Tag Archives: Manny Pacquiao

Timothy Bradley picked well in facing Juan Manuel Marquez

Posted: April 24th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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Timothy Bradley found himself in an ideal spot, getting to choose multi-million dollar fights against two superstars — Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.

The best choice was Marquez on several levels. First, the fight was going to be in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Day weekend against the country’s biggest star. Now that can change if Floyd Mayweather says he’s going to fight on that day. But Mayweather has a fight on May 4 and it’s rare he would fight on a short turnaround. While Mayweather might say he’ll fight on Sept. 14, So Bradley could have a huge audience to himself.

As for Bradley’s legacy, it would mean much more to him to fight Marquez and beat him. Marquez arguably beat Pacquiao all four times. And the most convincing victory of their four fights was the knockout victory in December that had Pacquiao on the canvas out cold for over two minutes.

Plus, Pacquiao was asking for too much for not enough compensation. In the original contract Bradley was to get close to $10 million for a rematch according to several reports. So for the Pacquiao camp to offer $6 million could actually be seen as a markdown. And then they wanted Bradley to fight in China, which is a huge ask. For that, they should have paid a premium. Or they should have made arrangements to compensate Bradley with a marketing plan in Asia that could open up millions of dollars.

And really, Bradley is doing Pacquiao a favor. Pacquiao is coming off two straight losses. Why shoule he get a title shot against Bradley?

Bradley-Marquez promises to be a fantastic, intriguing fight. And for Bradley, it can lift him up into another level.

Fight of the Year competition for Timothy Bradley-Ruslan Provodnikov comes this weekend in Rios-Alvarado II

Posted: March 25th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
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Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado will have their highly-anticipated rematch this weekend, and could be an early contender for Fight of the Year along side Timothy Bradley’s unanimous decision victory over rugged Ruslan Provodnikov on March 16.

In their first fight, Rios scored a seventh-round TKO when he rallied against Alvarado. It was an exciting fight between two guys who just went after each other. The first fight was also a Fight of the Year candidate, losing out to Manny Pacquiao getting knocked out cold in the sixth round by Juan Manuel Marquez.

But during their tele-conference last week, they were still buzzing about Bradley-Provodnikov.

“I was almost jumping on the TV watching that fight,” Rios said.  “It brought back memories.  I was like ‘Damn, they are showing the warrior spirit.’  They were going at it.  Like they said, Bradley came out with a different game plan and he proved that he’s a warrior and a fighter.”

Promoter Bob Arum is in a nice position. He promotes Rios, Alvarado, Bradley and Pacquiao. And he has worked well with Marquez. The talk is there might be a mini-tournament between the top welterweights.

So if Rios wins, he could set up a fight against Manny Pacquiao probably in the fall. Marquez has talked about wanting to fight for another title and that’s where Bradley will come in. Only time will tell if that materialize. If it does, it will be a great situation for Arum and HBO, which last week announced it won’t air any fights from Arum’s rival Golden Boy Promotions.

“Fans aren’t stupid.  They want to see action,” Arum said. ”Mike Alvarado and Brandon Rios are action fighters.  Timothy Bradley showed that he is an action fighter.  Juan Manuel Marquez is an action fighter.  Manny Pacquiao is an action fighter.  Ruslan Provodnikov is an action fighter.  They don’t play around.  They don’t dance around.  They fight.  That’s what the public wants to see, so we’ll mix and match as we go along because they are the big fights that people want to see.  That is the way the fighters can be rewarded monetarily.”

 

 

A good story on Ruslan Provodnikov by Steve Kim

Posted: March 22nd, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Timothy Bradley’s victory Saturday not only helped his career, but his opponent Ruslan Provodnikov. Steve Kim, an excellent boxing journalist for Max Boxing was at Wild Card Gym, which is trainer Freddie Roach’s headquarters. And he captured a really great moment, and how it was a microcosm of how his life has changed as well.

Micky Ward said he believes there’s six action fighters in the welterweight divisions, listing both Bradley and Provodnikov with the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Provodnikov might have an advantage in that he’s with Banner Promotions. So they could probably make a deal to fight a Golden Boy fighter or champion.

If you haven’t seen Kim’s story, check it out on the link below.

http://www.maxboxing.com/news/main-lead/azad-championship-report—provodnikov-feels-like-the-winner

BNP Paribas Open: Bob Arum’s message to tournament

Posted: March 14th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog, Tennis | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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The Indian Wells Tennis Garden’s 16,100 main stadium would be an ideal situation to hold boxing. With the dimensions of the court, it would be perfect to install an ring with great site lines for fans. But the main stadium could be a little big for boxing, if you don’t have a real marquee fighter to headline a card. Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather are the only sure bets. Cathedral City boxer Timothy Bradley could do well also, being the hometown hero.

But with the new Stadium 2 being built after Sunday’s tournament completes, and with a target for opening it by next year’s tournament, it could be well suited for boxing. It will be an 8,000-seat stadium, with two restaurants and should have nice site lines.

Told about the stadium, Top Rank’s founder Bob Arum had a message for the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. “Tell them we’re in,” said Arum, who represents Bradley, Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire, who was the fighter of the year.

 

Andy Murray on Timothy Bradley Jr. and Julio Diaz

Posted: March 7th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog, Tennis | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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One of the biggest boxing fans on the ATP Tour is U.S. Open and Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray, who last year got a chance to meet Timothy Bradley Jr., the WBO welterweight champion.

At the tournament last year, Bradley had secured a fight against superstar Manny Pacquiao, considered one of the two definitative boxers of this era. Bradley would score a split-decision victory over Pacquiao.

“Obviously he was building up to the biggest fight of his career against one of the best fighters the last time I saw him,” Murray said. “To see him win that fight was cool. It will be nice to see him again.”

There’s word that Bradley will visit the tournament on Sunday.

From Great Britain, Murray is friends with Amir Khan, who was the former light welterweight champon.

In April, Khan will fight Coachella’s Julio Diaz, who also trains at the Indio Boys and Girls Club with Bradley. Diaz is the two-time IBF lightweight champion, making him the first world champion in a major sanctioning body from the Coachella Valley.

It will be Khan’s first fight in Great Britain in two years.

“I know a lot about boxing. I follow it more than I do tennis sometimes,” Murray said. “I know who (Diaz) is, that he’s the former world champion.

“He’s a very good fighter. I’m not going to go into details about why he does well or not. I don’t know if I have the right to have a strong opinion about that. It should be a good fight.”

 

I need a translator for this Timothy Bradley segment, por favor

Posted: February 27th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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After Timothy Bradley’s Los Angeles workout, he made a trip to the ESPN studios next to Staples Center to film a segment of Nacion, which is the Spanish version of ESPN2′s Sports Nation. It was captivating television, even though I didn’t understand about 85 percent of the things that were being said. Where are you Rosetta Stone when I need you?

The questions they had for Bradley and his trainer Joel Diaz included:

Who was the better trainer, Diaz or Freddie Roach? They both went with Diaz, while the host went with Roach.

Who is a better matchup for Bradley, Manny Pacquiao or Juan Manuel Marquez? Bradley wants Marquez to set up a fight between two guys who beat Pacquiao. Diaz wants Pacquiao to end the controversy and have Bradley beat him again.

Here are the two clips from Nacion’s website. Enjoy. And please send me a translation.

http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/videohub/video/clipDeportes?id=1735480&cc=3888

http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/videohub/video/clipDeportes?id=1735566&cc=3888

 

 

Did Timothy Bradley make a mistake signing with Top Rank?

Posted: February 11th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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With this long break and struggles to find a suitable opponent, people are suggesting that Timothy Bradley might have made a mistake signing with Top Rank. Working with Top Rank, there are flaws, a lot of them. But if you look at the bottom line, Bradley did make the right decision.

The main one is the shallow pool of talent in the 140- and 147-pound weight classes. If Bradley was with Golden Boy, he would have big, big fights against Amir Khan, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, current light welterweight king Danny Garcia, the dangerous Argentine duo of Marcos Maidana and Lucas Matthysse, Victor Ortiz, and of course, the Money man Floyd Mayweather.

But boxing is a business and in business, the important thing is the bottom line. Top Rank wanted to pay a premium for Bradley. Golden Boy didn’t. So Bradley made the financially sound move.

While Mayweather will go down as the best fighter in this era, he only offers $2.5 million to his opponents, and I don’t think the pay-per-view share is that much. To fight Pacquiao, Bradley earned $5 million and got a small piece of the pay-per-view.

And Golden Boy didn’t covet Bradley like Top Rank did. The move was to get Bradley to fight Pacquiao. Golden Boy still had a grudge against Bradley for turning down the Amir Khan fight. As accomplished as Bradley was, there was no guarantee Golden Boy would put him on the fast track to Mayweather for half the money he would get for Pacquiao.

Now we’re in the back end. Bradley doesn’t have a lot of attractive fighters to face post-Pacquiao. Brandon Rios would be a great fight, but Cameron Dunkin manages both fighters and I’m sure he would want to avoid that. Mike Alvarado is a rugged fighter, but he has never been a world champion or defeated an elite fighter. There was talk that Bradley could have fought Yorkis Gamboa, but Gamboa had to go up three weight classes (17 pounds) from his last fight to take on Bradley.

Dunkin said the best thing for Bradley to do is stay busy, thank the best available fights and continue to move on. It might be a little disappointing after beating Pacquiao, But as Dunkin pointed out, the Pacquiao rematch is not out of the question. If Pacquiao can’t make a fifth fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, he will be looking for an opponent. Why not Bradley? Dunkin said that fight could be Shanghai or Macao. And that could result in another $5 million payday, bringing his total to $10 million in two fights.

For the fans, it will be disappointing if Bradley never fights the guys at Golden Boy. But the reality is, the fued between Top Rank and Golden Boy, which is tearing this sport apart, shows no sign of changing. Unless something happens between Top Rank and Golden Boy, this is the reality of the situation.

 

 

STARTING POINTS: Feeling bad for Tim Bradley and Mike D’Antoni this Monday morning

Posted: December 10th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Football, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , ,
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POINT ONE: What a knockout

So Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao were throwing hey-makers like Rocky and B.A. Baracus on Saturday and Marquez got the final blow, and it was game over for Pac-man. It was a pretty stunning turn of events. What’s next is going to be less stunning. After Marquez-Pacquaio Four was so dramatic, it’s pretty clear that the next major fight is going to be … Marquez-Pacquiao Five. Such is life in the world of pro boxing. And such is life for Cathedral City’s own Timothy Bradley. It would be great if logic ran the sport. We would now get a fight between Marquez and Bradley to see who the real top dog at this weight class is. But unfortunately for Bradley, we know this isn’t how it works. The idea isn’t to find out who’s the best. The idea is to find out who can make the most. And as long as the four choices for making pay-per-view dollars are Marquez, Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and Bradley, I think we know where Bradley stands. All Bradley can do is wait for his next big opportunity, and be ready when it comes around. I’m just afraid it might be a while.

POINT TWO: NFL shoutouts

Just a quick moment to give a few personal high-fives from this NFL Sunday. I was on my treadmill watching the NFL Mix Channel on DirecTV seeing eight games at a time and I had the sound on the Panthers-Falcons game when I heard Gus Johnson say: “Brought down by James Dockery. A nice play by the youngster from Oregon State.” Dockery, the Palm Desert product, recorded six tackles for the Panthers in an impressive victory over the one-loss Falcons. Matt Ryan and company tried to pick on Dockcery, who had been inactive the last couple games, but he was up to the task. Maybe Sunday’s outing will lead to more playing time this year and a steady gig next year. The other guy I have an affinity for is Washington Redskins backup QB Kirk Cousins. Cousins was a great college player and a standup guy for my alma mater Michigan State. And while all the other rookie quarterbacks in this stellar class landed in dream scenarios where they could play right away, Cousins, who has as much NFL talent as Russell Wilson, Ryan Tanneyhill or Brandon Weeden was inexplicably drafted by the Redskins a few rounds after they drafted Robert Griffin III. What a rip-off. I felt so bad for him on draft day. But there he was on Week 14, ready to go when his name was called. He threw a beautiful touchdown pass and followed it up with a steely quarterback draw on a two-point conversion to lead the Redskins to overtime and a crucial victory. It’s no surprise he was ready for his opportunity, and he may have some more huge moments to come in the next few weeks if RGIII’s injury is severe. I wish him well.

POINT THREE: Hashtag Lakers problems

With this daily blog, it’s hard to avoid talking about what’s wrong with the Lakers. I’d be happy to talk about what’s right with the Lakers, but there has to be something right to talk about. After another sluggish embarrasing loss at Staples Sunday night to the Jazz, the Lakers are 7-6 at home by the way, the doubt is creeping in more and more about this team’s legitemacy. It’s true they are not at full strength. But that doesn’t account for the effort being put forth, particularly defensively at the end of games, by the five guys that are out there. If the playoffs started today, the Lakers would not be in them. In fact if the playoffs started tomorrow, the next day or the next day, the Lakers would not be in them either. There are currently 10 teams in the West and 19 teams in the NBA with a better record than the Lakers. Only six teams out of 30 have more losses than the Lakers. Think about that for a second. Starting at the bottom it goes Wizards, Raptors, Cavaliers, Pistons, Suns, Hornets and then Lakers. I don’t have an answer for the Lakers’ woes, which is fine, but a larger problem is Mike D’Antoni doesn’t have an answer, either. “We’re not ver good right now” he said after Sunday’s 117-110 loss. He has the look of a guy who knows what should be happening, sees it isn’t happening, and doesn’t know how to make it happen. The Lakers have nine games left in December, and only two of them (both vs. the Knicks) are against a team in the top 10 in the league. If the Lakers are still sub-.500 on Jan. 1, Lakers fans officially have my permission to panic.

 

 

Weekend news and notes 10-15-12

Posted: October 15th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , ,
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It’s very rare a fight can live up to, or even exceed, the kind of hype that surrounded the Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado fight. But that fight was pretty brutal and fantastic and the leading candidate for fight of the year. Rios won with a seventh-round TKO when he was able to close off the ring and then unload on Alvarado. Up until that point, Rios took a good about of abuse from Alvarado, who fought extremely well.

It puts Rios in a great position as the hottest boxers out there, and now a leading candidate to fight Manny Pacquiao sometime in the spring of 2013 in what will be his biggest payday and a star-making opportunity. However, Rios will have a long wait if he tries to secure the Pac-Man fight. Pacquiao won’t fight for another two months, on Dec. 15, taking on rival Juan Manuel Marquez for the fourth time. AFter that, there’s talk that Pacquiao would like to step back into the ring in April. But that seems unlikely. After the third fight against Marquez last November, Pacquiao wasn’t ready to fight for seven months. Further complicating things is that Pacquiao is up for re-election in the Philippines, so July could be problematic.

Pacquiao has dragged out his decisions in the past, and with this time table, it could be a while before Rios could get an answer. If he decides he doesn’t want to wait, he has some attractive offers.

First would be a rematch with Alvarado. Judging by the fans and media reaction on Twitter, that fight would be a huge attraction and the most anticipated fight outside Pacquiao-Mayweather. Maybe it would be good enough to become a pay-per-view event. If not, what about Rios taking on Timothy Bradley? It would be an interesting fight, but you can expect both fighters to demand a lot of money for a risky fight. That could be the deal breaker.

In other news, it was announced today that Robert Guerrero will fight Andre Berto. Both guys were leading candidates to fight Bradley. With the continuing problems between Golden Boy and Top Rank, it was difficult to land either guys for Bradley, who will likely pass on his Dec. 15 date. The fight between Guerrero and Berto will be in Ontario on Nov. 24 as both fighters are moving up to a bigger stage. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Whoever wins, it doesn’t seem like either would be a natural to face a Pacquiao or Mayweather or Cotto. Guerrero still has questions to answer at welterweight after just one fight at that division, although he did win the WBC interim title. Berto’s appeal lost some luster when he fell to Victor Ortiz in 2011 and had a failed drug test earlier this year to keep him inactive for all of 2012. They are both terrific fighters, but they have to prove if they have what it takes to be a star. The winner will likely be on track to stardom, but it seems unlikely it will be a fast track.

 

Why it’s good for Timothy Bradley to wait

Posted: October 12th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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It’s pretty obvious that when possible opponents for Bradley came down to Lamont Peterson for a Dec. 15 date in Miami, it was time to consider taking a pass on that date. Their 2009 fight was so lopsided that there was never a demand to see a rematch. A Bradley-Peterson rematch could be an attractive fight later, but it certainly isn’t now. Peterson has been out of the ring for a year with his positive drug test and has no momentum coming in. Peterson has a possible fight with Zab Judah, and that might work out well for him right now.

As for Bradley, passing on Dec. 15 will open up even more attractive opponents for him. Several fight in the next few weeks, and wouldn’t have been available for Dec. 15.

Two leading candidates are fighting this weekend as the co-main event in Carson, Mike Alvarado and Brandon Rios. Both guys have created huge buzz coming into their fight Saturday that could overshadow the main event. These two bruising brawlers have people anticipating this could be a classic in the tradition of Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti. That’s huge praise. So having the winner face Bradley could provide an exciting fight fans will want to see.

Another possible opponent could be Paul Malignaggi, who defends his WBA welterweight belt next week in Brooklyn. Top Rank has been talking about hosting a fight in New York for Bradley, and Malignaggi could be the perfect opponent for Bradley. Yes, Bradley would be fighting in Malignaggi’s home turf, but the upside could be big with a victory. And it would be a unification bout, so Bradley could add another belt to his collection. Malignaggi has already been talking a lot of trash with the Bradley camp. The huge obstacle is that Malignaggi is with Golden Boy, and we know how it and Top Rank can’t work together.

Andre Berto is another attractive option for Bradley. A former world champion, Berto could provide an exciting fight. But in trying to book Berto for Dec. 15, there was some confusion as to which promotion company represents him — Golden Boy or Lou DiBella. My hunch is that Bradley’s camp wasn’t interested in fighting Berto in Miami. So why avoid Berto in Miami, but fight Malignaggi in New York? Because Malignaggi brings in a big crowd that would make it worthwhile. And he does have a belt, and Berto doesn’t.

And there is the Devon Alexander-Randal Bailey fight this weekend. Neither one would be at the top of Bradley’s list, but the winner will have the IBF title and that could change things depending on how interested Bradley is in collecting titles.

But on an even bigger picture, Bradley could also wait to see what happens in the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, or the Miguel Cotto fight, both in December. Bradley said he would like to fight in January or February, but if he continues having problems finding an attractive opponent, it might be worth the wait.