Pacquiao vs. Bradley 3: Early Vegas Odds, Undercard Info and Predictions

When Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley face off for a third time on April 9, there will be plenty of storylines worthy of attention from boxing fans.

Not only is it the rubber match between the two fighters, but promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com it is also most likely the final contest of Pacquiao's storied career.

After he lost the WBO welterweight title to Pacquiao in April 2014, Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KO) won the interim welterweight belt by defeating Jessie Vargas in June 2015 and retained it with a victory over Brandon Rios back in November.

A good boxing match will have plenty of drama pre-fight, and that is certainly the case here. 

Anthony Riccobono of the International Business Times broached the fact there is disagreement about which fighter actually won the first bout.

"Bradley picked up his first knockout in seven fights with a win over Rios, and he’s confident he can defeat Pacquiao for a second time," he wrote. "But Pacquiao is unofficially 2-0 against Bradley in the minds of many boxing fans, and he’s favored to win the April 9 fight."

Pacquiao (minus-308 to win) and Bradley (plus-252) both lasted the 12 rounds in their first fight in 2012, but as Riccobono expanded on in his article, it didn't go over well in the boxing world:

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The first fight between Pacquiao and Bradley produced one of the most controversial decisions of the last few years. Most of the experts believed that Pacquiao should have been awarded a unanimous decision, but instead Bradley won the welterweight title by split decision.

Pacquiao staggered Bradley in the first half of the fight with several powerful left hands, and he landed 253 total punches to Bradley’s 159, according to CompuBox statistics. By connecting with 190 power punches to Bradley’s 108, Pacquiao did a lot more damage to his opponent. But Pacquiao let up somewhat in the later rounds, and Bradley won the fight by coming on towards the end. Judges Duane Ford and C.J. Ross scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Bradley, while Jerry Roth had it 115-113 for Pacquiao.

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Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KO) won their second fight in April 2014, earning a unanimous decision with scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112.

Even though the 37-year-old appears to have the upper hand, he isn't taking preparation for the fight lightly, tweeting out a glimpse of his pre-fight workouts:

Bradley is no doubt putting in some work as well and is out to prove he can win an undisputed battle. He apparently feels whatever he's been doing to prepare is more than his counterpart. “If I fight the way I sparred [Tuesday], I’ll win every round,” Bradley told reporters at his Indio, California, gym.

The Palm Springs, California native, who has recently beem training with the famed Teddy Atlas, expanded on why he thinks he'll win: “This time around is going to be different because I’m fundamentally a better fighter. You can say what you want about the Rios fight, him being fat, overweight, whatever, but check out my mechanics, how tight my punches were, how precise they were.”

Like any successful boxers they are both confident they'll win. But in this case, they both actually have the track record to believe so, along with enough incentives to do whatever they can to avoid being on the losing side.

Bradley's only defeat came at the hands of Pacquiao, and the Filipino wouldn't want to end his career with a loss.

It should be a good match as Bradley has five years on the elder Pacquiao, but the American has been vulnerable in both his fights against his opponent on April 9.

There is no reason to think this won't go the distance, but Pacquiao proved last year he can hang with the best when he fought tooth and nail with Floyd Mayweather Jr. And as good as Bradley is, he isn't Floyd.

Look for Pacquiao to be more efficient in landing punches, outlasting Bradley for the second time in a row with a split decision.

Undercard Info 

Bout	Type
Arthur Abraham vs. Gilberto Ramirez	WBO world super middleweight title
Oscar Valdez vs. Evgeny Gradovich	WBO/NABO featherweight title
Jose Ramirez vs. Manuel Perez	WBC Continental Americas junior welterweight

In addition to having some talented fighters in the undercard, there is a twist in this one from the 84-year-old Arum, who has filled it with mostly Hispanic fighters and dubbed it the "No Trump undercard."

Arum went political for this fight, saying he doesn't care about alienating people in spreading his message that presidential candidate Donald Trump is the wrong choice for the United States of America, per Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press (h/t the News Tribune).

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The more [Trump] supporters I alienate, the prouder I am. I know who he's appealing to, and if they're his supporters, let them stay home and not buy my fight.

I have great admiration for the Hispanic community and these are kids with impeccable backgrounds and credibility. I think that is a statement that refutes the picture [Trump] wants to paint when it comes to Hispanics.

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For the undefeated Jose Ramirez, who hails from Mexico, this undercard is special to him. He disagrees with Trump's plan to build a wall at the Mexican-American border.

"That's not something an educated person with good morals and good ethics would say," the 23-year-old boxer said, per Dahlberg. "I'm not going to just ignore it. I want to use this fight to deliver a message. If we ignore it, obviously he might get away with what he wants."

Leave it to boxing to mix politics with sports. But the sport could use all the promotion it can get, and Arum has succeeded in doing just that.

All betting odds via Odds Shark.