By Michael Collins: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) is expected to be fighting WBO light welterweight Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s) on June 9th. Bradley, 28, is pretty much the only one left of the five candidates that Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum were looking over for a fight in June.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. can’t fight in June because he starts his 90-daily jail term on June 1st; Juan Manuel Marquez appears to have never been seriously considered for Pacquiao, likely because of a combinations of Marquez being too dangerous and wanting more money than last time; Lamont Peterson isn’t well known and not one of Arum’s Top Rank fighters; Miguel Cotto isn’t interested in draining himself to fight at 147 and Pacquiao reportedly doesn’t want to fight at 150lbs, which is the weight that Cotto would be looking at fighting him.
That leaves on Bradley. What makes Bradley such a great pick is that he’s someone new, he fights for Top Rank, he’s not someone that will ask for a ton of money, and best of all, he’s not someone that will likely beat Pacquiao.
Arum obviously wants to keep the Pacquiao train on the tracks as long as possible and Bradley, 5’6”, isn’t big enough or strong enough to be a serious threat to Arum’s money fighter.
However, the way that Pacquiao has been looking in his last four fights, he could very well lose to Bradley because Pacquiao looks like he’s starting to slide ever so slightly. The legs aren’t there anymore; the movement isn’t there and he’s not fighting with the same energy as he did three or more years ago. He looks used up to me, and he’s getting hit too cleanly. Ever since the Cotto fight, Pacquiao looks to be sliding rapidly downward. Getting hit hard by guys like Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley obviously isn’t good for your health.
Pacquiao is incredibly lucky he won his last fight against Marquez. I thought he should have lost the fight. I’m not surprised Marquez didn’t get the decision because he’s not as popular as Pacquiao but the fight definitely showed that the Filipino star is starting to decline.
Bradley still shouldn’t beat him. This will be a good matchmaking pick for Arum to keep the gravy flowing for a little while longer. Hopefully Pacquiao doesn’t go life and death with Bradley and force Arum to have to look for even softer opposition in the future to keep Pacquiao winning. In that case, we could see some really old lions trotted out for Pacquiao to shine against.