Manny Pacquiao decisioned Timothy Bradley by unanimous scores of 118-110 and 116-112 twice to win back the welterweight title he lost in 2012?
Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs), from General Santos City, Cotabato del Sur, Philippines, decisively decisioned Timothy Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs), from Palm Springs, California, by unanimous scores of 118-110 and 116-112 twice to win back the WBO welterweight title he lost in 2012.
Fighting out of the blue corner in white trunks with blue trim, Pacquiao was presumably on his last legs as a viable attraction. The questionable split decision loss in his first fight with Bradley was nothing compared knockout he suffered at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez. Manny may have bounced back against tough but limited Brandon Rios, but there were doubters in his corner than advocates.
Unlike their first fight, tonight?s decision was not controversial, but Pacquiao has helped in no small part by Bradley?s strategy to go for a knockout. The man in camouflage trunks fighting out of the red corner hadn?t scored a TKO since stopping stoned Joel Casamayor in 2011. Still, he believed that Manny was vulnerable to a sneaky Marquez right hand, which not surprisingly failed to materialize.
Bradley came out blazing in round one. The confidence he displayed in the run-up to the fight was not just empty posturing. He was relaxed and landed effective shots to Manny?s head and body. Pacquiao was playing it safe and fighting at a distance. He appeared somewhat disengaged. Bradley countered the challenger almost at will. Although both fighters landed an identical number of punches, Bradley drew first blood, however insignificant, from Pacquiao?s right cheek, which was enough to win him the round.
Pac snapped out of it in the second. Bradley started the round with a nice right to Pacquiao?s face. Manny responded with a hook from the southpaw stance followed by a hard left. Tim came back with another right and the two men began trading. Bradley held Manny to thwart his offense, before offering some offense of his own to keep things interesting. Pacquiao landed 15 of 41 punches to Bradley?s 11 of 55, and had a slight edge in power shots, 12 to 11.
Joel Diaz, Bradley?s trainer, wasn?t pleased at what he was seeing. ?Are you going to sleep?? he asked between rounds. ?Are you getting sleepy on me? Stay smart. Make him miss. Carry the same pace as in the first round.?
Manny continued to dominate in round three. His straight left had found a home. He was landing combinations. Bradley was digging deep, landing his right, looking for a knockout, but the third was a big round for Manny. He landed 24 of 68 punches to Bradley?s 17 of 62.
But the momentum changed in the action-packed fourth. After catching a right hook to the face, Bradley stung Pacquiao with two rights that shook him. Manny returned fire, but Bradley smelled blood and was chasing the future Hall-of-Famer around the ring. Diaz shouted encouragement from the corner, ?Keep doing what you?re doing, Tim,? and Bradley obliged by landed a solid shot to Manny?s midriff.
Between rounds Bradley?s cornerman told him, ?All you have to do is walk him down and catch him. He?s fading, Timmy. He?s fading.?
Round five was slower, less intense than the round which preceded it. Manny took the first half of the round. Bradley took the second and closed effectively to pocket the fifth stanza, but it was close with Pacquiao landing three more punches. But Manny?s corner had seen something concerning Bradley. ?He got hurt. He got hurt.? Meanwhile, across the ring, Joel Diaz admonished, ?Wake up Tim. He?s already frustrated.?
Both fighters had their moments in round six, but there was a sense that Pacquiao needed to do something to turn things around. He continued to outland Bradley, 12 of 53 to the champ?s 8 of 50, but Manny?s flashes of brilliance were infrequent, as though he was a diminished fighter following an unhappy script.
At the end of the sixth Bradley told his trainer, ?I?m hurting.? Diaz responded by saying, ?You want to go home? You can go home right now.? Hurt or not, Bradley came out for round seven.
Say what you want about Bradley, but the kid?s got heart. After a straight left backed him up, Bradley countered with some big shots of his own. He wasn?t fighting to survive. He was fighting to win. Pacquiao, however, wasn?t done. In the final minute he let his hands go, landing combinations which drove Tim to the ropes. Manny had turned it around with a strong seventh round.
Pac Man reinforced his hold on the fight in the eighth. Both fighters were tiring so their output dropped, but Bradley had gone on the defensive. Manny was more aggressive, landing jabs and straight lefts, while Bradley, when he wasn?t hot-dogging it, appeared to be waiting for God knows what.
Between rounds eight and nine Freddie Roach told Manny, ?He?s tired. Take this fight.? Across the ring, Joel Diaz was a bit more blunt. ?Wake the fuck up,? he told Bradley. ?There?s no fucking cowards in this business.?
Bradley?s legs began to go in round nine. It could have been Manny?s punches. It could have been the injury Bradley alluded to at the end of round six. Whatever the cause, his equilibrium was off, his balance wasn?t there, and he began boxing instead of slugging, a wise move that would have been even wiser had it started at the opening bell.
Round 10 commenced with a Pacquiao hook, followed by a Pacquiao jab, followed by a four-punch combination. Manny was outworking and outpunching Bradley, landed 26 punches to Tim?s 12, and it looked like the fight was in the bag.
Bradley pulled a rabbit from the hat in round 11. After a strong start by Pacquiao, including a body shot that hurt Tim and had him running. Manny took his foot off the gas and let Bradley escape with the round. But the natives were growing restless. The crowd in the MGM Grand began to boo. They wanted a knockout. None of this compassion stuff, if that?s what it was, was going to satisfy them.
Pacquiao took the 12th and final round without breaking a sweat. Bradley continued to fight, but he was no match for Manny on this night, which makes it two nights for which he was no match for Manny. Still, it was a great win which would be greater still if he were to call it quits and go out while on top. But that?s not what fighters do, and Pacquiao is at heart a fighter. The money at this level is too outlandish to ignore, and Pacquiao, a gladiator to his core, will insist on going out on his shield.
