Pacquiao-Bradley II undercard finally revealed and it’s lacking

vargas56020By Chris Williams: Earlier today the undercard for the April 12th pay-per-view bout between Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley was revealed by Dan Rafael of ESPN, and I’ve got to say this undercard is really lacking in a huge way. I thought that the undercard for Pacquiao’s last fight against Brandon Rios was a bad one last November, but this one is about the same, if not worse. As bad as this undercard is, I wouldn’t be surprised if this card brings in lower pay-per-view buys than Pacquiao’s last fight against Brandon Rios. That fight card brought in 475,000, and I wasn’t surprised at all at those low numbers because there were no big fights on the undercard to make up for the poor main event fight between Pacquiao and Bradley.

I guess it depends on what your tastes are in wanting to pay $60-75, but for me I don’t see one fight on the Pacquiao-Bradley II undercard that I’m remotely interested in seeing. And I definitely don’t see any fights on the undercard I’d be interested in paying to see.

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Bradley says he got what he wanted with contract for Pacquiao fight

bradley664By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) is quite pleased with the contract that he got from Top Rank for his April 12th rematch against Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Even though he had go sign a contract extension to get a fight that he probably would have still gotten had he stood firm in his negotiations, Bradley feels he got a good deal with the contract. He’s not saying how many years and fights he had to agree to get the rematch against the 35-year-old Pacquiao, but if it’s more than 2 years, then Bradley will be pretty much finished as a fighter by the time his contract ends with Top Rank unless he somehow ages gracefully like Bernard Hopkins.

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Prediction: Pacquiao will KO Bradley

pac2222by Bob Smith: I was one of the many boxing fans who a year and a half ago watched the travesty of the 12 round unanimous decision win for Tim Bradley against Manny Pacquiao in their fight in June of 2012. It was difficult not to be angry and think of boxing as fixed, because the decision was so atrocious. I even made a resolve not to watch boxing that lasted an entire week.

Not much has changed with either Pacquiao or with Bradley since that time. Okay, to be fair, Bradley went through a war with Ruslan Provodnikov to try to prove himself, but he was down several times and even had problems with slurred speech. And Manny was knocked out in spectacular fashion by Juan Manuel Marquez, who finally got his revenge after several close decision losses to Pacquiao.

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Bradley extends contract with Top Rank to get Pacquiao rematch

bradley2325By Chris Williams: It’s now been confirmed that WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) had to extend his contract with Top Rank in order to get the rematch with Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) on April 12th, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

It’s unknown for how many fights/years that Bradley had to re-sign with Top Rank to get the fight, but even if it’s one year, it’s going to likely finish any chance that Bradley had of getting a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Say what you want about Bob Arum of Top Rank, but he was pretty clever to get Bradley to re-sign for the Pacquiao fight given that Arum needed Bradley more than he needed him.

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Bradley to get $6 million, Pacquiao $20 million for April 12th rematch

bradley2342By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) will be making a $6 million guaranteed purse for his rematch with Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) on April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It looks Bradley caved in on the $10 million that he was reportedly asking for to fight Pacquiao a second time. Pacquiao will be getting $20 million.

Bradley beat Pacquiao by a controversial split decision the last time they fought in 2012. The outcome was so controversial that it takes away a lot of the interest in the rematch, because it’s a fight that really isn’t necessary.

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Pacquiao vs. Bradley II a done deal for April 12th

pac454By Chris Williams: The rematch between Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) and Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) is a reportedly a done deal for April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to Yahoo staff writer Kevin Iole. It looks like the sticking point in that was keeping Bradley from signing his portion of the contract was finally ironed out.

It was reported that Top Rank wanted to get Bradley to re-sign for a multi-fight deal as part of Bradley getting the Pacquiao rematch. It’ll be interesting to know whether Bradley opted to re-sign with Top Rank for another long-term contract.

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Pacquiao-Bradley negotiations at an impasse

bradley17By Chris Williams: The negotiations between Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley have hit a snag, according to Fighthype. It seems that Top Rank wants to lock the 30-year-old Bradley into a multi-fight contract extension as part of giving him the second fight against the 35-year-old Pacquiao. In other words, for Bradley to get the rematch with Pacquiao, he’ll have to re-sign with Top Rank for a certain amount of fights, even though it’s Top Rank who wants Bradley to fight Pacquiao in the first place.

Bradley’s contract with the company is said to be done by the end of the year. Bradley still has at least one fight left in his current contract with Top Rank after the Pacquiao bout, and it’s unclear why they would push for him to re-sign right now rather waiting for his final fight of the year to attempt to re-sign him.

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Pacquiao-Bradley II fight could be announced this Friday, says Arum

pac673468By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he hopes to make an announcement this Friday on the completed Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley rematch for April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ruslan Provodnikov has been ruled out for the fight with Pacquiao due to him not being as well known as Bradley, and without a world title at 147. Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz says that the WBO welterweight title that Bradley has really interests Pacquiao.

“I hope to have an announcement by tomorrow,” Arum said to RingTV about the Pacquiao-Bradley II rematch.

Bradley has a win over Pacquiao from 2012 that still needs to be avenged by the Filipino fighter. Bradley also just finished beat Pacquiao’s conqueror Juan Manuel Marquez last October in winning by a 12 round split decision.

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Manny Pacquiao to fight Timothy Bradley on April 12th in rematch

pac453By Chris Williams: It’s reported that Top Rank will be matching Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) in a rematch on April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bradley-Pacquiao rematch will be announced next week, and a press tour will start on February 4th, starting in Los Angeles followed by New York on February 5th, according to Tempo.

Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz has the completed contract information for Pacquiao and Bradley. Top Rank has got to hope that the Pacquiao-Bradley II fight will bring in better PPV numbers than Pacquiao’s last fight against Top Rank stable fighter Brandon Rios last November, which brought in just 475,000.

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Bradley backup plan for Pacquiao if Marquez says no to September fight

bradley14By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum hasn’t given up on trying to persuade Juan Manuel Marquez to agree to a 5th fight with Manny Pacquiao for September this year in a fight that Arum wants to put in Macau or Singapore. If Marquez says no to the fight, Arum reportedly will then turn to WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley and have him take it, provided that his head has healed from the concussion he received in his recent victory over Ruslan Provodnikov.

Arum is scouting out casinos in Macau, China, and Singapore for Pacquiao’s September fight because it will enable him to avoid having a big chunk of his purse taken from him in taxes, which is what happens when Pacquiao fights in the U.S.

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