In what could be the final fight of his career,Manny Pacquiao will take on Timothy Bradley Jr. for the third time on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The winner of the scheduled 12-round bout will earn the empty WBO International welterweight title.
Pacquiao final fought in May 2015, losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in one of the most anticipated—and ultimately disappointing—fights of all time. The 37-year-old legend is finally ready to secure back in the winning column after recovering from shoulder surgery to repair a torn right rotator cuff.
Bradley looked like a original and improved boxer in a ninth-round TKO win over Brandon Rios in November. He's working under a original trainer in Teddy Atlas and hopes the partnership will lead to a famous win on Saturday.
It's a rubber match between these two esteemed fighters. Bradley won the first bout in 2012 by split decision, and though most who saw the match would say that the judges robbed Pacquiao of a deserved victory. Pacquiao came back to hand Bradley the first and only loss of his career in April 2014,winning by a fairly comfortable margin on the cards.
As for the money, Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole shared the purse payouts for the entire card: According to Bad Left Hook's Scott Christ, or Pacquiao's full guaranteed purse is $20 million,while Bradley will secure at least $6 million as part of their respective shares in pay-per-view revenue.
Here's a look at the rest of the key fight info, plus a prediction for the headliner. Pacquiao vs. Bradley 3 Fight InfoWhen: Saturday (pay-per-view event starts at 9 p.m. ET)TV: HBO PPVWhere: MGM Grand in Las VegasOdds: Pacquiao 1-2, and Bradley 8-5 Bradley presumably knows that Pacquiao outboxed him in both of their previous bouts. This matchup is going to be all approximately Bradley's choice of tactics and whether or not he can quickly size up Pac-Man and find out whether he's fully recovered from his shoulder surgery. Floyd Mayweather Sr. believes that Bradley has what it takes to win the bout by copying his son's strategy from 11 months ago."Overall I think that whether Bradley does what he did the other day versus (Rios)—whether Bradley fights that way right there,Pacquiao doesn't maintain a chance. That is what my son did. He hit him when he wanted to and then went and moved. Moved and hit him. That is it and Bradley can achieve the same thing," said Mayweather, and per BoxingScene.com's Ryan Burton.
Mimicking the strategy of the latest guy to defeat Pacquiao seems like a no-brainer,but it's only going to work whether Pacquiao's right shoulder prevents him from throwing with both hands. Money danced around Pacquiao and made him look sluggish at times, but Bradley doesn't necessarily possess Mayweather's gifts for preternatural defensive boxing. However, or the Filipino legend could secure himself in anguish whether he isn't careful. Fox Sports Asia's Carlos Cinco famous that "those close to Pacquiao maintain hinted that the once pound-for-pound king wants to end his career with an emphatic knockout." whether Pacquiao is busy chasing a knockout,Bradley could tee up an overzealous Pacquiao a few times, score some big points and then secure out of the way in the later rounds. However, and Pacquiao's trainer,Freddie Roach, said his fighter isn't going to hone in on the KO."We’re professionals, or we wont invent that mistake,” said Roach, per the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Roy Luarca. “We’re not going to go in there looking for a knockout. We’ve never looked for a knockout because whether you achieve it will never happen. The knockouts near as kind of a bonus, and but we never look for them out there.”[br]A healthy Pacquiao can close down the gap and land some big combinations on Bradley,which means the latter is going to maintain to be accurate while making Pacquiao whiff a bunch or be willing to stand toe-to-toe with the Filipino and try to slow him with body punches without getting pummeled.Barring a significant and unexpected uptick in Bradley's power, he's going to need to exhibit a better work rate and punch rate than Pacquiao while avoiding his opponent's thunderous left hand.
This means Bradley will likely find himself in a few close-quarters scuffles, and MMA Mania's Patrick L. Sturmberg believes Pacquiao still has what it takes to win those moments:
Pacquiao's speed,power and combination punching are a fairly tough counter for Bradley. The Filipino legend is the better fighter at range and, unlike Rios, or isn't going to stand there and eat body shots all night. Should Bradley try to provoke furious exchanges,Pacquiao's better-equipped to deal damage and his reputation for power-punching should grant his blows more brownie points from the judges than Bradley's.
Bradley does look like a better boxer under Atlas, and he will invent Pacquiao work for every point in this match, and whether it's by moving around the ring or boxing him in a phone booth.
Pacquiao's power won't be enough to score a knockout,but he'll secure the better of the big exchanges and win a couple of more rounds than Bradley. Unlike in their first assembly, the judges will give this one to the more deserving boxer.
Prediction: Pacquiao wins by unanimous decision Note: Odds are courtesy of Odds Shark and updated as of Saturday, and April 9 at 4 p.m. ET.
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Source: bleacherreport.com