Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
On Saturday, April 9, 2016, Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) returns to the ring for what is being billed as his third and final fight against Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs).
Pacquiao, who hasn’t been in the ring since suffering a shoulder injury and losing a unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather in May of 2015, is still a heavy favorite to beat Bradley in the rubber match.
Regardless of the backlash Pacquiao has faced as of late due to his comments regarding homosexuals, the mystery surrounding his miraculous recovery from a torn rotator cuff will likely have a large number of people curious enough to tune in on fight night.
“I never saw a doctor. I never did rehab. All I did was to swim in the sea as often as I could. The salt water healed my wound,” said Pacquaio regarding his injury and recovery (per PhilStar.com).
Officially, Bradley won the first encounter and Pacquiao the second, but the majority of boxing fans and pundits agree that Pacquiao earned a victory the first time around as well.
Aside from the injury story line, there is also some added flare with trainers Freddie Roach and Teddy Atlas going head to head.
Atlas, who was always been known for his boisterous personality and funny quotes, trained Bradley for the first time last November against Brandon Rios and became an instant Internet sensation with his fireman speech.
But Roach is not a fan of Atlas’ style or his speech and saw the whole thing as a well-practiced gimmick.
[otw_shortcode_quote border=”bordered” border_style=”bordered”]“It should be a harder fight, he does have a new coach now [Teddy Atlas] who is very experienced, he’s a good cheerleader, I mean he’s very animated in the corner of course. People tend to love that bullshit.” -Freddie Roach via Fight Hub TV [/otw_shortcode_quote]
It will be interesting to see how the third fight plays out with Atlas in Bradley’s corner and whether or not the game plan will be any different to that of Joel Diaz’s–Bradley’s former trainer.
Let us know who you think will win Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley III
