Pacquiao vs. Bradley: Round-by-round recap

A look at the WBO welterweight title fight won on a split decision by unbeaten Timothy Bradley, who handed Manny Pacquiao his first loss since 2005.By Kevin Baxter

June 10, 2012

Times sports writer Kevin Baxter recounts the action

Round 1: At the bell both fighters charge to the center of the ring. Bradley throws the first punch but misses. Pacquiao throws a wild combination then, after Bradley connects, Pacquiao lands a pair. Bradley may be throwing fewer punches but he's landing more.

Judges: Jerry Roth, C.J. Ross 10-9 for Pacquiao; Duane Ford 10-9 for Bradley

Round 2: Bradley continues as the aggressor, but 30 seconds in, the patient Pacquiao lands a couple of shots. At the minute mark, Bradley catches him in the middle of the ring and lands some punches of his own. With 1:12 left, Bradley backs Pacquiao against the ropes and gets off three shots.

Judges: Roth, Ross 10-9 for Bradley; Ford 10-9 for Pacquiao

Round 3: Bradley lands a hard right to the midsection to start the round, then the two fighters clinch. Bradley is probing with the left, keeping the right cocked and loaded. Pacquiao is bobbing and weaving, looking for an opening. With 90 seconds left, he finds it and gets off the kind of lightning-fast shot Bradley fears.

Judges: All 10-9 for Pacquiao

Round 4: The most action in the fight so far with both men mixing it up in the center of the ring. Pacquiao is getting the best of it, and Bradley is cautioned for a low blow. He then clinches twice, forcing Byrd to step in and separate the fighters. Bradley is in trouble with 40 seconds to go as Pacquiao chases him around the ring.

Judges: All 10-9 for Pacquiao

Round 5: Bradley has become much less aggressive, and now it's Pacquiao who is charging forward, his confidence growing. Bradley fakes a couple of punches, then begins backing up again. Pacquiao is trying to cut the ring off. Bradley lands a couple of lefts, but they have little effect.

Judges: Roth 10-9 for Pacquiao; Ross, Ford 10-9 for Bradley

Round 6: Bradley lands a soft left, but it doesn't hurt Pacquiao, whose speed is overwhelming the challenger. Bradley flinches every time Pacquiao so much as feigns a punch. Pacquiao gets off a good left counterpunch.

Judges: All 10-9 for Pacquiao

Round 7: It took Pacquiao most of the first two rounds to get a feel for Bradley, but he's unstoppable now. Even on the rare occasions when Bradley gets off a good punch, Pacquiao answers with two of his own. And while Bradley's punches appear to have little effect, Pacquiao's appear to be taking a toll.

Judges: All 10-9 for Bradley

Round 8: A minute in, Bradley appears to get caught in the eye by Pacquiao's thumb, and Byrd momentarily pauses the fight. When it resumes, Bradley is in trouble. Bradley is just tapping at the champion — and for good reason: Whenever he winds up, he leaves himself wide open to Pacquiao's vicious counterattack. Pacquiao again has him backing up at the bell.

Judges: Roth 10-9 for Pacquiao; Ross, Ford 10-9 for Bradley

Round 9: Pacquiao, patient as always, finds the challenger leaning forward and drives him into the ropes with a couple of shots. Then halfway through the round, Bradley bends at the waist to avoid one punch and Pacquiao nails him with a pair of uppercuts. Bradley gets off a right to the head, but he continues to leave himself open.

Judges: Roth, Ross 10-9 for Pacquiao; Ford 10-9 for Bradley

Round 10: Bradley doesn't have the punching power to KO Pacquiao now, so this one is going the distance. Just inside two minutes into the round, Bradley lands a couple of punches. And halfway into the round, while Pacquiao clinches, he gets off a shot to Pacquiao's head.

Judges: All 10-9 for Bradley

Round 11: Bradley continues showing some fight, first slipping a couple of punches and then backing Pacquiao against the ropes. But he doesn't make much of the chance. The crowd, quiet for most of the fight, begins to shout Bradley's name. Pacquiao shuts that down with a flurry of punches that are mostly for show.

Judges: Roth, Ross 10-9 for Bradley; Ford 10-9 for Pacquiao

Round 12: The fighters touch gloves to start the round. Bradley needs a knockout, but he's not showing sufficient urgency. Pacquiao continues to fight moving forward, and Bradley hits him in the jaw early in the final minute. The round ends with both fighters throwing wild punches.

Pacquiao Vs. Bradley: Fight Preview And Prediction

By Brent Brookhouse - MMA Editor

Is Timothy Bradley the man to derail the Manny Pacquiao train or will Pacquiao's run as one of boxing's two most dominant superstars continue when the two men collide on HBO pay-per-view?

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Jun 9, 2012 - The lead-up to Manny Pacquiao's fight with Timothy Bradley has been odd, to say the least. An absurd amount of focus has been placed on Manny's new devotion to God and his Bible studies while Bradley actually emerged as an engaging and interesting personality. Pacquiao's disinterest in playing the game with Bradley was summed up quite well during their post-weigh-in staredown. With Tim eyeing Manny down with evil intentions in his eyes, looking to create an intense moment, Pacquiao started to smile. A smile, he would later explain, that comes from "having God with him" and "being happy."It's difficult to say if the new devotion is, in part at least, due to Pacquiao's legal troubles and the fact that they (being Top Rank and Manny) seem determined to explain away a less-than-stellar showing against Juan Manuel Marquez last November.

The Marquez fight was supposed to be something easy for Manny. Given the way Marquez had looked against Floyd Mayweather the expectation was for Pacquiao to destroy his smaller rival, finally moving past their controversial first two fights. Instead, more controversy followed as Marquez gave as well as he took, if not better, and made a very solid case as having won the fight.

We've since heard that Pacquiao was having marital problems that extended to getting to the arena late that night, we've heard that it is the mysterious calf issues that seem to pop up whenever things get rough among a host of other excuses. And the truth probably lies in some combination of it all.

But, the way the Marquez fight went combined with Miguel Cotto choosing to fight Mayweather instead of Pacquiao lead us to tonight, when Manny steps into the cage for a truly dangerous test against an undefeated and hungry Bradley.

The Generation Gap

Pacquiao has fought eight different men since 2008, with the retirements of Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito over the past few weeks, five of those men are no longer fighting (Mosley, Margarito, De La Hoya, Diaz and Hatton). Add in an old (even if great) Juan Manuel Marquez who probably deserved wins in their two fights during that timeframe, a disinterested Joshua Clottey and Miguel Cotto who was forced to go down to 145 for the bout and it's not hard to see how Bradley is a different breed from Pacquiao's other opponents since becoming a superstar.

For Bradley, this is his shot. Yes, he's coming up maybe a weight class higher than he'd ideally fight but he's also at his athletic peak and has yet to taste defeat. While this is his first chance to fight on a stage this level, he's been in with top shelf talents already with wins over guys like Lamont Peterson and Devon Alexander.

You can't tell with absolute certainty how a fighter is going to react once the opening bell rings, but the fact that Bradley is who he is means that we're not going to see Pacquiao get the walk he got against Mosley or Clottey nor is he going to be able to run circles around him like he did the plodding Margarito.

Pacquiao is absolutely capable of handling Bradley despite that he's fast becoming one of the last of his era, but he's going to have to be ready for a different fight than he's been in for quite some time.

Cranium Collisions and Conditioning Coaches

Timothy Bradley fights involve headbutts. That's just a fact of life. Since this fight was announced, we've heard plenty of concern over what will happen when southpaw Pacquiao and orthodox Bradley get inside. Bradley claims that he doesn't headbutt, he just keeps his chin tucked and when guys try to get inside on him, clashes happen.

The concern is two parts. One, if Bradley's head does crack Pacquiao, will it bother Manny? Two, is there a chance of a nasty cut that forces an early end to the bout?

Headbutts aside, Pacquiao has also seen his camp have a fair amount of infighting, with his strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, briefly kicked out of camp and now back with the team even if his role is diminished and Bob Arum (Manny's promoter), Miguel Diaz (Manny's cutman) and Freddie Roach (Manny's trainer) all seeming to feud with him at some point. It's yet another distraction for Manny as he tries to dodge marital strife, muscle issues, Bradley's headbutts and the simple risks of getting older as a boxer.

The Prediction

Pacquiao didn't accidentally become one of the best fighters on planet Earth. He has climbed up in weight and now, at 147 pounds, handles bigger men than himself with relative ease. But he also struggled against the smaller Marquez and, as pointed out earlier, his opposition hasn't exactly been athletically peaking.

Bradley isn't without issues. He doesn't hit particularly had, despite what his camp has said in public about his ability to get a stoppage. He also isn't quite as fast as Manny. In terms of purely who is a better fighter when at their absolute best? It's Manny all day.

But this isn't the best Manny Pacquiao. This is an aging fighter who is clearly distracted and also doesn't seem to have the "fire" that he had when at his absolute best.

I think that a young, determined Bradley, capable of making fantastic mid-fight adjustments, will be able to simply outwork a fighter whose legs have been failing him over the past couple years. Bradley is going to make it a little dirty and he's going to be able to do things that Manny can't keep up with at this point in his career.

I know it sounds like hedging and I don't mean it to, but there's a real chance I'm completely wrong and Manny either stops Bradley with ease or simply proves to be too high of a quality over twelve rounds. But I'm going to stick with what I've said since the fight was announced and say that I'll take Timothy Bradley by unanimous decision in an upset.