Pacquiao-Bradley Round-by-Round Updates

Check back here regularly for notes from each round!

Courtesy: TopRank.com

Pacquiao needed to run on a treadmill prior to getting dressed, while Bradley was ready, gloves on, warming up.  Tactics?

As always, the Filipino National Anthem trumps our own.  What a beautiful song…

What are you predictions for the fight?  Any thoughts on my 9th-Round KO (Pacquiao) prediction?

Round 1 – Bradley:  Bradley with early feel-out jabs…loading up his right hand.  Bradley the aggressor overall, Pacman throwing some lazy shots it seems, but in reality he may just be settling into his shots.  Sure enough, 15 seconds to go in the round, lands a hard left hand, followed by two or three more.  I’m giving the round to Bradley for aggression and activity level, although Pacman could have won it in the last 15 seconds.

Round 2 – Pacquiao:  Pacquiao doesn’t wait this time, and goes to work from the bell.  Starts landing hard lefts, but Bradley is landing some hard rights of his own.  Bradley coming in with double jabs, setting up his right, and is landing a lot more punches than I thought.  But I am giving this round to Pacman, as he landed the more significant shots.

Round 3 – Pacquiao: It’s immediately apparent that Bradley’s punches are nowhere near as hard as Pacman’s .  In fact, Bradley may even be a bit quicker than Pacman…but Pacquiao’s timing is superior and it shows.  I’m not sure what judges we have here tonight, are they going for activity level and pitter-patter shots?  Or are they going for the more significant shots landed?

Round 4 – Pacquiao: Some good action so far in this fight.  Bradley is standing right there, toe-to-toe with Pacman.  He’s got good head movement, is trying to be as offensive as possible…but against Pacman this isn’t as effective as it is against most.  As I write this, I notice that Bradley is slowing down a bit…and his punches are becoming lazy.  He got hurt with a left with about 30 seconds to go, and bobbed and weaved the remainder of the round to survive.

Round 5 – Pacquiao: A little more boxing in this round by both fighters.  Bradley is foolishly keeping his left hand down, perhaps being confident in his quick head movement.  After a few exchanges, Pacman hurts Bradley with straight lefts…with 20 seconds to go, Bradley’s footwork is sloppy and he’s wobbling all over the place.  Pacman is running away with this…and is looking more and more fresh each round.

Round 6 – Pacquiao: Pacman is having fun.  He’s teeing of…and has taken command.  That’s actually an understatement.  Pacman is more accurate, he’s landing standard one-two combos, and he’s fighting his fight.  Hard body shots are landing at will.  Bradley trying to stay in the fight with activity and combos of his own, but they are meaningless, and barring a miracle, this fight is already in the bag.  There is no way, in my mind, that Bradley can even hurt Pacman, let alone win another round.

Round 7 – Pacquiao:  Bradley looks a little fresher this round, but he’s really got nothing on his shots.  Pacman is walking right through them.  Bradley, at this point, is going through the motions…he’s leading off with left-right combos, but they’re bouncing of Pacman.  In the last few rounds, he’s been fighting like a sparring partner…giving Pacman enough to make it interesting, but not doing enough to challenge Pacman.  Manny continues to land the harder shots, the more accurate shots.

Round 8 – Pacquiao:  More of the same…Pacquiao methodical at this point, but in a good way…I feel like I’m watching a highlight reel of Pacman’s offense…Bradley’s presence has become non-existant.  I really was hoping for more from Bradley here, but I guess when you’re up against Pacquiao, it’s hard to hope for anything other than survival.  Bradley has a good moment toward the end of the round, thinking he hurt Pacman with a hard right hand, but Bradley’s shots are doing nothing but knocking the sweat off of Pacman’s head.

Round 9 – Pacquiao:  Bradley’s corner is urging him to forget about his hurt foot…Oh boy, I can hear the excuse from Bradley coming… “My foot was sprained and I could not move”.  Truthfully, Bradley could have two healthy feet, five healthy feet for that matter…but it wouldn’t affect the offense of Pacman.  Pacman continues to land the harder shots, while Bradley is trying whatever he can to score points.

Round 10 – Bradley:  Bradley wins his token round…I agree with Harold on this one.  Bradley was more active, landed a few nice combos…but truthfully, let’s be real…Pacman took the round off.  That’s all there was too it in this round.

Round 11 – Pacquiao: You know what I wonder most about corner men sometimes?  They don’t seem to know when their fighters are getting shut out.  They say things like: “One more round…we need this round”.  Are you kidding me? Bradley needs a KO to win…he needs a miracle, he doesn’t need to just survive (or win) this round.  Pacman continued to work the way he normally does.  He’s just too strong, too fast, and is too smart for Bradley.  I hate to say it, but he’s making Bradley look amateurish.  On the other hand, Bradley should have been knocked out at this point.  Pacman from three years ago would have dispatched of this kid already…but perhaps he’s content now with just winning rounds?

Round 12 – Pacquiao: My official scorecard, 118-110 for Pacquiao.  Before I even pasted my notes from my round twelve updates, I heard the scorecards read from Michael Buffer.  I erased my entire e-notecard and will write this instead.  Duane Ford 113-115 CJ Ross 113-115 Jerry Roth 115-113, are you friggin’ kidding me?  I am embarrassed as a proponent of our sport…I am embarrassed for as a fan, as a writer to even be associated with the atrocity we just witnessed.  This is not the only bad decision we’ve seen, but definitely one of the worst.  What fight was Duane and CJ watching?  How could you even give Bradley more than two rounds? I am speechless, folks.  Speechless.