This might be the last time we see Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2) in a boxing ring, so hopefully he can make it count. The Pac Man will end his career with a rubber match with Tim Bradley Jr. (33-1-1) tonight in Las Vegas.
Our own Miguel Iturrate posted a fantastic betting preview of the fight that you can see by clicking here.
Scroll on down for the live blog. Keep reading for the press release from Top Rank, HBO and the MGM Grand.
LAS VEGAS (January 19, 2016) – Boxing’s only eight-division world champion and the reigning Fighter of the Decade, Congressman MANNY “Pacman” PACQUIAO, and five-time world champion TIMOTHY “Desert Storm” BRADLEY, will collide in a 12-round World Welterweight Championship battle of pound for pound titans Saturday, April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. This will also mark the first time former Trainers of the Year Freddie Roach and Teddy Atlas have faced each other from opposite corners. Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with MP Promotions, the Pacquiao vs. Bradley world championship event will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT.
Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs), the lone congressional representative from the Sarangani province in the Philippines and an international icon, is the only fighter to win eight world titles in as many different weight divisions. A three-time Fighter of the Year and the Boxing Writers Association of America’s “Fighter of the Decade,” Pacquiao’s resumé features victories over present and future Hall of Famers, including Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Márquez and Bradley. From 2008 to 2010, five of his seven victories were world title victories in five different weight classes, from 130 to 154 pounds. No active boxer has sold more live tickets in the U.S. than Pacquiao, who is also credited with over 18 million domestic pay-per-view buys. He returns to the ring after a disappointing unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. The May 2 world championship fight generated a record 4.5 million pay-per-view buys and over $400 million in television revenue alone.
Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs), from Palm Springs, Calif., a two-division world champion who has held a world title every year since 2008, completed his comeback from his sole professional loss, to Pacquiao in their world title rematch, and a controversial draw against former interim world champion Diego Chaves — both in 2014 — when he beat undefeated world champion Jessie Vargas on June 27, to reclaim the WBO welterweight world title. Bradley put an exclamation point on his banner 2015 year in his title defense, under the guidance of new trainer Teddy Atlas, by knocking out former world champion Brandon Rios on November 7. It was the first time Rios had ever been stopped in his 11-year, 36-bout professional career, sending him into a temporary self-imposed retirement. A consensus Top-10 pound for pound fighter, Bradley returns to the ring a new fighter thanks to Atlas’ tutelage. A former junior welterweight world champion who unified the junior welterweight titles twice during his previous four-year world championship reign, Bradley moved up to the 147 pound division and beat Pacquiao on June 9, 2012 to capture the WBO welterweight crown for the first of three consecutive career-best victories. Bradley followed that by co-starring in the Fight of the Year on March 16, 2013, at StubHub Center, winning a brutal 12-round decision over future world champion Ruslan Provodnikov though Bradley was suffering from a concussion throughout most of the fight. Seven months later Bradley encored with another virtuoso performance in defeating three-division world champion and Mexican icon Juan Manuel Márquez on October 12, 2013, at The Forum, proving that Bradley is indeed one of boxing’s elite pound for pound fighters.
The fight is on PPV at 9 p.m. Watch it with me.
