Timothy’s streak of luck continues

TIMOTHY Bradley Jr. came into his fight with Manny Pacquiao the underdog on 4-to-1 odds.

He was thankful to have been chosen as challenger. His streak of luck continued as he pulled an upset against the eight-time world champion.

Pacquiao was expected to demolish Bradley early in the fight. Bradley was, after all, the smaller and less-experienced fighter. He also did not have the punching power that could, in the eyes of many, hurt the Filipino in his defense of the WBO welterweight title.

However, two judges scored the fight 155-113, giving Bradley seven rounds to Pacquiao’s five. Close as it may have been, even a draw might not be easily accepted by fight experts.

Several boxing enthusiasts referred to the controversial trilogy of Pacquiao and Marquez where many believed that the Mexican won two of the three encounters. They say that Pacquiao’s camp should accept the decision the way Marquez did.

But, fair is fair.

CompuBox reported that the defending champion outpunched Bradley. Pacquiao landed 253 punches to Bradley’s 153. Clearly he also threw more power punches to Bradley’s face. Pacquiao’s jab-straight combination found its target all night long.

To Bradley’s credit, he took all these punches, never went down and came back with some combinations of his own.

CompuBox also reported that Bradley threw and connected with fewer punches than Pacquiao in 10 of the 12 rounds. This then begs the question as to what the judges were  looking at.

It is true that Bradley, in the later rounds, started to move and dance around, creating the impression that he was in control of the fight.

However, it was obvious that Pacquiao was connecting with the more telling blows.

Bradley started to get busy in the middle of the fight while Pacquiao seemed to slow down, but most of Bradley’s punches were simply hitting the gloves of the champion.

Pacquiao started the fight clearly with the intention of ending it early.  He caught the undefeated WBO junior welterweight champion with powerful shots, which admittedly, would have floored a lot of other fighters. But they were strong punches that found their marks nevertheless.

Stamina and age may be catching up on Pacquiao as he did not display the grit typical of him in the latter rounds. The numbers proved, however, that he did enough in the early part of the fight for him to have built a cushion to get a unanimous decision in his favor.

Although Bradley did leverage on his youth by being able to stay with Pacquiao for the whole 12 rounds and absorb all the punches Pacquiao threw his way, he certainly  did not throw enough punches. More so, he did not connect with enough telling blows to win this fight.

A rematch is a viable next option.

Pacquiao has overcome bigger challenges than this one. Expect him to be his old self when he comes back.

Clearly if the second fight pushes through, only a knockout will determine the winner.