Timothy Bradley is not an easier opponent for Manny Pacquiao than Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao barely beat Marquez last November. Therefore, Pacquiao is going to have to fight better Saturday against Bradley than he did against Marquez, or his run atop the pound-for-pound rankings will go asunder..
Bradley is capable of manipulating Pacquiao in this HBO pay-per-view bout and counterpunching in much the manner Marquez did in that third meeting with Pacquiao. If you don?t believe Bradley?s ring generalship is equal to anyone?s in boxing, even Floyd Mayweather?s, your bet on Pacquiao is a careless one unless you truly believe he will be too quick for Bradley and will steamroll him. If it?s a tactical fight for 12 rounds, Manny is in big trouble.
But it won?t be, and Pacquiao will win. Pacquiao has been too quick, too explosive, for everyone but Marquez since his move to welterweight in 2008. He has been the ring general in his welterweight bouts as well, and that?s been a sensational combination in victories over Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and a slightly less ominous cast of more recent victims.
Marquez was no more ominous than Bradley. Those two should have fought for 140-pound supremacy these past three years, during which time Bradley beat Lamont Peterson and Devon Alexander handily, but Bradley (28-0, only 12 knockouts) was never a big enough financial draw to make that match worth Marquez?s while.
Bradley was criticized for turning down a chance to fight Amir Khan last year, and Khan went on to lose his title to Peterson. So if Bradley was holding out for Pacquiao, that?s proving to have been an excellent ploy by Bradley?s manager Cameron Dunkin (as this Los Angeles Times story reports) .
If anything can make Bradley wildly popular with casual boxing fans, a spanking of Pacquiao would be it.
Good on Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts) for accepting this challenge to his WBO welterweight title and Top Rank for making it happen. Aside from the lion’s share of the purse, Manny has more to lose than he has to gain, which apparently is one of the many potential losses with which he has been coming to grips. In recent months he has patched up his marriage by giving up fornication and gambling.
He is waxing pious now, so much so that some have questioned whether he can muster the necessary intensity he needs to outlast the likes of Bradley.
Pacquiao will have to prove by the end of the first round that he can hit Bradley, or he?ll be battling uphill. Fortunately for him, Bradley is not invincible. The one bout Bradley hasn?t completely lived down was his 2008 bout with Kendall Holt in which Bradley won 10 rounds but suffered knockdowns in the first and 12th rounds.
He has been more difficult to hit ever since, but he can be had, and Pacquiao is just the man to prove it ? by eighth-round knockout.
NOTE: Promoter Bob Arum announced Friday that the Pacquiao-Bradley bout won’t begin until the NBA playoff game between Boston and Miami has ended.
