Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley: 3 Clear Reasons Not to Pay for the Fight

Manny Pacquiao's fight with Timothy Bradley is a joke.  Boxing fans know that but many will still be tempted to cough up $50 and watch it on Pay Per View.

Don't do it.  The fight is going to be a boring waste of your money. Pacquiao will run circles around Bradley, which will ruin the suspense and the two will stretch it out into a yawn-worthy decision victory for Pacquiao.

In fact, here are three compelling reasons why you should avoid this fight and save your hard-earned money.  

Protest the Trash Boxing Is Presenting for Its Fans

There is only one welterweight fight boxing fans truly want to see: Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao.

Boxing's biggest promoters, Bob Arum and Al Haymon, hate one another and refuse to make a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight.  Worse, both boxers, out of fear for their respective legacies, refuse to step over their promoter's heads and make the fight reality.  Instead they are matching themselves up against lesser opponents and feeding boxing fans trash.

That is what the Pacquiao vs. Bradley fight is: trash.

Bradley isn't a match for Pacquaio.  Not by a long shot.  Sure, he is 28-0 but that has more to do with the quality of his opponents than his own talents.  He is a talented fighter who lacks either the power or skill, perhaps both, to win a bout against an all-time legend.

Boxing fans should protest with their wallets.  Pacquiao has already done this to boxing fans before: three of his last four fights were against dud opponents such as Joshua Clottey, washed-up Antonio Margarito, and the ghost of Shane Mosley.  

The fourth, his recent thriller against Juan Manuel Marquez, was great because those two fighters know one another so well and Marquez is a uniquely difficult physical matchup for Pacquiao.  None of those factors are present in the Bradley figh,t and its likely to be a dud.

Save your money and send a message to boxing's promoters at the same time.  

Timothy Bradley's Fights Are Boring

Let's get to the evidence: How do we know specifically that the Pacquiao vs. Bradley fight won't be worth the money?

First, we know because all of Bradley's recent fights have been boring.  If recent history is any guide, Bradley's style will make for a very boring, anti-climatic fight with Pacquaio.  His last bout was an eighth-round TKO of 40-year-old Joel Casamayor, which was a joke of a fight that was actually even less interesting to watch than you would think.  

Bradley danced around Casamayor for eight rounds and peppered him with jabs and light punches until getting the TKO when Casamayor fell down for the second time.  There was not a single moment where I was awed or felt my heart jump even one beat.  

Before that, Bradley fought Devon Alexander to unify the WBO and WBC titles, which was a well-hyped fight between the two undefeated champions.  But the fight turned out to be boring: Bradley refused to engage seriously with Alexander and instead dominated him with the light punches until an accidental headbutt opened up a cut above Alexander's eye and the fight was stopped.

So, Bradley's problem is his style: He likes to wear down his opponents with blazing speed but he shies away from any real prolonged engagement because of his lack of power.  It's a winning strategy against weaker opponents but it's neither very watchable nor likely to work against Manny Pacquiao.  

Timothy Bradley Lacks the Power to Knock out Manny Pacquiao

Here's the rub: Not only is Bradley's fighting style boring, it has no chance of working against Manny Pacquiao.

It's true that, on paper, Bradley looks like a difficult matchup for Pacquiao.  The Fighting Congressman has thrived against big, strong opponents who cannot match his speed and athleticism in the ring.  In particular, he ran rings around Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito, and knocked out Ricky Hatton because they could not match the speed of his punches.  

Bradley can match that speed, which is why some experts are calling it an intriguing fight.

It's not and the reason is because Bradley simply does not have the power to hurt Pacquiao.  

For anyone to beat the Filipino star, they need to have enough power for him to respect their stronger hand and stay away from it and mix that power with enough speed to match him blow for blow. That's what makes Juan Manuel Marquez such a tough matchup; he is still very fast and has the power to know Pacquiao out.  

Bradley has the speed but he has no power; he has not KO'd an opponent since 2006 when he crushed Alfonso Sanchez.  Who? Exactly.

Pacquiao is a much faster opponent than anyone Bradley has ever faced.  He has the fastest hands in boxing.  Bradley will be unable to run rings around him, shy away from contact and throw needle punches for nine rounds like he has done against his previous run of opponents. Pacquaio is simply in another class and he will force Bradley to engage and batter him into submission.

So, either Bradley will spend the night running from Pacquiao and avoiding engagement, which would be prudent, or he will break from his traditional winning strategy, stand his ground, and get knocked out because of his lack of power.  Regardless, its not the thriller you should shell out your hard-earned money to see.