LAS VEGAS — It is not a rare thought. Pundits and wiseguys alike look at the DVDs of the first two fights between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley and ask the kind of question that can turn a fight promoter’s knees to jelly:
“Is a third fight between these two really necessary?”
They will fight for the vacant WBO international welterweight title in what could be Pacquiao’s final bout.
In the business of boxing, which is a world populated by knowing winks and smart-money braggadocio, too much insider information can be a dangerous commodity.
Yes, in my view, the verdict giving Bradley a victory in their first fight was a gift-wrapped loaf of manna dropped from on high by near-sighted judges.
And their second fight was pretty much even halfway through before all the wheels came off Bradley’s battle plan.
Which again begs the question, with apologies to the ancient prophets with Passover soon approaching: “Wherefore can this night be different than all other nights involving these two?”
On Tuesday, the human whys and the wherefores in answer to that question sat side by side in the VIP lounge at the MGM Hotel and Casino, the venue for Bradley-Pacquiao III this Saturday.
Arum celebrates 50 years in fight game
The iconic fight promoter found his niche among the lighter-weight champions and contenders and, in the process, has all but cornered the market on Hispanic fight fans.
This was their positively, maybe, last meeting with the press until fight night ?unless they discover a dozen more opportunities to sell tickets.
Bradley looked relaxed and optimistic. Teddy Atlas looked much like a man with a great but potentially decisive secret that he was reluctant to share. In short, both fighter and trainer were each doing what a fighter and trainer do when they think with conviction that they can win.
Between them, they made a very interesting case for Fight III.
They have formed a powerful alliance, these two. As Bradley told us, the other day, ”We need to be strong all the way through. Teddy told, me over and over against one of the greatest fighters whoever gloved up, “Thirty-six minutes of total concentration and you are going to be remembered as a part of history.”
So where does the greatest living disciple of the Cus D’Amato school of trainers — a man who had left the care and training of fighters for a life behind the microphone — find his way back to home to a fighter’s corner?
In a radio studio, of course.
Ever since his biggest triumph, guiding Michael Moorer to the heavyweight championship of the world, Atlas had been a radio and television boxing analyst ?one of the best. Now there came an evening when Bradley was a guest on a radio show Atlas shared with New York journalist Wally Mathews.
Bradley had barely escaped defeat in a fight with Jessie Vargas in June of 2015. With 20 seconds left in round 12, Vargas landed a ferocious punch that buckled Bradley’s knees and sent him stumbling across the ring. Vargas landed two more head shots.
The referee mistook the 10-second warning and signaled that the fight was over with about eight seconds remaining. The mistake probably saved Bradley. Atlas asked him, “Do you want to know why you got hit?”and when Bradley said he would, indeed, Teddy said I’ll tell you later.
Suffice it to say that Atlas later told him and proved to him that Vargas had tried that end-of-the-round tactic three times and missed before it worked.
Ultimately, Bradley asked Atlas to train him. Atlas took the job in September, and Bradley stopped Brandon Rios in November. Now he is back for Pacquiao III.
“I know his power, I know his speed, and I know his resilience. I’m not looking for any weakness in Manny Pacquiao,” Bradley said. ”We don’t train for weakness.We don’t think he’s on his way out, so we don’t need to push him out the door.”
So what do they think?
“I always felt Manny wins his fights because of God given talent, speed and power, Atlas said. “He also brings a great pride into the ring, and that combination is what makes him great.
“We look at Manny and we say how athletic he is but nobody ever sees that in Tim and they’re wrong. What we need to do is to give Tim’s athleticism a chance. He has always been defined by toughness, but this fight is all about tempo and rhythm, and I don’t think that Tim could be as tough as he is if he didn’t have character.
“[Mike] Tyson,” (Atlas was his first trainer) had marvelous talent and has a place in history, but he did not have the character to survive. Tim has it. He brought me back to this business when I didn’t want to be in it anymore. I wanted to stay in the media like you guys.
Jose Ramirez fights for a noble cause
The state’s curious decision — to divert water to save a small fish — has dried up the fields and put pickers’ on the unemployment line. An undefeated boxer who has come from their midst is fighting to change that. Junior welterweight Jose Ramirez is on the Pacquiao-Bradley undercard.
“But he let me trust myself in what I was doing,” Atlas added. “And he listened. It’s like you have a great orchestra with all these great musicians but without a conductor, all you have is a great big noise.”
And then Atlas said something that may have great significance. That was a distinct possibility because all you had to do was look at Bradley and read the strong assent in his body language as he listened.
“When we were leaving our hotel to come here, I looked up and saw that big ferris wheel just off the strip and thought about Pacquiao,” Atlas said. “I told Tim, it reminded me of fighting Pacquiao. It reminded me of the first time you go to a carnival and you see the ferris wheel dominating the skyline and it gets your attention.
“Here is this giant thing and it looks to be a thousand feet high and travels at a speed of 100 miles an hour and you think, ‘My God, how am I ever gonna get on that thing?’ But the first time you ride the thing you realize that it’s not a thousand feet high and it doesn’t go 100 miles an hour and it even makes stops.
”By the second time you ride it, it’s just a nice ride. It isn’t what you were afraid of.”
To which Bradley smiled and then added: “Thirty-six minutes, that’s all. Thirty-six minutes of absolute focus. That’s all it takes.”
If it works, they will make history together.
If it doesn’t, well, as Tyson liked to say: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
