by David P. Greisman

Nearly everyone thought he lost the first one. He clearly lost the second one. That should mean that a victory for Timothy Bradley in his third fight with Manny Pacquiao would propel him to the place he felt he belonged after his hands were raised in the air on June 9, 2012.

A fight usually gets a sequel because it can sell, because the last fight was good enough that there’s demand for a next, because there was controversy in the initial installment that deserves a resolution from a return bout, or because the boxers have gone on to do enough of significance since that there’s interest in seeing whether the conclusion will be any different.

There was plenty of interest when Bradley and Pacquiao met again on April 12, 2014, close to two years after their first fight. We’re now nearly two years to the date since the previous one. They will face each other on April 9, back once again at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, aired once more on HBO Pay-Per-View.

There’s much less buzz this time around.

That’s a shame, because Pacquiao and Bradley are still two of the best boxers in the world. ESPN.com has them No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, on its pound-for-pound list. The Ring magazine has them at No. 7 and No. 9.  The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, an assembly of writers, has them at No. 2 and No. 4.

They sit atop the welterweight division at No. 1 and No. 2, according to ESPN and TBRB. The Ring has them at No. 2 and No. 4 at 147.

Yet there is a feeling among some boxing fans that they have seen this bout twice before and need not see it unfold the same way once again, especially for the price of a pay-per-view in a year that may have many more boxing pay-per-views than there’ve been in recent years.

Bradley would of course argue otherwise. He says he didn’t really have much of a strategy for the first fight. He also suffered a leg injury in the second fight that he feels limited his movement and kept him from performing to the best of his abilities. And then there’s the addition of Teddy Atlas, the longtime television boxing commentator who returned to training by working Bradley’s corner late last year for his victory over Brandon Rios.

“My game plan [before] was to avoid the left hand. Avoid the left hand and hit him with the right hand,” Bradley told reporters a couple of weeks ago. “Now, the game plan is a little more in detail. There are things that Manny Pacquiao does that I can take advantage of that I didn’t see before in watching film, and breaking film down that Teddy has brought to my attention. I feel like it’s going to be a completely different fight than the first two.”

That could be the case. The question, though, would be whether it would be the case because of Bradley or because of Pacquiao.

It’s not a stretch to say that Pacquiao, at 37 and more than two decades into his 65-fight pro career, is no longer what he once was. Then again, he was once was one of the two best boxers of this era, better than his counterparts by far. He may still be much better than them.

That’s hard to tell. We haven’t seen Pacquiao in action since he lost a one-sided decision to Mayweather last year, a result that’s hard to criticize given that Mayweather beat everyone he ever faced (some believe he deserved to lose to Jose Luis Castillo) and beat an overwhelming majority of them by a wide margin. Pacquiao blamed his performance on a shoulder injury and sat out the remainder of 2015 after undergoing surgery.

It’s possible the time away has rejuvenated him. It’s also possible that the time away won’t have helped him, and that his campaign for senate in The Philippines has served as a distraction. He’s excelled despite distractions before. This time, he’s also dealt with criticism for his recent comments critical of gay people.

And he’s talked about this being his last fight. The common concern is that someone who is talking about finishing his career has already checked out in his mind. That’s not always true. Plenty have hung up their gloves after performances as good as those that preceded them.

No matter the truth, there is still the perception about Pacquiao. If Bradley wins easily on Saturday, then many will believe their perception to be reality. If Bradley wins a close bout, then, to them, he’ll have been only barely better than someone no longer at his best. And if Bradley loses, then, to them, he’ll have lost to an even lesser version of Pacquiao than the version that beat him in 2014 (and in 2012 as well, according to opinions of many observers who disagreed with two of the three official judges).

It’s not completely a no-win scenario for Bradley, however.

Both men could put forth great performances, and if Bradley excels against a vintage version then he could benefit. And a win is better than a loss, no matter what.

Bradley didn’t rocket to superstardom in 2012, yet there still should be plenty of respect for him.

He won his first world title at junior welterweight in 2008, unified titles in 2009, won a wide decision over Lamont Peterson in 2010 that looked very good at the time and looks even better in hindsight, and cemented his status as the best in the division when he defeated Devon Alexander in 2011. That the Alexander bout wasn’t at all aesthetically pleasing may help explain why it didn’t make him a much bigger star. Before the year was out, he changed promoters and signed with Top Rank, hoping the move would lead to bigger things.

By the end of 2011, he was on the undercard of Pacquiao’s third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. By 2012, he was in the ring with Pacquiao himself.

Since then, there was a close win in a war with Ruslan Provodnikov and a close win in an excellent performance against Marquez. There was the rematch loss to Pacquiao, a draw with Diego Chaves, and then a fight with Jessie Vargas in which Bradley was clearly winning before surviving being rocked in the final seconds. Atlas spoke with Bradley after the Vargas fight and pointed out the flaws that left him vulnerable. Bradley had left his longtime trainer and convinced Atlas to come aboard.

Bradley’s win over Rios was against an opponent who had struggled to make weight. We’ll get a better gauge of the improvements Atlas made — and continued to make in the five months since — once the opening bell rings on April 9.

A victory over Pacquiao won’t propel Bradley to where he felt he belonged in 2012. The division has changed, after all. He’d probably head toward a rematch with Vargas, who won the title belt Bradley vacated so as to take this Pacquiao fight. There aren’t many other top names available at 147 given their current promotional and network affiliations.

He’s not thinking about what’s ahead of him but rather who’s soon to be in front of him. And while Bradley acknowledges the way people perceive Pacquiao, he doesn’t agree with the arguments.

“Pacquiao fought to the best of his ability [against Mayweather]. Mayweather is known for taking the air out of the ball,” he said at one point, soon adding: “He’s able to do what he wants to do and not let you do what you want to do.  He didn’t allow Manny Pacquiao to do what he wanted to do and he came out successful.”

Bradley was asked about Pacquiao’s lack of knockouts of late; his last knockout win came more than six years ago, when he stopped Miguel Cotto in the final round in 2009.

“It could be the weight class; he has been fighting at 147 pounds,” Bradley said. “I’m not depending on any decline of Manny Pacquiao. If I beat Manny Pacquiao I already know what is going to be said — ‘Oh, he was old’ — but I know Pacquiao is still great and he still can fight. I’m not depending on Manny Pacquiao to be weak. I think he is going to be stronger than ever. He’s going to be motivated and he’s going to be looking to taking my head off.”

A win now in 2016 will be better than the win he got in 2012, even if it’s no longer as significant now as it would’ve been had it come clearly and not controversially back then. 

“I just want to have the opportunity to definitely seal the deal,” he said. “It is an opportunity for my kids to talk about years from now with their classmates — that their father beat Manny Pacquiao.”

“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com