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Pacquiao-Bradley II
DeeezNuuuts83:
The fight is in less than two weeks... any thoughts on this one?
Despite the bullshit split decision from their first fight, Bradley has proven himself to be a formidable opponent since then, having gone through solid guys like Provodnikov and Marquez. I'd say his own split decision win over Marquez last fall was probably less debatable than either of Manny's wins over Marquez from 2008 and 2011, so that counts for something. But while he was given a UD win over Provodnikov, I still can't get the images of how wobbly he got at times, especially when he had to take a knee.
I'm not counting Bradley out, but Manny is out for blood, especially since he "needs" the win more than Bradley does. Bradley's undefeated, which is always part of a boxer's allure, but even if he loses, he still has a future ahead of him, contrasting to Manny, who is already in the second half of his 30s and is 1-2 since 2012. If Manny loses, the boxing world will tell him that he needs to hang up his gloves, just like what would have been the case if he lost to Rios (which would have been a bad 0-3 streak and may have warranted retirement). Obviously going in for the kill didn't quite work out for him before against Marquez (when he got caught with a lucky but well-placed KO punch and got put to bed), but Bradley doesn't have the best punching power and certainly not Marquez's counterpunching skills either. I think even someone from Team Mayweather (it might have been Leonard Ellerbe) said that Manny would win.
As far as the business side goes... it should generate good money for Top Rank. Even if Manny is getting a $20 million guarantee and Bradley is getting a $6 million guarantee (which is a career-high for him, but I thought he deserved a little more than that, since he's still on a winning streak and was offered $10 million in the event of the immediate rematch clause), the fight should do better than 1 million PPV buys, since for the moment it seems like the most interesting fight, at least within the welterweight division. Their last fight did something around 900k buys, and that was back when Bradley was far less popular and didn't have a win against Manny AND Marquez under his belt. And while Manny's last fight only did 475k buys, remember, that was coming off of two losses and against another boxer who was also coming off of a loss and didn't have that big of a name either.
So while the winners of Pacquiao-Bradley II and Marquez-Alvarado will face off... would anyone still watch it if it ended up being against Alvarado? Unless it's in their contracts that they MUST fight, if Manny won by points (and not a lopsided UD destruction or a KO) and Alvarado did pull off the upset, I'd rather see the rubbermatch (Pacquiao-Bradley III) instead of Pacquiao-Alvarado.
Sccit:
NICE SETUP...I DUNO WHO WINS, BUT IM FAVORING BRADLEY. WHOEVER WINS THIS SHOULD DEF FIGHT MAYWEATHER NEXT.
IF PACQUIAO LOSES HE'S FINISHED
DeeezNuuuts83:
--- Quote from: NIKCC on April 03, 2014, 02:52:53 PM ---NICE SETUP...I DUNO WHO WINS, BUT IM FAVORING BRADLEY. WHOEVER WINS THIS SHOULD DEF FIGHT MAYWEATHER NEXT.
IF PACQUIAO LOSES HE'S FINISHED
--- End quote ---
It's already understood that the winner of Pacquiao-Bradley II will fight the winner of Marquez-Alvarado NEXT. That's not to say that the winner will never fight Mayweather, but regardless of whether it's an excuse for him to use to not fight Manny, he's made it clear that he does not want to do business with Bob Arum, so that fight definitely won't happen immediately afterward, seeing how Manny's contract with Top Rank doesn't expire until December 31st, 2014, and Bradley signed a one-year extension earlier this year, so he's with Top Rank until around this time in 2015. Additionally, both fighters know that leaving Top Rank doesn't guarantee them a fight with Mayweather anyway, since it's not like Floyd has never added additional stipulations after the previous ones were met. But I agree, if the winner of the fight also beats the winner of Marquez-Alvarado, then they definitely have some great momentum that could lead to a Mayweather fight, especially if they end up not being tied to Top Rank, kind of like what Cotto did in 2012.
I wouldn't say that Pacquiao is finished if he loses, but his stock will severely decline, and retirement should definitely be something to be considered. If he loses badly, whether it's a one-sided UD where he is completely outgunned or if it ends early, then yeah, he might be finished. But if it's close and he loses, then the chapter with Bradley is definitely closed, but he could still take the loser of Marquez-Alvarado, ESPECIALLY if Alvarado also pulls off the upset. If both Pacquiao and Marquez lose, there really isn't much interest in Bradley-Alvarado, and Pacquiao-Marquez V would definitely outsell that even if they are both coming off of losses, since people still want to see it. Marquez would be on an 0-2 streak (like Manny was, going into Pacquiao-Rios), so his bargaining power won't be very strong, but it would still get him a pretty solid payday that would definitely fund his retirement. Plus if Marquez does in fact lose to Alvarado, I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't want to retire with his career ending like that against a guy who shouldn't have stood a chance, as at least fighting Manny again (which could be both of their farewells to boxing and be another aspect of their backstory) can have his last fight be a good one, as he would still have the opportunity to end his career in a win, or at least lose against someone worth losing against, as I don't doubt that he went with Alvarado over Provodnikov due to him being worried about Provodnikov having a higher likelihood of winning than Alvarado... so it would be embarrassing to lose like that. I don't doubt that if his career ended in a defeat, he'd rather have it be to someone elite like Manny than to someone relatively B-rated like Alvarado.
DeeezNuuuts83:
Less than a week. After watching some previous Bradley fights, I think his best punches are close-range, but if there's any distance, his punches won't be anywhere near effective. He almost looks like he's slapboxing (watch the highlights of Bradley-Alexander and also Bradley-Provodnikov) as his elbows don't really seem to lock. And his wrists don't see to be very strong either, as they don't lock either:
whoisthis:
Bradley is a pillow puncher. He doesn't have enough power to hurt anyone, but he does have a strong enough chin. Manny needs to outbox Bradley, because I doubt Bradley gets into a slug fest with him like he did with Provodnikov. The winner eventually fights Marquez, because I don't see Alvarado beating Marquez. Bradley/Marquez really doesn't make sense because the first fight was not close. Pacquiao/Marquez 5 is overkill, but makes sense for Manny to avenge the loss.
Let's say Manny wins, fights Marquez in the fall and wins. He'll be 3-0 in his last 3 and Floyd will no longer be able to use his record against him. If they're able to work it out, Manny and Floyd could be in the same ring around this time next year. Floyd wouldn't fight Bradley. As a matter of fact, he just visited Bradley training camp to give him a pep talk.
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