It is almost certain that Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum will choose Timothy Bradley over Ruslan Provodnikov as Pacquiao’s next opponent for the April 12 scheduled fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. Arum has narrowed down Pacquiao’s contenders to just two from the original shortlist of four, which include Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley, Ruslan Provodnikov and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. In a recent interview with Brad Cooney of 8countnews.com, Arum said that the fight may take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada with either Bradley of Provodnikov. “The two guys that are the frontrunners are Tim Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov,” Arum said. Bradley is coming off a split decision win over Juan Manuel Marquez last October after surviving a near KO loss in the later rounds to Provodnikov last March. Pacquiao is fresh from his impressive win over American Brandon Rios in Macau, China last Nov. 24. It was Pacquiao’s first fight after suffering a stunning knockout loss against Marquez in December 2012. Pacquiao lost to Bradley in June 2012 via a highly controversial judges’ decision. The scoring controversy led to a decision by the sanctioning body to constitute five seasoned judges to review the video of the fight. After the review, all judges declared Pacquiao the winner. Unofficial scorecards by members of media covering the fight showed that 53 of the 56 sportswriters who voted favored Pacquiao over Bradley by a wide margin. Despite the controversy, Bradley said he deserved the win but offered Pacquiao an immediate rematch. Now, Bradley will be under heavy pressure to prove that indeed he is the better fighter despite the controversy. But Pacquiao is determined to get back his WBO crown that Bradley “forcibly” took from him as a result of the controversial decision. Pacquiao has evidently matured as a person and as a fighter as shown in his ring dominance against Rios. He was visibly cautious even when there was an opportunity to go for a knockout as every fight fan would expect. Worth noting was Pacquiao’s use of angles to find the right position for a clear shot. He was encircling Rios, moving right and left to execute off-guarded shots to gain points. He wasn’t evidently looking for a KO and was happy piling up points. Read more. Certainly, Pacquiao will be happy with just a mere win on points when he engages Bradley for the second time to reclaim his WBO welterweight belt. But Bradley will have to be cautious with his defenses as Pacquiao will definitely go for a KO when the opportunity arises. It will be a great honor for Pacquiao to become the first boxer to break Bradley’s unblemished record, either by decision or via KO and at the same time reclaim his WBO welterweight belt.
