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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Here’s the Real Skinny – Pacman Must Go Beyond Bradley’s 1st Move

Boxing writers and analyst base their predictions for tonight’s rematch on the first fight and subsequent fights. As true with all prognosticators, they manipulate the facts to support their pick, not unlike students writing a position paper. They don’t lie, but they often times emphasize something beyond its real importance. Their goal is to make a persuasive, logical argument that if A is true, then it follows B must be true as well.

As a result, we end up with two seemingly valid arguments. Which one is correct. Or, are both correct? Fans of either fighter have no problem lining up with their fighter’s side. They obviously don’t need much convincing. But, what about the group that has not been influenced by personal feelings? They look at what’s been said, and are confused, because both sides have provided relevant points.

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

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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Lukas Konecny interview; flying to USA for Quillin fight

Wearing a brand new glasses and with a big smile on his face – that’s how the Czech Republic’s most successful professional boxer Lukas Konecny (50-4-0, 23 KOs) approaches his American adventure (as well as his ultimate fight) against the local middleweight champion Peter Quillin (30-0-0, 22 KOs).

“Quillin’s still the big favorite, but I won’t give him anything for free. We’ve done some things in the camp, working on a specific strategy, so let’s see how it all pans out in the actual fight,” said the 35-year old fighter from Usti as he was waiting on the Prague Vaclav Havel Airport for his noon departure for Frankfurt. Once there, he’ll join his trainer Dirk Dzemski, and the two will then head straight for Washington D.C.

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Andre Ward’s situation – a personal plight or a symptom of the current state of boxing

It has been a while since super-middleweight P4P star Andre Ward has performed and true boxing fans should be missing him. His inactivity is of legal nature, he is involved in some litigation that apparently has stalled his career. He may not be the most charismatic persona but he is a gem of a boxer, an all around pugilist in search of recognition. He is a sportsman who is currently “held hostage” by legal obstacles while he is in his prime. He has no control over his career right now and it’s a pity that natural ability and talent should be subject to a legal dispute.

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Sometimes a boxer’s toughest test is keeping all his money

Punching for pay is one very hard and dangerous way to earn a living, with pro fighters sweating, bleeding and risking their very lives once they step bravely into the squared circle. It is all too sadly ironic, then, that far too many great fighters have a tough, tough time keeping hold of all the cash they fought so bravely for.

The story of a great fighter going broke is not a new one: going back to the days of legends such as Joe Louis and Henry Armstrong, both immortals passing away whilst virtually penniless, and the trend doesn’t ever look like going away – not for some unlucky pugilists, anyway. Fans may have read about the sad situation Felix Trinidad currently finds himself in. According to reports, “Tito,” whose ring earnings were around $85 million, is now almost broke, having trusted a top aide with his finances (with the aide investing over $60 million in a very bad way).

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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

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

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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Pacquiao-Bradley 2: PPV=Pay for Who?

Top Rank has once again underwhelmed us with a lackluster undercard for the Manny Pacquiao v Tim Bradley PPV event scheduled for Saturday night. On a night when we are watching a rematch of a fight that wasn’t highly entertaining to start with, I really expected Bob Arum to stack the card with A list talent. Instead we are left with a “Friday Night Fights” type of lineup.

This is no slight to ESPN because I have seen some great fights on FNF but that platform is for contenders on the way up or a name fighter trying to re-establish their career. Ray Beltran v Arash Usmanee is a fight I would expect to see opening up for a Boxing After Dark card.

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