By Edward Chaykovsky
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum understands the frustration from fans who shook their heads when it was announced that Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 knockouts) would face Timothy Bradley (33-1-1, 13KOs) for a third time on April 9th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Most fans were hoping that Pacquiao would select WBO junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford or British star Amir Khan.
Pacquiao lost a controversial twelve round split decision to Bradley in 2012. He reclaimed his WBO welterweight title by winning a twelve round unanimous decision over Bradley in 2014.
In both fights Pacquiao was viewed as the clear winner without controversy. So why third fight?
Arum feels the fight is now a different contest that fans have not seen before, because Bradley is a "new" fighter with trainer Teddy Atlas leading his corner. Adding to that, Pacquiao has been out of the ring since undergoing surgery for a right shoulder injury, which he suffered during the May 2nd loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Bradley left career trainer Joel Diaz in September and hired Atlas. They had their first fight together last month when Bradley knocked out Brandon Rios at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
At 37-years-old and appearing to be close to retirement, the contest is now a lot closer in the eyes of Arum, who admits that he's not sure if that will be enough for Bradley to finally pull off the victory with no controversy.
“We haven’t seen this fight already, because this is a new Bradley,” Arum said to the LA Times. “I don’t know that Manny has to prove anything other than he’s better than the current Bradley and his new coach. The Bradley who beat Rios was better than the Bradley I’ve seen of the last five years. Can that Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao? I don’t know, but I think it’s a close fight and he’s still coming off an injury.”
