Boxing Mad Magazine #9 | Page 20

stevie adams jnr P a c q u i a o vs B r a d l e y 2 once and for all s t e v i e a d a ms jn r The highly anticipated rematch between Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao is fast approaching, and both men are desperate to set the record straight following their unsatisfactory and much-publicised first encounter in June of 2012. The bout itself will take place on April 12th at the world famous MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will be televised by broadcasting and pay-per-view giants, HBO. This fight simply had to happen. The Filipino icon was, in all honesty, a deserved winner the first time around, but Duane Ford and C.J. Ross inexplicably awarded the WBO welterweight title to the American and caused a worldwide stir in the process. The public were stunned and words such as; fix, corrupt and cheat, were frequently used. 20 BOXINGMADMAGAZINE.COM Pacquiao himself believes he won at least ten rounds that night, whereas Bradley is adamant that he did indeed deserve to have his hand raised, despite battling through most of the fight with two severely injured ankles. Since that night at the very same venue, both men have shared the ring with Mexican legend, Juan Manuel Marquez, albeit with incredibly different results. The 35-year-old Pacquiao met his old rival six months after his dalliance with ‘Desert Storm’, and suffered a stunning and brutal knockout in the sixth round. He walked straight into a vicious countering right hand that immediately rendered him unconscious. The eight division champion was laid out cold on the canvas for an alarming amount of time and the arena fell into a deafening silence (barring the Mexican assemblage, of course). BOXINGMADMAGAZINE.COM 21