By Radio Rahim

This past Saturday night, Teddy Atlas made his debut as the new trainer of WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (33-1-1, 13KOs).

Their paring got off to a very explosive start, with Bradley picking up his first knockout victory since 2011. At the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Bradley scored two knockdowns in the ninth round to stop Brandon Rios.

Bradley is now in the running to get a third fight with Manny Pacquiao, but Terence Crawford and Amir Khan appear to be the frontrunners for that assignment.

Top Rank's Bob Arum, who promotes Bradley, has another lucrative opportunity up his sleeve.

Arum wants to match Bradley against Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (45-1-1, 32KOs) - if Canelo defeats WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto on November 21.

A Canelo-Bradley fight would take place at the junior middleweight limit of 154 or a catch-weight of 155.

Bradley is willing to move up, but says his new trainer will have a lot of input before that decision is made.

"Things are different now with the new captain, Teddy Atlas. He's going to have a lot to say about going to 154 - if I can do it or not. We'll talk it over with the team. We'll talk it over with my father, if that's something that we want to do. I always said that I would do it, if need be, to get a big fight out there and to test myself and my abilities," Bradley told BoxingScene.com.