Arum: Pacquiao-Bradley Rematch Bigger Than First Fight

By Keith Idec

NEW YORK — Promoter Bob Arum said Thursday that a deal is almost finalized for a Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley rematch and that an official announcement is imminent.

“We’re very, very close,” Arum said at a news conference in Manhattan for the Mikey Garcia-Juan Carlos Burgos bout Saturday night in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. “The negotiations are getting down to the nitty gritty. We hope we’ll be able to announce it sometime before the end of this week.”

The unbeaten Bradley (31-0, 12 KOs, 1 NC), of Palm Springs, Calif., and rugged Russian Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KOs) were the two potential opponents Pacquiao was considering facing April 12 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But Bradley beat Provodnikov in one of the most entertaining encounters of 2013, recorded a highly controversial, split-decision win against Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) in June 2012 and is fresh off a convincing victory over Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KOs), who knocked the Filipino superstar unconscious in his previous fight.

“I think a Bradley-Pacquiao fight now is much more saleable than the Bradley-Pacquiao fight was when it happened, because Bradley has shined his credentials,” said Arum, whose company, Top Rank Inc., promotes Pacquiao and Bradley. “He had an exciting fight with Provodnikov and beat Marquez. We’re dealing with a different Bradley from the relatively unknown guy who fought Pacquiao the first time.”

HBO Pay-Per-View will televise the Pacquiao-Bradley rematch. A multi-city press tour to promote Pacquiao-Bradley II is expected to be scheduled for early next month.

The first fight between Bradley and Pacquiao drew about 900,000 pay-per-view buys. Pacquiao’s last fight, a predictably easy defeat of Brandon Rios on Nov. 23 in Macau, China, and the Bradley-Marquez match Oct. 12 in Las Vegas did less buys combined than Pacquiao-Bradley I.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.

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Last week, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao chose undefeated Tim Bradley to be his next opponent.  The undefeated junior welterweight champion was selected from a list of four fighters that also included Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto and Lamont Peterson.  During the selection process, Pacquiao received criticism for having two junior welterweights in Bradley and Peterson on his short list of opponents.  Some critics said that those fighters would be too small for Pacquiao even though the Filipino icon typically weighs in far below the welterweight limit and seems to be a natural junior welterweight himself.

BoxingScene.com recently caught up with Bradley to get his opinion on moving up in weight to face Pacquiao.  Bradley immediately debunked the theory that he will be too small for Pacquiao and said that there is a good chance he will be the heavier man on fight night.

“When I enter the ring I will probably be 150 or 151 pounds, give or take a pound or two,” Bradley told Boxingscene.com.

The Southern California based Bradley also said that he regularly fought in the 152 pound weight class in the amateurs and that he will have more power as a welterweight.  In July of 2010 Bradley soundly defeated Luis Carlos Abregu in his HBO debut in a fight fought at the welterweight limit.

“147 is my natural weight.  People don’t know but in the amateurs I fought at 152 pounds,” stated Bradley.  “People say I don’t have power but it is a real struggle to get down to 140.  I walk around at 160 or more.  I will be a lot more comfortable and have more pop at 147.  People will see that on June 9th,” he continued.

Pacquiao-Bradley takes place on June 9th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV and will be broadcast by HBO pay-per-view.

By Ryan Burton

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=49507

WBO junior welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12KOs) doesn’t consider himself as “the smaller man” in the upcoming fight with Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38KOs), the WBO’s champion at 147-pounds. During his amateur career, Bradley was fighting at 147, and then moved up to 152 when he tried to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. Bradley previously fought at 147 in 2010 and won a twelve round decision over Carlos Abregu on HBO.

Bradley says that he walks around at 160, 165-pounds, while Pacquiao walks around at a lower weight. He says Pacquiao’s strong legs, where some believe his power comes from, is the only size difference.

“A lot of people think I’m the smaller guy, that I’m the little guy,” Bradley told hometown paper The Desert Sun. “This is what the public doesn’t realize, when I was 16, I didn’t fight at 118. I fought at 152 pounds when I was 16. I naturally walk around at 160, 165 pounds. Manny probably gets no higher than 155, maybe 150 walking around. I’m a naturally bigger guy even though I fought at 140 and he fought at 147.

“If you look at my muscle mass, his muscle mass, I’m the bigger guy. What Manny does have is bigger legs. His legs are ridiculous. Where he makes up for it is his leg, I make up for it with the top half of my body. I’m used to fighting guys 6-0, 5-10. So the whole power thing of me being the little guy, you can throw that out the window. That won’t be the case during the fight.”

By Edward Chaykovsky

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=49406

Speculation persists that WBO world welterweight champion Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao and WBC world welterweight titlist “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather will meet May 5 in Las Vegas at a venue to be determined.

Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KOs), the first pugilist in history to win 10 world crowns in eight separate weight divisions, earned an extremely controversial majority decision victory over WBA, WBO and The Ring lightweight king “Dinamita” Juan Manuel Marquez in their third fight last month at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

In stark contrast to Pacquiao, Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) badly outclassed, and essentially embarrassed, Marquez (53-6-1, 38 KOs) with a shutout unanimous decision triumph in September 2009.

Pacquiao, named “Fighter of the Decade” for the 2000s by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), is an extremely powerful puncher with lighting-fast hands.

Nevertheless, Pacquiao’s legendary trainer, Freddie Roach, told abs-cbnnews.com Wednesday that he cautioned his fighter that Mayweather may possess even slightly quicker fists.

“I will bring in a whole new crew of sparring partners, guys that can imitate Floyd well,” said Roach, 51, a native of Dedham (Mass.) who was voted Trainer of the Year on four occasions by (BWAA). “There isn’t a lot of guys in the world that are like Floyd, so it would be tough to find them. We would prepare for his counter punching ability, and his speed, which is maybe equal to Manny’s, if not better.”

Mayweather, a spectacular talent who has captured nine world titles in five different boxing weight classes, has essentially dominated the sport of boxing since he made his professional debut with a second round TKO victory over Roberto Apodaca in October 1996.

“Pretty Boy” is a man whose ample abilities have primarily allowed him to avoid facing adversity in the ring.

In all likelihood, Mayweather is a better boxer than Pacquiao and he would be a decided favorite if the two ever clash in the future.

Still, Roach is confident that Pacquiao could exploit Mayweather’s flaws and overcome the dominant loudmouth.

“I think we can take advantage of those habits,” said Roach. “He does have some bad habits that can be exposed.”

One of Mayweather’s “bad habits” may not actually be a visual fault.

Unlike Pacquiao, Mayweather has never been in a violent struggle and his tenacity has been questioned by some critics.

To emerge victorious over the more complete Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao “can take advantage” of his oversized heart and attempt to vanquish “Pretty Boy’s” willpower as the rounds pass.

As 42 other prizefighters have discovered, such a simple plan may be prove to be utterly complex.

http://www.examiner.com/boxing-in-boston/roach-says-pacquiao-can-take-advantage-of-mayweather

Juan Manuel Marquez is a four-time weight division champion in the featherweight, jr. lightweight,lightweight, and recently jr. welterweight in the division. He began his professional career at the age of 19, and actually lost his first fight by disqualification. Six years later (in 1999), Marquez got his first world title shot against Freddie Norwood for the WBA World Featherweight title. Marquez came up short; losing to Norwood by unanimous decision. Four years later, Marquez would have another shot at a world title, this time against Manuel Medina for the vacant IBF Featherweight title.

Marquez went on to knock out Medina in the seventh round and captured his first world title. In November 2003 Marquez unified the titles by also capturing the vacant WBA World Featherweight title, defeating Derrick Gainer. Marquez made three successful title defenses (one defense was a draw against Manny Pacquiao), but in March 2003 he was defeated by undefeated Indonesian featherweight Chris John. In his next fight, Marquez captured the interim WBO Featherweight title, defeating Terdsak Kokietgym by technical knockout in the seventh round. In March 2007 came one of his most recognizable victories, a unanimous decision victory over fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera Marquez only made one successful defense against Rocky Juarez, and later lost the WBC belt by split decision against Manny Pacquiao in their rematch.

In 2009, Marquez had the opportunity to dethrone Floyd Mayweather, but the move up to welterweight was too much for him; losing by unanimous decision. “Dinamita” Marquez currently is the WBO “Super” Lightweight Champion and WBA Super World Lightweight Champion. On November 12, 2011 he took on Manny Pacquiao for the third time in his career. The highly anticipated bout started oof where the previous two ended; a back and forth battle between both fighters. Unfortunately Marquez came up short, losing a majority decison once again.

After a 5 month lay-off, Marquez returned to his native Mexico City to take on Sergey Fedchenko for the interim WBO Jr. Welterweight title. Marquez won by unanimous decision and captured his forth different title in a different weight divison.

REGIONAL TITLES:

1. WBO NABO Featherweight Champion (twice)

2. NABF Featherweight Champion

3. USBA Featherweight Champion

WORLD TITLES:

1. IBF Featherweight Champion

2. WBA Super World Featherweight Champion

3. WBO Featherweight Champion

4. WBC Jr. Lightweight Champion

5. WBA Super World Lightweight Champion

6. WBO Lightweight Champion

7. Interim WBO Jr. Welterweight Champion