Now that the rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley has been confirmed by no less than the fighting congressman from Sarangani, boxing analysts and opinion makers are now ready to share their knowledge of the sweet science to the public. Discussions will now be focused on the background behind the first fight between Bradley and Pacquiao and the highly controversial outcome of that fight. But avid boxing fans are looking forward to the next 45 days to hear predictions by boxing experts on the possible outcome of the second match. The Pacquiao-Bradley rematch could be very interesting mainly because of two important hurdles that each one will attempt to make in relation to their professional careers. For Pacquiao, nothing will please him more than to become the first boxer to dethrone Bradley, who is undefeated in 32 professional fights. He will also obtain vindication for the controversial loss to Bradley due to the reported flawed scoring by the judges. Secondly, a win by Pacquiao will open another opportunity for him to make enormous amount of money as more endorsements will be coming his way again. A knockout win by Pacquiao over Bradley will likely drive potential foe Floyd Mayweather crazy as he has to create another scenario to camouflage his reported fear of facing Pacquiao in the ring. Pacquiao and Mayweather have figured in nearly four years of on and off fight negotiations but disagreements on the manner of splitting the fight purse and drug testing protocols, among others, have prevented the fight from happening. It’s been close to one week since Pacquiao telegraphed his latest offer to face Mayweather in the ring while the unbeaten champ is touring South Africa to help sports officials revive the sport of boxing in the country. While boxing fans have anticipated a quick, insulting and racially-charged response from Mayweather, they now wonder why the unbeaten champ chose to keep his mouth shut on Pacquiao’s charity fight offer. Read more: For Bradley, who is coming off a split decision victory over former Pacquiao foe Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico last October 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, he has to duplicate his win over Pacquiao in order to remain unbeaten. Prior to his victory against the Mexican counter-puncher, Bradley got a unanimous decision victory over former Pacquiao sparring partner Ruslan Provodnikov last March 16 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Like Mayweather, Bradley banks on his unbeaten record to market himself effectively with the aim of landing a lucrative fight. Despite his unbeaten professional record, Bradley is hard to sell in the pay-per-view (PPV) market owing to his very negligible fan base. On top of his anemic fans support, Bradley has been known to boxing fans as a boring fighter, who can hardly impress his audience with his less entertaining boxing style. Bob Arum, his promoter has been complaining about Bradley’s poor audience acceptance rating. But right after his highly controversial split decision win over Pacquiao in 2012, Bradley has gathered a sizable numbers of fans following his two straight victories against Marquez and Provodnikov. The April 12 rematch between Pacquiao and Bradley has been confirmed by Pacquiao Thursday but his adviser Michael Koncz and promoter Arum have yet to make the official announcement.
