By Edward Chaykovsky
According to Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, he was not the deciding party in who Manny Pacquiao would face on April 9th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao had three options on the table - WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, WBO junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford and British superstar Amir Khan.
Most fans were hoping for either Crawford or Khan, because Pacquiao had already faced Bradley twice in the past. Crawford is the young, up and coming star who many insiders view as a future pound-for-pound player. Khan would have provided a great storyline. He was Pacquiao's stablemate for several years when the two fighters were trained by Freddie Roach. Khan left Roach in 2012 and hired Virgil Hunter. There are heated debates over which fighter had the edge when the two of them were involved in competitive closed door sparring sessions.
At the end of the day, Arum says the financial outlook on pay-per-view and the overall performance of the show persuaded Pacquiao to pick Bradley (31-1-1, 13 KOs).
Both of their previous meetings took place at the MGM Grand. In the first bout, Bradley won a controversial twelve round split decision. Pacquiao gained revenge in the rematch, winning a solid twelve round unanimous decision.
Arum notes that everyone involved with the pay-per-view, including the MGM, preferred Bradley as the opponent of choice.
“I don’t really know [if he was leaning in any direction] because he was interested in all three,” Arum said. “But I think what really tipped him was the fact that cable companies, the satellite providers, the MGM, HBO pay-per-view, all thought that this Bradley would be best - from a marketing standpoint - the best choice.”
The fight will be marketed based on Bradley being a fresher fighter with new trainer Teddy Atlas in his corner. They made their debut together in November, when Bradley knocked out Brandon Rios.
The rift between Atlas and Roach will provide plenty of pre-fight heat.
Bradley hired Atlas in September after parting ways with career trainer Joel Diaz. Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) has been out of action since losing a twelve round decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 2nd. He suffered a right shoulder injury during the fight and had surgery a few days later.