A knockout win or nothing at all

By Al S. Mendoza

 

TIMOTHY Bradley Jr. has never been knocked out.

So, how then can Manny Pacquiao possibly kayo the 5-time world champ?

That’s the question in today’s (April 10, PHL time) Pacquiao-Bradley encounter in Las Vegas, Nevada.

And look at this:  In Bradley’s 35 fights, he lost just once.  Fine, fine.

But do you know who gave him his first beating?  Pacquiao.

And, yes, you guessed it right:  By unanimous decision.

That was two years ago on April 12, 2014.

But before that, Bradley defeated Pacquiao by split decision in 2012.

That happened because judges screwed up the fight, ignoring Pacquiao’s clear win on points.

An independent panel formed by officials to review the fight found Pacquiao the winner by unanimous decision.

So, technically, Pacquiao has a 2-0, win-loss edge over Bradley going to today’s fight.

And in the odds in Las Vegas, Pacquiao is the overwhelming favorite—yet again.

Your $250 bet on Pacquiao will net you $100 if Bradley loses.

But a $100-bet on Bradley will earn you $250 if Pacquiao loses.

That’s how huge the betting odds are.

No doubt therefore that Pacquiao is the wise-money choice.

It is even safe to say that Pacquiao can win again—easily on points.

Even as Bradley keeps boasting that he has a new weapon against Pacquiao today, pundits had put his claims on the dustbin with dispatch.

With a win he keeps talking about, Bradley is giving credit this early to Teddy Atlas, his new trainer.

Bradley may have a point.

In November, under Atlas, Bradley stopped Brandon Rios in the 9th.

That’s huge, considering that Pacquiao could only score a 12-round decision over Rios in 2013.

That was a big win for Pacquiao as it came after his shocking 6th-round, one-punch knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez a year before.

But when almost everybody was saying Pacquiao was back, the 8-division world champion couldn’t put away a literally unknown foe in 2014.

Oh, yes, Pacquiao felled that New Yorker six times but in the end, he could only eke out a lackluster 12-round decision victory.

And then against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 2, 2015, in what turned out to be the richest fight in history–$200 million for Mayweather, $100M-plus for Pacquiao—our fighting congressman lost.

Pacquiao bowed very clearly to the unbeaten Mayweather but then, the Filipino icon exacerbated his stinging setback by admitting he was nursing an injury even before the fight could begin.

The torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder has since been repaired by surgery four days after the loss and, hopefully, it won’t be re-injured today.

But still, with his fans including the boxing-crazy Duterte and Tito Sotto aching to be appeased, to be given back their confidence in Pacquiao’s ability to rise from the grave, they desire nothing today but a knockout victory.

Anything lesser than that would mean nothing. Empty. Unacceptable.

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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