On June 9, 2012 one of the biggest robberies in boxing history took place when Manny Pacquiao handily out-boxed a young rising star named Timothy Bradley but was declared the loser at the end of the bout.
The three judges scored the fight 115-113 two in favor of Bradley and one in favor of Pacquiao. Duane Ford and C.J. Ross both scored the fight for Bradley and Jerry Roth scored it for Pacquiao.
This fight left boxing fans with a bitter taste, the majority of the people who watched the fight all felt it was an easy and uneventful win for Pacquiao, even the Mayweather boxing family felt Pacquiao won. The only ones who felt Bradley won were the haters who will nitpick anything about Pacquiao from his hair flying back to him missing a punch. I’ve watched the fight several times and it was clear that Pacquiao was the better man, the fight wasn’t hard to score, Bradley looked unwilling and uncomfortable his best rounds came later in the fight when Pacquiao got tired.
It wasn’t the best performance from Manny Pacquiao but he still did enough to beat the younger fighter. We saw a slightly past his prime fighter able to match speed and elusiveness with a much younger foe.
Since then, the two combatants paths took two distinctive turns, Manny Pacquiao got knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth meeting while Tim Bradley’s career continued to flourish after that controversial decision win, he was in the “Fight of the Year” with Ruslan Provodnikov in which he was out on his feet several times showing that he had the heart and will of a lion, and he put on a master class against Juan Manuel Marquez the man who Knocked out Manny Pacquiao.
Judging from their last performances, the betting man would have to favor Tim Bradley over Manny Pacquiao. Bradley has gotten better, while Pacquiao has declined. The talk of the Pacman no longer showing a killer instinct is true – has become more compassionate. No longer the destructive powerhouse from the streets of General Santos, Philippines he has now become a civilized citizen with a career in politics.
In his last fight he let Brandon Rios off the hook, many times he hurt the game former lightweight champion, but backed off. The old version of Pacquiao would have seized the kill, but maybe he was gunshy after suffering a devastating knockout that left him face first sleeping on the canvas for several minutes.
Bradley on the other end out-boxed Juan Manuel Marquez, also known as the man who gave Pacquiao his toughest fights and the KO heard around the world. Bradley showed he can take a punch and fight through pain when he went toe to toe with Ruslan Provodnikov and he showed ring IQ when he boxed and moved intelligently around the ring against Marquez.
My heart wants Pacquiao to win, but my head is telling me that Bradley will defeat the past prime legend convincingly in the rematch.
