What’s obvious in Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2

What's obvious in Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2

The “Pacquiao-Bradley II” yesterday showed me only two things when I watched it on replay this morning. Let me share them with you as I quickly make this piece to briefly dissect what happened in the “show.”

One is Freddie Roach hasn’t solved yet the problem of his pupil with good counter punchers. It only goes to prove that Manny Pacquiao’s power purely lies not on his ability to knockout a fellow boxer, but on his opponent’s inability to effectively counter punch the “one-two” signature combination of Pacman.

Timothy Bradley was a smart tactician in the fight who suddenly veered from his team’s plan to engage Pacquiao only in the early rounds to test the waters, shock Pacquiao and gain some points, deviating from their original “strike then back off” strategy for much of the rounds. Bradley succeeded anyhow on occasions being “aggressive” all throughout the “passive” slugfest.

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Pacquiao beats Bradley; Beltran and Vargas win

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Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) pounded out a 12 round unanimous decision win on Saturday night in beating WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KO’s) to hand him his first career loss in a closely contested battle at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was scored 116-112, 116-112, and 118-110.

The judge that scored it 118-110 must have been watching another fight because there’s no way Pacquiao won the fight by that score. It was close.

The win wasn’t the huge one-sided victory that Pacquiao needed to prove that he was back. Indeed, he looked slow at times tonight, and clearly not the fighter he was five years ago when he beat Miguel Cotto in his prime. But Pacquiao at least got the victory over Bradley, and he can now go on and fight the winner of the Mike Alvarado vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight in September. As for Bradley, he’ll very likely get a third fight with Pacquiao in 2015.

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Unfinished Business: Tim Bradley vs Manny Pacquiao Part 3 of 4: The Eye of the Tiger

Unfinished Business: Tim Bradley vs Manny Pacquiao Part 3 of 4: The Eye of the Tiger

We have all formed opinions of what we believe is going to transpire in the coming hours and I assume that you have your supporting arguments. What I do implore you to do is to make an honest assessment by introducing an ounce of objectivity into your analysis of these fighters and their abilities.

These gentlemen have a history and a bitter one for both parties. Manny Pacquiao was clearly robbed by some blind decision made by two judges who will not rendering their services tonight. Bradley did himself no favour when in days following the bout claimed to have assessed himself the victor.

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Unfinished Business: Tim Bradley vs. Manny Pacquiao – Part 2 of 4: Finding The Congressman

Unfinished Business: Tim Bradley vs. Manny Pacquiao - Part 2 of 4: Finding The Congressman

It is clearly evident to us ways that 2012 was a devastating year for Manny Pacquiao and his team. Disappointment surfaced, some fans rejoiced while others tore their betting slips as the hopes of Pacquiao vs Mayweather were dashed twice in one year, with the last issued in devastating fashion. We all begun to wonder whether the raging Philippines typhoon had finally met its dying days in the boxing ring.

Pacquiao vs Marquez IV

I say this without reservation although Manny went into this fight with a loss to Bradley, it is not a loss of conventional measure but was engineered by some incapable judging. There was no celebration in such but yet another reminder for us all, pertaining to the questionable decisions which tarnish our sport. Manny Pacquiao remained the peoples’ champ, even in the midst of blatant robbery; the congressman was diplomatic and humble.

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Unfinished Business: Tim Bradley vs Manny Pacquiao – Part 1 of 4: A Storm of Resilience

Unfinished Business: Tim Bradley vs Manny Pacquiao - Part 1 of 4: A Storm of Resilience

It has been almost two years since Tim Bradley and Manny Pacquiao cast the script for one of the most controversial boxing decisions of 2012. We all expected a reasonably easy evening at the arena for Manny Pacquiao but with the aid of some incompetent judging, the boxing’s gods did not will it.

Bradley vs Pacquiao I:

I will not deny that Bradley exceed expectations through his resilience in the face of the beating Manny sought to issue on the night in question. He did well, but there is no way that he did enough to convince any of us that he was the rightful victor.

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Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley 2: “Boxing 411 video preview”

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Tonight from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tim Bradley and Manny Pacquiao will compete for the WBO Welterweight title in the main event of a four bout HBO PPV, presented by Top Rank, Inc.

The broadcast is slated to begin at 9PM EST/6PM PST, and can be viewed through regional cable and satellite distribution, as well as online streaming access through http://www.toprank.com/livestream for $59.95 in SD, and $69.95 in HD viewing.

The reigning title holder is coming into this fight brimming with confidence after decisively out pointing four division world champion and Mexican fight legend Juan Manuel Marquez last year. Despite not getting the recognition of many fight fans and boxing critics after getting the split decision win over the Pacman in 2012, Tim Bradley remains one of the more confident fighters in the entire sport.

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Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2: Will it be Revenge or Redemption that ends this tale of tragedy?

Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2: Will it be Revenge or Redemption that ends this tale of tragedy?

photo by Chris Farina — Act two, of what was a classic Greek tragedy (robbery), will take place at the scene of the crime from a very controversial first fight that sent each combatant’s career in opposite directions.

The last thing that was on Manny Pacquiao’s mind in the locker room before the fight, while watching his beloved Boston Celtics get eliminated by the soon to be World Champions Miami Heat, was reverse homecoming.

After walking away lucky to be 2-0-1 in his fights with Juan Manual Marquez, there’s no way anyone could have known that Pac-man’s luck was about to run out, especially after damn near pitching a shout out clearly outworking and out landing Timothy Bradley. Bradley can tell us he won the fight 8 rounds to 4 until he turns blue in the face it only adds fuel to the fire.

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Pacquiao and Bradley make weight

Pacquiao and Bradley make weight

WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) looked like a statue today at his weigh-in with Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) for their mega fight on Saturday night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bradley look so good before. He came in at 145.5, and was oozing confidence, especially when two fighters came together for the traditional face off.

Pacquiao weighed 145lb and looked good as he always does. Pacquiao looked like he really worked hard for this fight. Let’s hope he’s ready to take the vicious shots that Bradley will be nailing him with on Saturday, because Bradley doesn’t want to give up his WBO title. He’s going to fight tooth and nail to keep it, and if Pacquiao doesn’t find the fountain of youth before Saturday night, he’s going to be out of luck.

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Arum expects Pacquiao-Bradley 2 to generate 1.2 million PPV buys

Arum expects Pacquiao-Bradley 2 to generate 1.2 million PPV buys

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is dreaming high about his fight card he’s putting on this Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view with Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley as the headliner bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Arum thinks the fight will generate 1.2 million buys, which is a very high number given Bradley’s lack of popularity, and given the absence of a high quality undercard to go along with the fight.

To say that Arum scrimped on the undercard is to put it lightly. Arum did the absolute minimum in terms of the undercard fights in adding the following television fights: Raymundo Beltran vs. Arash Usmanee, Bryan Vasquez vs. Jose Felix Jr and Khabib Allakhverdiev vs. Jessie Vargas. I don’t have much interest in seeing any of those fights, and it’s disappointing that I’ll be forced to sit through them while I wait for what I consider to be the only watchable fight on the entire card between Pacquiao and Bradley. Even that fight isn’t a great one because their previous fight was really boring.

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