Pacquiao vs. Bradley: Why This Is PacMan's Most Important Fight

Manny Pacquiao's spectacular career has come to a crossroads, and his performance in his June 9 bout against Timothy Bradley will tell us which path he will be heading down for the remainder of that career. 

PacMan hasn't lost a fight since his March 19 bout with Erik Morales in 2005. Since then, he has spent the majority of that time looking nearly invincible. 

He's gone 15-0. In his 11 fights directly after that loss, he won eight of them with either a KO or a TKO. 

His last four fights have all gone the distance, and he has looked increasingly vulnerable in each fight. He has not been able to sustain his trademark ferociousness in these these bouts, and in his last two he has been slowed by shin splints. 

This could be due to his training regimen, or it might just be a sign of aging. At 33, PacMan has definitely reached the point of his career where most fighters begin to show the effects of aging. 

Whether this is due to training or aging, we are about to find out. PacMan has made some adjustments to his training regimen that he hopes will eliminate the problems with shin splints. 

This fight will show if these problems simply are a matter of finding the right conditioning program, or if they are the inevitable and irreversible effects of aging. 

PacMan will either come out and dominate Bradley from start to finish, or he will show signs of weakness and vulnerability that cause him to lose multiple rounds. 

Bradley is an accomplished and talented fighter, but he does not have the punching power or elite defense it would take to hang with a Manny Pacquiao that is at his best. 

If, after making these adjustments, Pacquiao does not go back to his amazingly elite form, it will be a clear sign that this is a great fighter on the decline and not one that is still capable of demolishing every fighter he faces.