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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Baltimore Battles at Patapsco Arena Doesn’t Disappoint

Baltimore Battles at Patapsco Arena Doesn't Disappoint

photo by hardworkpromotions.com – Saturday night was truly a great night for boxing fans hailing from the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. Hardwork promoter and main event fighter Venroy July put on another exciting card to bring fans drama and knockouts. The venue was packed with people enjoying food, drinks, and the DJ.

Around 7:30 pm the first bout was started as we welcomed Baltimore’s own Travis Reeves back home to take on Santos Martinez. Travis came out pumping the jab and placing good shots to the body and head. Then Travis landed a crisp right hand that sent Martinez crashing to the canvas. Martinez made the count but was unfit to continue in the fight. This was one of the many knockouts of night. Larry Recio from Landover, Maryland scored a first round knockout over Jose Felix in the first round. Edwin Reyes also scored a first round TKO over Chris Haney.

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Fans again asking for Mayweather-Pacquiao – Arum implores fans to “boycott” Mayweather-Maidana fight

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Manny Pacquiao looked very good last night in gaining “revenge” over the man who officially defeated him but never really beat him almost two years ago. Still fast of hand and still having real fire in his belly, the Filipino superstar won a wide decision over an aggressive but wild Tim Bradley. But, once again, the talk at the post-fight press conference was of a Floyd Mayweather Junior-Manny Pacquiao showdown: this must-see fight being one that fans have been hoping for, and hoping for, for a number of years now.

Pacquiao told the gathered media that his phone line is “always open,” and that as such a fight with the undefeated Mayweather can be made. Fans, though, gave up holding their breath many moons ago (the fight would have been a true world event, transcending boxing had it taken place in 2009 or 2010) and there really doesn’t seem to be too much hope of the fight being made this year or next – at a time, by the way, when both greats will be aged 38 and 36 respectively; with Floyd being the older man.

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Klitschko: Leapai is an underdog but he can bite

Klitschko: Leapai is an underdog but he can bite

IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (61-3, 51 KO’s) is taking on one of his smaller opponents in 6’0” Alex Leapai (30-4-3, 24 KO’s) on April 26th of this month at the Koenig Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The 6’6” Wladimir doesn’t care that Leapai is small or that he was recently knocked out by journeyman Kevin Johnson. Wladimir is still taking him very serious as an opponent.

This fight might not look great on paper due to Leapai’s less than impressive resume, but the World Boxing Organization chose to rank him at No.1 after his win over Denis Boytsov, leaving Wladimir no other choice but to fight Leapai or end up having his WBO title stripped from him.

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Canelo-Lara to fight on July 12th at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada

Canelo-Lara to fight on July 12th at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) and Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) will be fighting in the three months on Showtime pay-per-view on July 12th from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Oscar De La Hoya revealed the information earlier today, and Lara’s previously scheduled May 2nd title defense against Ishe Smith has been canceled to free Lara up for the Canelo fight.

“Ready! July 12, 2014 – Canelo vs. Lara. We are going to give you want you want,” Canelo said on his social media site.

“Canelo official, July 12! We will find out what the kid’s got. This one is for my fans!!” – said Lara.
You’ve got to give Canelo a ton of credit for taking this fight, because he looked totally over-matched recently in his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last September.

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A Tale of Two Boxers

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There is nothing new on the demand for the fight but a demand again. It had been rightly concluded that a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather will garner the highest revenue in boxing history. It would also be a showdown between the current best offensive fighter and best defensive fighter. That should make the boxers and the promoters concerned to make the fight happen. What keeps them from doing so?

Before each others fighting style, Pacquiao’s rags-to-riches story is not that far different from Mayweather’s. Their fighting style however different, one offensive and the other defensive, are exciting to watch. Their personality which is in contrast with each other just adds up excitement to their possible match.

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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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Alex Leapai Interview: “I’m going to let my fists do my talking against Klitschko”

Alex Leapai Interview: "I’m going to let my fists do my talking against Klitschko"

On April 26, Samoan born banger Alex Leapai (30-4-3, 24 KOs) has the opportunity to become boxing’s next “Cinderella Man” when he challenges Wladimir Klitschko (61-3, 51 KOs) for the WBA (super)/IBF/WBO/IBO and Ring magazine heavyweight championships in Oberhausen, Germany.

The thirty four year old Leapai from Logan, a satellite city of Brisbane, Queensland, earned his shot as the WBO mandatory challenger by upsetting Hamburg based Russian Dennis Boystov (33-0, 26 KOs) in Bayern on November 23. He scored two knockdowns in the most impressive performance of his career.

Alex’s family moved to New Zealand when he was four before settling in Australia eight years later. A promising Rugby League junior, he held the Australian Amateur Boxing League heavyweight title before turning professional in 2004.

He was 2-2-2 after six bouts before winning 23 of his next 25 with one draw and one points defeat that was later avenges with a knockout. He was good enough to defeat handy Americans like Travis Walker and Darnell Wilson while supporting his family as a full time delivery truck driver and part time fighter.

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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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