Coming off a controversial win over Juan Manuel Marquez, it was felt that Manny Pacquiao might be slipping just a bit. He needed a win over a fresh face. Tim Bradley was selected for the job.
Unfortunately for Pacquiao, Bradley had other plans. Despite injuring his ankle early in the fight, Bradley took Pac the distance, and earned the judges’ nod in easily the most controversial decision of the year. Maybe it was karma for the Marquez win–who knows?–but Pacquiao had lost his title.
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Manny would go on to suffer a vicious knockout at the hands of Marquez in their fourth fight, and then fight for his continued relevance against an outmatched Brandon Rios. Bradley, on the other hand, slugged it out with Ruslan Provodnikov in the 2013 fight of the year (watch that here), and then defended his belt once again against Marquez, proving that he does indeed belong at the top.
More Pacquiao vs. Bradley II coverage:
So what do you think? Is Pacquiao slipping? Will his confidence hold up against the man who took his title, just one fight removed from the most devastating knockout loss of his career? And will Tim Bradley convince everyone that he is, in fact, the better boxer?
Rewatch their first fight above, and then join us tonight on Bloody Elbow for Pacquiao vs. Bradley II results, discussion, and live fight coverage, to see who truly deserves to hold the welterweight strap.
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