On Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao (No. 3 on SI.com's latest pound-for-pound list) will take on Timothy Bradley (No. 8) for Bradley's WBO welterweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The fight will be televised on HBO Pay Per View for a suggested retail price of $59.95.The main event will start a little after 11:30 p.m. ET. Nearly two years later, Manny Pacquiao finally got the decision most people thought he deserved the first time against Timothy Bradley.Pacquiao won a unanimous decision in his rematch with Bradley on Saturday night, avenging his 2012 loss and claiming the WBO welterweight title.
Pacquiao (56-5-2) pursued and peppered the previously unbeaten Bradley around the MGM Grand Garden ring with an aggressive effort occasionally recalling the Pacman in his prime. Bradley fought back with counterpunching and elusiveness, but Pacquiao kept up his attack while Bradley (31-1) struggled down the stretch.The first round of feeling out each other quickly became a brawl in the second, when Pacquiao landed several big shots. That pace continued in the third, somewhat amazingly with the postmatch news that Bradley had hurt his leg in the first.
Pacquiao's opening pace seemed to catch up with him in the fourth, and Bradley got to him for solid shots at least three times. The rounds Bradley got from the judges came at this point in the fight.
In the fifth, Bradley connected more again and the fight got closer. Then Bradley ended the round by uncharacteristically hotdogging the last 10 seconds, arms at his side.
At this point, Pacquiao, who praised Bradley as being a better fighter now than in the first match, said he and his corner began to understand that Bradley was going for the "home run punch."Unfortunately, such tactics didn't work for Bradley, who allowed the fight to get away from him, while his corner's demands to do things "quicker" seemingly fell on deaf ears.
Pacquiao, who famously beat Ricky Hatton with a stunning second-round knockout, increasingly took control of the fight, picking his moments to throw flurries of punches, before looking to create new angles and keeping away from Bradley's haymaker attempts.
In the end, the Filipino's in-ring intelligence kept him away from danger, and spurred on by a partisan crowd he began landing combinations down the home straight, ensuring a somewhat comfortable win.
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