Former eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) will have his next opponent announced this Friday during the truTV card, according to Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum. It’s unknown why Arum is waiting for that card in order to announce the fight, but it would appear that he’s trying to drum up interest in the card, which is headlined by the aging 33-year-old super bantamweight Nonito Donaire fighting Cesar Juarez.
According to the latest boxing news, WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) will be the guy that Arum will be announcing as Pacquiao’s next and possibly his final fight of his career in April 2016.
Pacquiao already beat Bradley twice, but was arguably robbed in their first fight in 2012. In their rematch last year, Pacquiao won a fairly easy 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 116-112, 118-110 and 116-112. The more accurate score of the three was the 118-110. It was a pretty one-sided fight from start to finish.
Arum left the selection of Pacquiao’s next fight up to the 36-year-old Filipino after offering him a choice of three fighters – Amir Khan, Bradley and Terence Crawford. Arum did openly admit that he hoped that Pacquiao wouldn’t select Khan, because he doesn’t promote him.
If Pacquiao does choose Bradley as his next opponent, then Arum won’t need to worry about having to work with an outside promoter. He can have total control over the entire promotion. However, it’s not a great deal for Pacquiao to be fighting Bradley again, or even to be fighting Crawford. If Pacquiao’s concern is attracting interest in his next fight in April and making money, then fighting Bradley is a pretty silly idea.
There is no interest from fans in wanting to see Pacquiao fight Bradley again, because it’s a fight that has already been played out twice. The fans don’t want a third fight between Pacquiao and Bradley shoved down their throats in a PPV fight on HBO. Unfortunately, rematches have been a constant staple of Pacquiao’s time under the wings of Arum, as he’s fought Juan Manuel Marquez 4 times, Erik Morales 3 times, Tim Bradley 2 times and Marco Antonio Barrera 2 times.
Bradley recently defeated Brandon Rios last month by a 9th round knockout, and this has many boxing fans believing that Bradley’s new trainer Teddy Atlas has improved him and rejuvenated his career. I think a more realistic view is that Bradley fought one of Arum’s more flawed fighters in his Top Rank stable, and that was pretty much the only reason Bradley won that fight. If you stick Bradley in with someone who is actually a good fighter like Keith Thurman, I think the results would be pretty obvious with Bradley taking a beating, possibly getting concussed, and losing his WBO 147lb strap.
