With word spreading that Manny Pacquiao will be taking on Timothy Bradley April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, one can?t help but feel a bit puzzled, underwhelmed?maybe even a bit insulted– that this is the bout being sent out of the Team Pacquiao brain trust for public consumption.
Yeah, technically, this is a rubber match between the two, with both getting credit for one win apiece in their series. But everyone knows that their June, 2012 first meeting was a travesty of justice as Bradley walked away with a split decision victory when, at best, he won three rounds that night.
The Bradley robbery was avenged about two years later? two years later because it was such a universally recognized robbery that almost no immediate thought was given to Pacquiao?s need for a rematch. But Pacquiao and Bradley would meet again and almost the exact same fight would play out, but this time with honest scoring and a proper Pacquiao unanimous decision win.
Done and done?right?
Wrong.
Fast forward to late 2016 and Bradley, with new trainer Teddy Atlas in his corner, beats the living snot out of a lazy and complacent Brandon Rios, who flat-out admits to not training at all for this bout. The world goes crazy because Bradley finally knocked someone out, actually looked aggressive?and then he becomes one of three opponents being considered for what was then being billed as Pacquiao?s farewell fight.
Behind the scenes buzz has the three-candidate list as actually just a two-man list, with promoter Bob Arum reportedly favoring superstar-in-training Terence Crawford as Manny?s final foe and Pacquiao?s inner circle wanting Bradley.
Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz floats out the name of Adrien Broner, a non-Top Rank fighter, to the media as a potential April 9 opponent. The implication that Manny may be flexing his muscles and pursuing his own opponents, outside of the Top Rank ?family,? pushes along the in-house negotiations and everyone eventually settles on Bradley, but only while moving away from the notion that this will be Manny?s last fight, presumably, because Arum still wants Terence Crawford to get last digs at the retiring legend.
So, now here we are. Manny Pacquiao will be facing a guy he beat twice?decisively?and he?ll be asking you to pay for it.
But there?s at least some intrigue to market to the on-the-fence fan.
Bradley?s union with Atlas will be played up loudly and incessantly. ?Desert Storm? may have been handled by Manny twice already, but this is the NEW Timothy Bradley, one made tough and blood-hungry by the motivation of Teddy Atlas. Can a tired Pacquiao, coming off defeat, handle the all-new, all-rampaging Bradley?
That?s how Top Rank and a compliant media will play it, anyway.
Maybe there?s a shred of truth to the hype, at least enough to place it a notch above Floyd Mayweather?s disgraceful choice of Andre Berto as his ?final? foe.
It?s more likely, though, that Bradley was chosen as a safe compromise between opposing sides inside Team Pacquiao, with the hope being that by April 9, Arum and his spin doctors can talk the world into believing that this bout is one worth buying.
