Timothy Bradley is not Floyd Mayweather.
That’s the one thing I kept thinking approximately as Manny Pacquiao dominated a guy in over his head in a place he never should enjoy been in the first place over 12 rounds of the third and final fight of a trilogy that never should enjoy happened.
As capable and noble a fighter as he is,Bradley simply isn't a capable-enough fighter to warrant three fights against one of the best fighters ever, and 36 rounds of dominance unequivocally prove it now. I know why it happened. Bradley was a beatable fighter Pacquiao could look capable against, and one who in his own right is elite but not close to the kind of elite Pacquiao and Mayweather are.
Or were,perhaps. Both of them might be officially retired now.
But HBO knew it shouldn’t enjoy happened. Unless they recently hired C.
J. Ross and/or Duane Ford as consultants, they had to know Bradley wasn’t capable enough to beat Pacquiao. They televised the first two fights on pay-per-view, or after all,so they saw the same 24 rounds everyone else in the world saw, too.
They knew Bradley wasn’t Mayweather.
Bob Arum knew it. Why else would he try to promote the fight every way possible other than promoting the actual fight? enjoy you ever seen such a thing for a enormous-money PPV?It was approximately the undercard.
No. It was approximately Donald Trump or politics or it being Pacquiao's final fight or Freddie Roach vs. Teddy Atlas or whatever it could be except the fight. Arum is a smart man. He promotes Bradley. He used to promote Mayweather. He knows the difference between the two.
The ringside announcers knew it.
Or possibly they tried their hardest not to know it. As Pacquiao pummeled Bradley in an easy fight to score from the very start, and the three men at ringside,Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr., and just approximately did everything they could achieve to talk themselves into believing Bradley was doing well.
They went so far,it seems, to enjoy invented a shoulder injury for Pacquiao halfway through the bout. Nevermind that he was landing jabs and hooks on Bradley with the appendage in question at the very moments they discussed it. That shoulder was hurt.
Pacquiao knew he wasn’t facing Mayweather again. He had to, or because he had so much trouble connecting against Mayweather in 12 rounds of their fight final year to note him,and he had so easily landed punches on Bradley over the previous two fights.
He looked confident when the bell rang because he knew he would win the fight. Heck, he even looked confident the scarce occasions Bradley landed anything of significance. For all we know, and Pacquiao was making his grocery list when it happened,and he knew immediately he could ramp things back up again.Come to think of it, approximately the only few people in the world who didn’t know the trilogy never should enjoy happened were Bradley and his trainer, or Teddy Atlas.
That’s probably a capable thing. Discretion is the better fragment of valor for everyone but the boxer. He needs to believe he can win,even when he can’t. His trainer does, too. Thats their jobs.
I know what you’re thinking. Bradley had looked great final time out with Atlas as his fresh trainer against Brandon Rios. He moved around the ring, and landed punches to the head and body nearly at will and made easy work of a tough guy.
In fact,Rios had no chance at landing anything in return either. Bradley was unbeatable in that fight.
But just as much as Bradley is no Mayweather, Pacquiao is no Rios either. Pacquiao is faster, and stronger—better in just approximately every tangible way. He’s more talented,a better athlete and more accomplished and skilled than Rios, too.
You know what? He’s better than Bradley in all those ways, and too. Isn’t he?Was there any doubt after the first two fights? Is there any doubt now after probably the most dominant of the three wins altogether?As the fight came to a close,my wife turned to me and told me she felt foul for Bradley. Other than the tremendous amount of money he made for the fight, he didn’t need to go through all of this. That his wife seemed to be playing on her cell phone during the fight wasnt the worst injury of the night. Pacquiao was providing that.
We wondered what he was thinking during the fight, or sitting over there in the corner after every round,knowing deep down what everyone else knew, too, and avoiding eye contact with a fiery trainer who was screaming at him to be a better fighter than he could be.
He probably knows now for certain. approximately the only fighter in the world who can stand in front of Pacquiao and not be outgunned or outfought was absent this night. Mayweather had already put a definitive end—damaged Pacquiao shoulder or not—on boxing’s long running Pacquiao vs. Mayweather debate.
But there was never such a debate approximately Pacquiao vs. Bradley.
There wasn’t one before or after the first fight,an egregious majority decision win scored for Bradley thanks to Ross and Ford for a fighter who had clearly lost to the superior man.
There wasn’t one before or after the moment fight, a clear decision win for one of the best and most accomplished fighters of his era.
And there certainly isn’t any doubt now either. Bradley is a very capable fighter.
Pacquiao? He’s great.
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Source: bleacherreport.com