‘Nobody talks about the fight here’
Timothy Bradley, swearing they expect to face a fast and explosive Manny Pacquiao at his best, says the trilogy is about legacy that can change “my life forever and be history.”
The third Pacquiao-Bradley in Las Vegas on April 9 is also extremely important to the returning Pacquiao, who wanted to exit the boxing stage in a blaze of glory.
Promoters have been trying their merchandising best to peddle the third encounter, to the point of decorating the originally unpromising bout into a real war that would define all showdowns.
* * *
Sorry, but as far as the American boxing public is concerned, there appears to be no real sting to the third Pacquiao-Bradley encounter.
For one, there’s no denying Pacquiao has opted for a less dangerous foe in Bradley.
Based on the results of their two previous encounters, Bradley would be needing to surpass himself two times over if he’s to save the trilogy from turning into another mismatch, a rehash of Pacquiao’s awesome superiority.
* * *
Bradley, as could only be expected, has been crying vengeance.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, has been hollering knockout, the now-elusive feat which, with some luck, could hopefully prop up the April 9 bout into a legacy-defining event.
Meanwhile, promoters have been trumpeting hard that there’s no avoiding a real firefight now.
* * *
“Sorry but nobody is talking about the fight here,” reports roving international boxing correspondent Anthony Andales from his South Carolina base.
The fact that Pacquiao has personally picked Bradley over the younger, very dangerous and unbeaten WBO light welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford adds to the predicted oddness of the third encounter.
Andales, a native of Cebu who now functions fulltime as an aeronautics engineer, says there other factors more distasteful than Pacquiao’s anti-gay comment that have driven away fans.
“Not just the gay thing, but the below-par May 2 superbout backlashed on both Packy and Floyd Jr.,” Andales explains.
“Look at Money May’s last fight.” “Not even 10 percent of those who patronized the May 2 debacle bought that fight. Same thing with Manny vs Brad, not too many people are interested.”
* * *
He continues: “People were disgusted with Mayweather and Pacquiao. Those I’ve talked to promised themselves they’re not buying the fights of the two again. These are the non-[boxing] fanatics. The casual fans who make pay-per-view sky-high.”
Of course, there’ll will always be the purists, like the countless Pacquiao die-hards in the Philippines and around the world.
