It’s not a packed week this week, probably due to the presence of the mega-show on HBO pay-per-view. Apart from the rematch between that Filipino guy and that Mexican dude, there’s an undercard featuring Tim Bradley to think about, Austin Trout fighting an Australian not named Anthony Mundine and some other stuff.
It’s our second week with a musical theme and some might be tired of the whole Manny Pacquiao-as-singer thing, but skipping forward to 5:25 in the above video is recommended. You’ll get to see a ?unique? version of ?La Bamba.? The Mexican judges declared the karaoke duel a draw, but TQBR suspects an element of home cooking. Marquez made Pacquiao look good. Let’s hope the actual boxing is more competitive. At least they’re good sports, unlike some people.
Pacquiao is the biggest show in town and when he’s fighting, you can guarantee it’s going to eclipse anything else. As usual, we have a mountain of coverage. To the other fights!
Manny Pacquiao Vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III Undercard
Timothy Bradley vs. Joel Casamayor. Top Rank Promotions’ big new junior welterweight signing, Timothy Bradley, is looking to showcase himself against veteran Joel Casamayor. It’s been mulled before, but “Desert Storm” fighting in the main undercard bout on a card that Pacquiao is headlining can only mean one thing: Top Rank wants to build Bradley into a future Pacman opponent. Palm Springs, California’s Bradley has been inactive for most of the year due to problems with his former promoter, Gary Shaw. In many ways Bradley (27-0) is an unlikely elite fighter. He got here by winning fights he was probably meant to lose against Miguel Vazquez, Junior Witter and Kendall Holt. His style sure isn’t pretty and ?Desert Storm? has his share of critics. He’s not powerful, but he rushes in with his big bald head and overwhelms his opponents. He’s coming off what should have been a showcase victory against fellow up and comer Devon Alexander in January. Instead, due to poor promotional decisions, that fight was held in a nearly empty arena and ended anti-climactically with Alexander begging out after suffering a cut caused by Bradley’s infamous noggin. Casamayor (38-5-1) is a curious choice for a showcase opponent, generally making everyone he faces look bad. The 40-year-old Cuban defector is past his best, but embodies the ?cagey veteran? stereotype. In a typically impassive losing effort against Robert Guerrero last July, Casamor somehow found a way to drop the larger and more athletic man in the 10h, completely against the run of play. He’s alternately defeated and struggled with pressure-type fighters, splitting pairs of fights with Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo and getting off the floor to stop Michael Katsidis. It’s not going to be pretty and there’s a fair chance it will end on headbutt-caused cuts. If not, Bradley by decision is the most likely outcome. Mike Alvarado vs. Breidis Prescott. Earlier on the card, fellow junior welter and hot prospect Mike Alvarado will fight infamous Amir Khan conqueror Breidis Prescott, who’s coming off a loss to Paul McCloskey. Denver’s Alvarado (31-0) is all about intelligent pressure and beat Carlos Molina all the way back in 2007. Molina has gone on to prove himself to be a very good fighter and a player at junior middleweight, so that win is looking better and better with time. It’s good that he’s getting showcased, because it’s really about time that he stepped up to the next level of opposition. Prescott (24-3) has managed to parley a decent career out of his 1st round stoppage of Khan in 2008. That was down at lightweight though, and Prescott’s power seems to have evaporated at junior welter, if it was ever that good to begin with. He’s quite a good boxer though, and has a very good stick. His defeat to McCloskey was a pick ’em type thing, and McCloskey is a super awkward southpaw. Whether Prescott tries to box or brawl shouldn’t really matter. Alvarado should be able to track him down and start swapping leather and Prescott will willingly participate, no matter what the game plan was originally.
