by David P. Greisman
The arena where Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley fought their first two bouts will be the place where their trilogy presumably comes to an end.
Pacquiao-Bradley 3 will take place on April 9 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Top Rank Inc., which promotes both men, was unanimously granted approval to put on the card at the Nevada Athletic Commission’s Jan. 12 meeting.
The fight will air on HBO Pay-Per-View.
Bradley won a highly controversial split decision in June 2012, while Pacquiao took a clear unanimous decision in their rematch in April 2014.
Since then, Pacquiao has gone on to outclass Chris Algieri and then lose convincingly to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their long-anticipated meeting. He is 37 years old now and is 57-6-2 with 38 KOs. Bradley had a draw against Diego Chaves, survived a last-minute scare to outpoint Jessie Vargas, and then stopped Brandon Rios in nine rounds in his first fight with new trainer Teddy Atlas. The 32-year-old is now 33-1-1 with 13 KOs.
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
