Left-Hook Lounge: Mayweather (Decision and Legacy), Khan’s Rant, and Bradley/Pacquiao Testing Fiasco!

02/24/2014 Vivek Wallace

Melvin A. (Cincinnati, OH): It appears Mayweather will take the Maidana fight. We haven’t seen Mayweather against a really fast fighter since Judah, so I liked Khan as the option. Why Maidana? And how can you explain your Facebook comment that this fight will be “epic”?

Vivek W. (ESB): How can I support Maidana as the option? Pretty easily, actually! In only three words I can lay out a case far stronger than any most would use to combat it: “HE EARNED IT”! I can understand questions relative to how Guerrero, or even Ortiz landed a shot; but with Maidana, there’s no such question. The guy earned it! When we look at Maidana’s past, what I like is the fact that this is a fighter who has been through all the elements of the sport. He has celebrated victory and dealt with the torment relative to defeat. Through it all, he’s still standing, and making great improvement every time he enters the ring. Robert Garcia has done a very admirable job with him, and the victory over Broner was proof of this.

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Four to Watch in 2014

02/20/2014 Robert Uzzell

Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley (31-0, 12 KOs)

Why Tune In?

He’s undefeated. He’s fought big names such as Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Ruslan Provodnikov, Joel Cassamayor, Devon Alexander, Lamont Peterson, Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt, and Junior Witter. Guess what? He hasn’t given that “0” up in the loss column yet. There’s something about this kid that just won’t take no for an answer. Desert Storm is an appropriate nickname for Bradley, not just because of fights like his war with Provodnikov- but his sheer will to go out and protect his “0”, by not going out to protect his “0”. You follow me? None of the names mentioned above are a walk in the park. For a guy with little power, he doesn’t fight like it. Witness how he dogged Devon Alexander and basically took his heart and made him quit. Timmy has earned his way to Top 3 status Pound 4 Pound in my book.

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Pacquiao Demands A Rematch Against Marquez After Bradley

02/11/201402/11/2014 Alon Calinao Dy

“Mexicutioner” Manny Pacquiao (55 wins, 5 losses, 2 draws) is willing to fight Juan Manuel Marquez (55 wins, 7 losses, 1 draw) once again for a fifth epic bout – that only few veteran boxers in the sweet science have done.

According to Pacquiao’s interview with Lee Hawkins, he is demanding a rematch against Marquez. He told, “If he (Marquez) wants, I want that fight to happen, because you know, I’m about to finish him in our last meeting.”

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Pacquiao reveals his strategy for beating Bradley: “I’m going to throw a lot of punches”

02/09/2014 Rob Smith

If you wondered what Manny Pacquiao’s strategy will be for how he plans on beating WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley, Pacquiao revealed it in an interview this week. The strategy is simple. Pacquiao says he plans on throwing a lot of punches to force Bradley to deal a lot of incoming. Whether that’ll work or not is another thing.

Bradley isn’t someone that is going to just stand around and let Pacquiao throw 1000 punches at him in a 12 round fight like Joshua Clottey did against Pacquiao in 2010. Bradley has already said that he’s going to use a lot of movement against the Filipino fighter, and choose when and where he wants to mix it up with him.

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Marquez Should Fight Pacquiao, Not Bradley and Mayweather

07/21/201902/08/2014 Alon Calinao Dy

There are two boxers who would certainly destroy Juan Manuel Marquez’s career – Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Timothy Bradley. These unbeaten American fighters would retire the Mexican boxing superstar at his early forties.

Most boxing fans knew that Marquez was best known when he defeated a former pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao last years by knockout. It was his most memorable win ever since he started his professional boxing career.

However, Marquez’s experience and background in the sweet science are now questionable according to a lot of people who want to see another fight with Pacquiao. Boxing fans also say that the Mexican boxer is avoiding for two simple reasons:

Firstly, Pacquiao will bounce back and hurt him so bad just the way Marquez did to him.

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Pacquiao says he plans on being more aggressive against Bradley

02/06/2014 Jeff Sorby

(Photo credit: Chris Farina/Top Rank) Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley spent most of the time during their small 2-city press tour talking about aggressiveness and the killer instinct. Bradley thinks Pacquiao has lost his killer instinct, and Pacquiao not surprisingly agrees with him and is vowing to bring it back for their fight on April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Maybe he’s right,” Pacquiao said in agreeing with Bradley about him losing his killer instinct. “I’m sometimes just too kind and too nice to my opponents in the ring and that’s why you can’t see the aggressiveness and killer instinct. This time around I have to get it back and show I still have it.”

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Pacquiao-Bradley 2: Los Angeles Press Conference Quotes

02/04/201402/04/2014 HBO Boxing

(Photo credit: Chris Farina – Top Rank)

MANNY PACQUIAO

“I remember last time believing that I won the first fight against Tim Bradley. I thought I was leading after every round. I thought I won the fight easily. I controlled the fight every round.

“I had a feeling in training camp that he would run from me once he felt my power and he did…after the third or fourth round.

“To be honest, I wasn’t as motivated when I was training for our first fight. I guess I didn’t take him seriously enough.

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Pacquiao should just quit if he loses to Bradley again, says Mayweather Sr.

01/07/201702/04/2014 Rob Smith

Floyd Mayweather Sr. thinks the 35-year-old Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) should quit on the spot if he gets beaten in his April 12th rematch against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mayweather Sr. already has serious questions about how much Pacquiao has left after watching him lose in back to back fights to Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, but another loss to Bradley will give Mayweather Sr. a clear indication that the Filipino fighter should immediately call it a day to keep himself from fighting on too long.

Honestly, it doesn’t look like Pacquiao will retire even if Bradley does another job on him, because Pacquiao already said he wouldn’t retire if Brandon Rios beat him before their fight last November. Pacquiao didn’t have any problems beating the slow as molasses Rios, but then again he was fighting a former lightweight who had basically eat himself out of the division rather than grew out of it.

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Marquez changes mind about not wanting to fight Pacquiao again

08/01/201402/02/2014 Rob Smith

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum must be smiling like a Cheshire cat right about now with the news that 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez has had a change of mind about never wanting to fight Arum’s number 1 money fighter Manny Pacquiao. Well, Marquez isn’t exactly falling all over himself at the thought of fighting Pacquiao for a fifth time, because he feels already beat him 4 times and proved that he’s the superior fighter.

By having Marquez fight Pacquiao in September, Arum will see Pacquiao’s pay-per-view numbers back into the million range where they had been for many years until Arum made the questionable decision to match him up against Brandon Rios and stick the fight in Macao, China instead of the United States.

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Bradley: I’m going to erase doubts in people’s minds in Pacquiao rematch

08/01/201402/02/2014 Rob Smith

WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) is still bothered that boxing fans don’t believe he rightfully beat Filipino Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) in their fight in 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It bothers Bradley that he’s seen as a paper champion and not a legitimate one in people’s minds because of two judges giving him a close decision that pretty much the entire world disagreed with.

“He is the superstar and he is the icon, the legend,” Bradley said to the Manila Bulletin. “He is still the top dog. I am just happy to get this chance to fight Manny again. I will make it official (this time) to erase it on people’s minds. I am much tougher now.”

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