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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Bernard Hopkins Philadelphia Media Workout Quotes / Videos

(Photo credit: Casino/Showtime) PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (April 10, 2014) – Future Hall of Famer and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins worked out in front of a throng of reporters Thursday at DSG Boxing Gym in Philadelphia as he winds down preparation for his Saturday, April 19, World Championship Unification against Beibut Shumenov.

Hopkins, the IBF titleholder, and Shumenov, the WBA Super Champion, will square off in the main event of a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING world championship tripleheader at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C., live on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast), immediately following the premiere of Episode 1 of ALL ACCESS: Mayweather vs. Maidana.

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Will Bradley Lose Even if He Deserves to Win Pacquiao Rematch?

Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao didn’t exactly put on a spectacular show the first time they fought. It was a pretty boring fight actually, and it followed the same predictably dull pattern round after round for the most part. Bradley would typically out hustle Pacquiao for the first 2 minutes of a round, before Pacquiao finished strongly over the last minute. The Filipino generally landed enough crippling lefts that he was winning the rounds, despite looking unusually lethargic during the early portions of most rounds. Nothing particularly exciting happened at any point during the fight, though.

Even though Pacquiao seemed to do enough to comfortably win, the judges saw differently and awarded it to Bradley. Everyone was amazed by the outcome. Fans were shocked, Pacquiao was perplexed, the commentators were annoyed, Freddie Roach was perturbed, Bob Arum was outraged, and even Bradley himself seemed surprised beyond words, with an expression that more closely resembled that of a big money lottery winner than of one who believed he earned a deserved victory. By most accounts this was viewed as a “robbery”, some going so far to call it one of the worst in history.

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Kellerman: Pacquiao has more ways to win than Bradley

My man @Max_Kellerman and I break down #PacBradley 2. Check it out: http://t.co/3TbpnszuLt @HBOboxing @TooFred @trboxing @CarlMoretti

— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) April 10, 2014

HBO’s Max Kellerman believes than Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) is in a good position to defeat WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) this Saturday night and hand him his first loss of his career at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kellerman likes Pacquiao’s power and speed, and he feels those two factors are going to weigh heavily in him likely beating the 30-year-old light hitting Bradley in their important rematch.

Kellerman also sees it as difficult for Bradley to get a decision this time around if the fight is anywhere close due to Pacquiao getting the shaft last time he fought Bradley in 2012 with two of the judges seeing Bradley as the winner despite Pacquiao having dominated 11 of the 12 rounds.

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DeGale signs with Matchroom

James DeGale has signed a promotional deal with Matchroom Sport and will face Brandon Gonzales in a final eliminator for the IBF World Super Middleweight title on May 31 at Wembley Stadium connected by EE live on Sky Sports Box Office in association with Betway.

The 2008 Olympic Gold medal hero will take on the unbeaten American for the right to face the winner of Carl Froch and George Groves, as the Brit rivals do battle on the same night in a rematch for Froch’s WBA and IBF belts.

DeGale is on the cusp of his first World title challenge but the 28 year old knows Gonzales brings a great threat from across the pond, and the Londoner is delighted to be facing the 29 year old at the national stadium in his first fight with new promoter Eddie Hearn.

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Video: Pacquiao vs. Bradley – Bob Arum livens up Final Press Conference

Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2 will happen this Saturday, April 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the final pres conference for the main event took place today (Wednesday, April 9) the fighters showed calm, respectful and poised. Top Rank’s CEO, Bob Arum, however, was not shy of showing his discomfort (he was rightfully upset) towards the fact that the MGM Grand has posters and advertisement up for a different fight (Mayweather vs. Maidana) all over the hotel.

Bob Arum made his remarks while MGM executive, Richard Sturm, was sitting right next to him, earlier in the presser Arum introduced Sturm as “president of hanging posters for the wrong fight”.

Pacquiao vs. Bradley will be produced and distributed LIVE by HBO Pay-per-View beginning at 9PM EST/6p.m. PST

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Clottey tops Mundine

In Newcastle, Australia last night Anthony Mundine (46 – 6) fought Ghanaian Joshua Clottey (38- 4) in the classical cross roads fight, the loser destined to fight local derbies as a competitive journeyman.

At stake was the WBA International Middleweight title.

Both fighters were in magnificent condition, Mundine at 38 years of age carried the advantage of being the physically bigger man, however from the outset Clottey the younger man by two years ignored that physical fact and fought as if he was.

Clottey started on the front foot, paying no dues to Mundines power or speed as he continually pressed forward throughout the first round, outpunching and most importantly out landing Mundine.

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Clottey beats Mundine, ends his title aspirations

Joshua Clottey has ended the world title aspirations of Anthony Mundine, knocking the three-time world champion down five times on route to a unanimous decision win.

Clottey proved too strong for Mundine, with the Ghanaian regularly getting through the defence of the Australian.

The Ghanaian found himself on the deck early in the 2nd round, but the referee correctly ruled that is what a result of a rabbit punch, issuing Mundine a warning.

Mundine felt the power of Clottey soon after, hitting the canvas for the first time in the Round 3.

Mundine was caught standing right in front of Clottey and a powerful right hand sent him down. The Australian was able to beat the count, before the bell sounded signalling an end to the round.

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Clottey defeats Mundine in huge upset

In a huge upset, #14 WBA Joshua Clottey (38-4, 22 KO’s) defeated #3 WBA Anthony Mundine (46-6, 27 KO’s) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision on Wednesday night at the Entertainment Centre, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

Clottey was supposed to be a safe fight for the 38-year-old Mundine to win in order to stay in line for a title shot against WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara. However, Clottey didn’t go along with the program, as he knocked the slow moving Mundine down 5 times in the fight with his still fast hooks to the head. Mundine was down once in rounds 3, twice in the 6th, once in the 8th, and a final time in the 10th. The final judger scores were 116-108, 115-109, and 117-108.

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Bernard Hopkins and Beibut Shumenov media conference call transcript

Kelly Swanson

This week has been jam-packed with information about the April 19 ‘History at the Capitol. Yesterday, we did a conference call with the undercard fighters, and now, we have our main event fighters available today to talk to the press. I’m very excited about it.

Bernard Hopkins, the IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion, certainly a future first ballot Hall of Famer is on the phone; along with Beibut Shumenov, who is the WBA and IBA Light Heavyweight World Champion. I think it’s going to be an amazing unification bout; let’s go ahead and talk a little bit more about the fight and its particulars as well as introduce the fighters. I’d like to introduce Bruce Binkow, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Golden Boy Promotions.

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