By Daniel Echevarria: Last night’s fight between Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley was another HUGE negative blow to the world of boxing. Manny Pacquiao the NO 1 P4P greatest boxer in the world next to Floyd Mayweather was strong armed and relieved of his welterweight title from the NO 8 P4P fighter, according to Ring Magazine.
Yes, I said NO 8. In my opinion, I felt it was kind of strange that number one Floyd Mayweather was hardly ever mentioned if anytime during the whole 24/7 series and interviews leading up to the Pacquiao vs. Bradley fight. But during Mayweather/Cotto, Pacquiao was mentioned all the time. Number two, it was weird to me that not only did Bradley already basically promote a Nov 10 rematch with Pacquiao, but I also saw a guy holding a poster already professionally printed at the fight on ESPN of a Pacquiao vs. Bradley “2” with date & time and Sponsors . Strange and convenient but a great idea from Bob Arum, because what he already has done. In my opinion, he is once again keeping Pacquiao away from Mayweather by keeping Pacquiao busy with Top Rank stable fighters and the media not even mentioning Mayweather’s name during interviews and not even after the fight ended did HBO even mention that show down.
Now even if that fight doesn’t matter anymore to the media or HBO, then why was it still being mentioned back in April/May during the Mayweather/Cotto bout which was last month? Now I have two theories on what could be the reason and benefits for Arum to set this fight up in favor of Bradley. First off, Arum flip flops on what he says if it favors him like the notion that a Sergio Martinez vs. Chavez Jr. won’t happen because Martinez IS NOT a PPV attraction, but yet Bradley is a PPV attraction? I believe the wheels were already being set in motion for Bradley to take the throne way back when he was with Gary Shaw Promotions because Arum basically stopped Khan vs. Bradley by offering Bradley a new contract with Top Rank with a guarantee of getting the biggest fight ever which was Pacquiao if he didn’t fight Amir Khan and let his contract run out with Gary Shaw, which is what he did.
Now at this time still nobody really knew who Bradley was and Pacquiao was preparing for Juan Manuel Marquez in a third bout, and yet Arum was still telling us a Mayweather fight was going to happen in the next few months all the while he was waiting for Bradley to sign on the dotted line. I believe Bradley is the future of Top Rank with an open door to fight many fighters on the Top Rank roster and keep the money train rolling and now Arum and Top Rank can say besides Mayweather that they too have an “Undefeated” fighter also who just happens to be African American so who cares about Floyd? CHECK MATE!
Now my second theory has two different ideas and one which is obvious is that Pacquiao and Pac-Mania is coming to an end shortly and Arum always looks ahead to the future for money and Manny pretty much has no one left on the Top Rank roster to defeat and he is almost a Priest at this point with his new found focus on his faith and his focus on being a Congressman for his country and now he is moving to a new chapter in his life and boxing will soon take a back seat. Second part to this idea is a chance to reignite the popularity of Pacquiao since his last few fights prior to Bradley were not that impressive and he went from selling out Cowboy Stadium to hardly selling out MGM Grand Las Vegas and a loss will bring fans down and a rematch will reignite the support and love for the man and bring him back UP overnight which is just BRILLIANT from a marketing stand point.
Arum knows all too well how to play this game of chess and move his men to the right areas to be successful. Finally I believe Pacquiao totally without a doubt won and out boxed Bradley and was never hurt or stunned at all but at the same time I felt he was holding back a little when he was getting the best of Bradley for some reason and I know Pacquiao is a “company” man and follows whatever his promoter Arum tells him to do. So what do you think happened? Look beyond the smoke and mirrors.
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