Harry How - Getty Images
Manny Pacquiao will almost surely face Timothy Bradley, but perhaps not on June 9 as tentatively scheduled. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
With today's news that Floyd Mayweather Jr has been granted a conditional, one-fight license and will fight Miguel Cotto on May 5 in Las Vegas, the chances of seeing Manny Pacquiao face Timothy Bradley were elevated somewhere between 80 and 100 percent, but Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz says nothing is set for those two just yet.
From Michael Woods at The Sweet Science:
It's looking like Manny Pacquiao will give young gun Tim Bradley a crack at it on June 9. But Pacman advisor Michael Koncz told me that foe and date is "not confirmed yet."
Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO) is tentatively set to return on June 9, which would have been the date for a Miguel Cotto rematch (obviously not happening now). Top Rank could push that back a few weeks in an attempt to not saturate the market with too much big-fight boxing lumped together.
Bradley (28-0, 12 KO) has seemed to emerge, Woods says, as the favorite potential opponent for Pacquiao among diehard boxing fans. With Juan Manuel Marquez probably having talked himself out of a fourth fight with Pacquiao, and he and Lamont Peterson potentially looking to fight each other, Bradley may simply be the only real option for Manny to fight in June (or July) -- and really, that's not a bad option. Bradley is a tough out for anyone, and no one's gotten him out to date.
At 28, Bradley is in the prime of his career and has beaten top fighters, including Lamont Peterson and Devon Alexander.
There's really no doubt, I don't think, that Pacquiao will be facing Bradley. The date might not be June 9, but there just isn't anyone else left unless Marquez changes his mind about fighting in Nevada.
0 recs | 3 comments
On paper, I see Pacquiao/Bradley as a decent fight…..It’s just…..I don’t like watching Bradley fight. It’s hard for me to be enthusiastic about the match up.
Duan - February 1, 2012
So much for that Jinkee prediction, but she was right that they wanted to go after Cotto. I’m just glad it didn’t work out.
Clove_art - February 1, 2012
I like it. It was my first pick of the BLH alternative to Mayweather.
I was going to say that I hope the fight occurs on June 9th, because that’s my birthday. But then I reviewed my birthday wishlist, and saw that #1 alone was to have a billion dollars (or more), be eternally 30 years old in perfect health, be a genius, have written a shelfload of books in any genres of my choosing, be a world-renowned classical musician (on any instruments of my choosing), and to be in constant but polite demand to be a consultant (always right) on every major issue of global importance.
That was just item #1. So, I’ll be OK with this fight on my birthday, but if this is the only ne that happens, I’ll just get drunk again.
DrRck - February 1, 2012
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