June 10, 2012, Manny Pacquiao lost to Tim
Bradley his WBO Welterweight title. I can’t still believe it. Before the fight, I planned
to make notes of highlights of every round for purposes of posting it here in
my blog. Thanks to my ever reliable smartphone. It’s a big help as I scribble
notes in it while watching the bout round-by-round. Based on my notes, Pacquiao won the fight by points as can be described from the notes I took:
Round 1: As with other Pacquiao’s fight, this is the “testing the waters” round where Pacquiao does
not show his rapid punches yet. Bradley made the first attack with jabs hitting
pacman's gloves. None of the punches landed. Pacquiao constantly help up his
gloves and guard his chin.
Round 2: Bradley made several mistakes. One big
mistake is making his head open to punches. Pacquiao was able to land two power
straights the last being a left straight. Bradley tries to slow down manny by
throwing punches on the Champ’s torso while they “hug”.
Round 3: Bradley started to slow down and keeps
on bobbing and hugging. He received several blows from Pacquiao as usual in the
head and mostly from Pacquiao's powerful left hooks.
Round 4: Start of Bradley's slowdown and Pacquiao's
uproaring. Pacquiao thrown combination punches and even managed to put Bradley
on the ropes. Bradley looks a bit dizzy. His feet are nailed on the floor.
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| Credits to foxsports.com |
Round 5: Bradley continues to slow down. He
tries to guard his right chin from Pacquiao’s left hooks but was not successful when on the
34 seconds remaining of the round, he dodged and counterpunched with his right
but didn’t landed a shot. Pacquiao finds an opening and
immediately released via powerful left hook on Bradley’s right cheek. Bradley shows
decline in energy and starts to step back quickly to avoid Pacquiao’s punches.
Round 6: Manny can surely “kill” his opponent by this round
but he prefers to get by and let Bradley do his show. But bradley can't come up
and recover yet. On the last 20 seconds, Pacquiao cornered Bradley and released
combinations to Bradley's body. Bradley keeps on backing and backing and
obviously slowing down. He managed to throw several punches but only a few
landed and not so powerful. Pacquiao showed his signature smile as he noticed Bradley
slows down and catches up air.
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| Credits to foxsports.com |
Round 7: On the beginning of the round,
Pacquiao slowed down. Maybe in order for Bradley to engage by throwing more
punches to him. Pacquiao wants "sabayan" as you can notice on his
prior fights. He released a left hook. Brian Viloria commented that this is
Pacquiao's rest round. Bradley showed signs of recovery and he skillfully
weaved and bobbed manny's punches.
Round 8: Bradley continues to his weaving and
bobbing. Pacquiao remains in control of the round by watchfully looking at
openings everytime Bradley bobs. He managed to land powerful straights and
hooks to bradley's right. Pacquiao, however, received 4 punches from
Bradley’s combinations.
Round 9: Bradley looks like he has fully-recovered his
stamina at the start of this round. They exchanged counterpunches. The
highlight punches of this round was the right cross-left uppercut and right
hook by Pacquiao. On the other hand, Bradley landed power shots to Pacquiao's
body.
Round 10: I would give this round to Bradley. His
dirty tricks are working now - bobbing and hugging but continuously punching Pacquiao
(even below the belt). Chancing to let Pacquiao slow down. Pacquiao tried to
steal the round for the last 10 secs but unable to do so.
Round 11: The boring round. There was a change
of offense and defense with Pacquiao gearing towards the latter. Pacquiao's
power seems to be diminished at this point. He doesn’t throw as many punches as he
threw during the first five rounds. But he’s alert and still in good shape. Maybe he's
waiting for that grand opening to unleash his powerful left.
Round 12: Again Pacquiao can’t speed-up. Bradley is
agressively bobbing and hitting and bobbing and hitting. Pacquiao tried to
release counterpunches. Despite bradley's shown energy for this round he wasn’t able to land power punches
to Pacquiao. Pacquiao, on the other hand and despite his diminished speed, was
able to landed four powerful combinations.
Now the decision came and we’ve got a new WBO Welterweight Champion in
the person of Timothy Bradley Jr. Honestly, I am very much flabbergasted. I
wasn’t able to speak for about 10 seconds and tried
to figure out what happened. But my notes are clear. Pacquiao won most of the
rounds – I think 70% of it. I am expecting a unanimous decision
for Pacquiao.
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| Credits to foxsports.com |
Now, I won’t give a damn whether he really won the fight
because in my opinion, Pacquiao really won by points and he’s the real winner (At this
point I remembered Real Steel movie where the underdog robot won the match
obviously but the defeated opponent was the one declared as the Champion). What
catches my attention now is the cause and effect of this fight – Why does Pacquiao slowed
down and what comes next?
Why does Pacquiao slowed down? Perhaps due to
his changed perspectives brought about by his conversion to religious duties
such as bible studies and preaching. I remember him saying after his fight with
Marquez that the bible teaches not to hurt each other and he thinks of hanging
his gloves a few years from now because boxing is against the bible.
Why does Pacquiao slowed down? Perhaps, he had
some difficulties in handling his increased weight to 147 lbs. Or possibly, he’s just getting past his prime
(he’s already 33).
Why does Pacquiao slowed down? Maybe this is
just an act. A commercial strategy for the audience around to world to still
watch their planned rematch on Nov. 10. It can be noted that unlike the past
Pacquiao fights, this Pacquiao-Bradley fight did not generated easy ticket
revenues. So is this a business strategy? After all, Boxing is synonymous to
money… lots of money. It’s still business.
What comes next? Bradley is now
well-promoted (He’s also under Bob Arums Top Rank
Promotions by the way). His market value increases which means business to
Arum. He’s guaranteed with $5 million for
this fight.
What comes next? Pacquiao, will go
back to Congress and will focus his efforts to politics. Maybe he has plans of
running to senate too so a planned defeat to a newbie is a safe ticket to exit
boxing. After all, he has already proven his worth in the history of boxing. He’s the best pound-for-pound ever having won the most numbers of
title belts in the history of boxing.
What comes next? Well, team
Pacquiao will be busy reviewing the fight. They will prepare much early a
strategy for the next fight. And yes, Chavit will be still beside Pacquiao as
Michael Buffer announces the November rematch (What is he doing there anyway?).
Oh well, win or lose, Pacquiao is
still richer by $26 million plus plus pay per view shares and talent fees from
various business outfits embroidered in his trunks and robe.
And boxing... well it's still about money.
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