Bradley: If Pacquiao loses to me his career is over

By Boxing News - 01/31/2014 - Comments

pac44By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) will be facing Filipino Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) in a rematch on April 12th. Bradley feels that Pacquiao’s career will be on the line in this fight. If he loses the fight then it’ll be all over for the 35-year-old Pacquiao.

I don’t know if Pacquiao will be finished like he says, because he said before his last fight against Brandon Rios that he won’t retire even if he loses the fight. Pacquiao will likely continue to fight long after fans lose interest in paying to see him in his PPV fights. Pacquiao will almost surely continue fighting until the bitter end where he’s more of a journeyman fighter than a former champion. I don’t see Pacquiao retiring until his fights bring in less than 100,000 PPV buys each time he fights.

Believe it or not, it’s heading in that direction with Pacquiao fighting less thrilling opponents like Brandon Rios and Tim Bradley with undercards filled with obscure fighters that the casual fans have never heard of. If Bob Arum keeps shoving Pacquiao vs. Bradley rematches down the throats of the boxing public than I can see Pacquiao’s PPV numbers dropping to the 300,000 rank real quick.

“I’m willing to die for it,” Bradley said to On the Ropes Boxing Radio. “Pacquiao’s back is against the wall right now. If he loses to me, his career is over. So the pressure is on him. He has to shine. He’s the super star; he’s the icon. He’s the legend.”

I don’t buy the part where Bradley says he’s willing to die in the ring, because he was running against Ruslan Provodnikov after he got hurt by him. He didn’t stop running until the 12th round when he made the mistake of trying to shine and got badly hurt again and knocked down.

A loss for Pacquiao in the rematch with Bradley won’t finish his career. Pacquiao’s fans will continue to watch him no matter how many times he loses, and like I said, Pacquiao will probably continue to fight even when he’s totally shot. As long as fans are willing to pay to see him fight, Pacquiao will likely continue to fight.

What another loss to Bradley will do to Pacquiao’s career is further deteriorate his PPV numbers with casual boxing fans. They won’t want to continue to pay $60-75 to see him lose his fights against good opposition.



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