the opportunity I have in front of me is the only thing that’s important. So Pacquiao hasn’t even crossed my mind.”

Bradley has been occupied by other thoughts since the WBO awarded him the belt following Floyd Mayweather’s decision to bypass sanctioning dues.

He’s not only parted with longtime manager Cameron Dunkin, but split with trainer Joel Diaz in favor of former Mike Tyson trainer and current ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas.

Bradley is now managed by his wife, Monica, a partnership he vows will succeed unlike others – including Shane Mosley’s with his ex-wife, Jin – failed.

“My wife and I are a team,” Bradley said. “When it comes to managing and training, we talk about everything and work together. It takes a partnership to make this work.

“You look at the history of fighters and wives being the managers, they either overdo their position, or they have a dictatorship that doesn’t work out. I can think of one person in particular … but me and my wife make decisions together.

“We talk things out, and at the end of the day it’s my decision because it’s my career. My wife will say, ‘All right, it’s your career, you have to live with it.’ ”

Atlas is working with Bradley on a fight-by-fight agreement, but both project their partnership will continue after Saturday.

“Throwing the right punches from the right positions from the right distance at the right time,” Bradley said when asked how the new union has helped him. “I’m mentally stronger now. Everything is controlled by the mind. Being a professional is more than being a tough guy being able to take punches, I’ve learned that from Teddy.”

Instead of risking the heavy shots he absorbed from Pacquiao, Ruslan Provodnikov and even Jessie Vargas this year at StubHub Center in Carson, Bradley said he’s aiming for a 12-round sweep against the forward-fighting Rios, who’s ironically managed by Bradley’s former manager, Cameron Dunkin.

“Mentally, I have to be strong all the way through and think every minute of every round,” Bradley said. “I can’t take a round off. I have to be fully focused. That’s the reason we had no music in the gym … everything has been tied in together. All the pieces in the puzzle are together to beat Rios.”

Atlas asked Bradley if he was religious upon their first meeting, then explained why he was asking.

“They taught us there were two types of sins. The big one was mortal sin, where you could end up going to a very hot place,” Atlas said. “I told [Bradley], in boxing terms, ‘You’ve been committing some mortal sins, getting hit with punches to a place you don’t want to be, where you could go over the cliff.’ He has a great heart, a way to exist when he shouldn’t exist. … He can’t afford to get hit.”