Timothy Bradley: record, next fight and profile →
We are hours away from boxing’s next huge event, tonight’s Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley showdown in Las Vegas, Nevada. Again fighting inside of the MGM Grand, Pacquiao will look to successfully defend his WBO welterweight belt against the durable and ambitious Bradley, an undefeated junior welterweight champion moving up in weight for the fight.
After months of hype, the time has come for what on paper figures to be among the stiffest challenges in the Hall-of-Fame worthy career of Manny Pacquiao. The full-time fighter and Congressman takes on Tim Bradley this Saturday evening at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Manny Pacquiao the busier fighter. Both Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley landed above the weight class average with their power punches. This won't be a jab fest - 36 of their combined 45 punchers landed per round (80%) were power punches.
Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza will be in Manny Pacquiao’s corner but with a specific role to play following an agreement with Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach when he faces Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley later today at the MGM Grand Garden Arena says “we’re ready to rock n’ roll.”
The trainer of WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, former world champion Robert Garcia, picks “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao to win a twelve round decision against Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley in their WBO welterweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in Saturday.
Freddie Roach continued to exude confidence just before Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley weighed in Friday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. “Well, he’s a young guy, coming up,” Roach told HBO’s Max Kellerman regarding Bradley. “He’s in his prime right now. He’s undefeated and he’s a little bit resilient. But believe me, this is not the end of Manny Pacquiao — guaranteed.”
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (uncertain): “That’s going to be a hard situation because first and foremost Tim Bradley is going to come in in tiptop shape. He never slept on silk sheets. Pacquiao has slept on silk sheets and he’s been beaten three times already, so there’s three ways to beat him. I’m not saying that Tim Bradley is going to beat him, but I’m saying it’s going to be a hard night for Pacquiao. He’s going to have to find a way to dig down deep and pull this out.
by Cliff Rold - In the wake of his second round atomizing of Ricky Hatton for the lineal World Jr. Welterweight Championship in 2009, Manny Pacquiao had a clear number one contender in his class. He’d heard of him. The relative handful of hardcore boxing fans knew his name well having seen him unify two titles at 140 just a month prior to Pacquiao-Hatton. To the rest of the world, Timothy Bradley was anonymous. Pacquiao moved on to more lucrative fare. Bradley swung between bouts of meaning and bouts of inactivity. Fast forward to 2012 and Bradley is less anonymous than he was in 2009, if only by way of his getting the opportunity of a lifetime. Timothy Bradley passed up good money last year against Amir Khan to sign with Top Rank and wait his turn. His turn has come. Will Bradley’s dream come true be a nightmare on Saturday night?
Bob Arum has been in the boxing game for more than 40 years, but can probably still quickly count the number of class acts he has come across over that time. This weekend, the Hall of Fame promoter considers himself blessed to come up with two in the headlining act alone when Manny Pacquiao squares off against unbeaten Tim Bradley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. HBO PPV will televise the event, which airs live on Saturday at 9PM ET/6PM PT.
TIM BRADLEY was skint with just a five dollar bill to his name when he beat Junior Witter four years ago.