Can Manny weather The Desert Storm?

Does anybody else think there might be an upset on the cards in this one? Don't get me wrong I think Manny is rightfully the favourite but just get the feeling Bradley may be catching him at the right time.

While I don't think hes technically brilliant I think he has become increasingly proficient in all aspects of the game. He has a great work ethic none and also an unwavering self belief. What I really like is his ability to adapt the right game plan and stick to it. There aren't many better inside fighters around and his ability to rough up an opponent and nullify their strengths is very impressive.

On the other hand I think Manny has noticeably slowed down. He got hit far too often by a slow Margarito, looked baffled by Mosley at times who simply had to take a quick step back to avoid Pac and was out boxed again by Marquez. I dunno if time has caught up with him or if its his many outside distractions getting in the way but he hasn't looked at his best since the Cotto fight.

In Bradley he's going to meet a hungry, undefeated fighter who will come to win. While he clearly struggles with counter punchers I think a very good inside fighter could also give him problems. A fully motivated at his best Manny wins this quite comfortably but I haven't seen him for a while. Will Bradley be able to take Manny's best punches I really don't know but if he can I make him a very live underdog and one who could cause an upset.

Thoughts on the fight?

I think that's there a very high possibility of an upset.

Bradley may not have the technical nous of marquez, but I think thy he has very good upper body movement, quicke hand and will be the naturally bigger man on fight night. Bradley is a 140lber, but I think pacquiao is also. He may have grown into the division, but he doesn't have a big frame and Marquez looked bigger than him last time out despite being a lightweight. they have to shove good down his gullet just to stay heavy enough. Bradley walks around 160lbs. He's a strong guy with huge shoulders. If he can get in the inside, he can bully nanny IMO as manny can't get in and out like he used to.

I also don't buy the "pacquiao need to focus more" that aria and road come out with. In the lead up to Mosley, they said he was there hardest opponent and try had there best camp ever. After that, manny wasn't focused and didn't train properly and suffered leg cramps. Before Marquez, manny was re-focused and was training like no-one has seen before. After, his legal duties had got in the way and will be much better last time out. Bradley will punish him if he suffers leg cramps

Maybe its not the fact that Pacquiao is slowing down, maybe its because he just isnt "That" good at this weight divisoin.

He fought the following:

Oscar De La Hoya - First fight for Oscar at 147lbs for 10 years, visibly weight drained, Pacquiao just too quick.

Margarito - Came in after a years absence and after having suffered abuse for cheating claims during Cotto fight. Had to make 150lbs for a 154lb title. Again. Pacman too fast. Got caught by big punches and Pacquiao was hurt in some cases.

Clottey - Pure defensive fighter. Pacquioa threw 1000 + punches ths preventing Clottey from throwing any, but even when he did, he marked up the Pacman.

Ricky Hatton - Hatton had problems in training and was style made for Pacman ( no defence, head first). Chin question remained before fight after he fought Lazcano. Pacquiao did the rest.


Miguel Angelo Cotto - Told to put his title on the line at a catchweight otherwise he would lose it (unfair). Came in 2lbs under his normal weight limit. Speed was key and drained Cotto took a hammering.



Juan Manuel Marquez - No comment - Marquez easily won that fight by around 2-3 rounds. Pacquiao had a nightmare.


Sugar Shane - Recently lost to Mayweather and drew with Mora, not looked decent in a while. Pacquiao beat him comfortably, but yet looked awkward as he literally can not fight a boxer ALA Marquez.

I think the point here is that if Paquiao, at this weight, fights a LIVER opponent withough catchweight, he would lose. I see him losing against Berto, Bradley, Khan, Mayweather. Berto would be close though. Bradley will rough him up and may actually choose to outbox him.


Either way it will be interesting to see. This has to be the 2nd live opponent in the past 3-4 years that Pacquiao has fought. Only Marquez from the list above would fall into that category.

Bradley to win via UD

Think you're being overly harsh on Manny to be honest d2... Its easy to put down his opponents retrospectively but many on here thought Hatton would beat him and Cotto was a great win. I do think he's slowed down recently.

Im not saying they were not bad wins. He hammered Cotto and looked good doing so, but the question is that if he can fight margarito at 150lbs then why not Cotto at 147lbs as opposed to 145?

I also thought he would walk through Hatton, and he did.

I just think he will be remembered by ALOT of haters as someone who fought his latter career against weight drained fighters out of their prime, apart from Bradley, Marquez and hopefully Mayweather.

Manny should be remembered more for his Featherweight and Superfeatherweight reigns when he was at his best imo, his opponent say 147 and 140 is what got him the fame though

I also think brook would give him a lot of problems. A great stif jab, right defence, good ring IQ with speed and power. Manny is slowing down evidently and wil hang it up soon enough.

Also, berto deosnt have the stamina or chin to beat manny

Fair enough on Oscar but he won't be the last to feed off of what is left of a legend.

Even if the Margarito fight was at the full 154lbs he wouldn't have done any better Pacquiao was just to fast for him. The Cotto fight was at 153lbs and he looked no better in that.

Clottey was a good performance he made Clottey so negative with his work rate. He probably head hunted a bit to much but Pac does that.

Sparking a guy like Hatton out in 2 rounds is a good win for any fighter it's not Pacs fault Ricks wanted to block punches with his chin.

Everyone jumps on the catchweight for the Cotto fight but Pacquiao was outstanding that night. Plus Cotto weighed in only 1lb less than he did for the Clottey fight only 6 months earlier and given the fact he had 36 hours to rehydrate it played no factor in the fight.

Marquez fair enough he struggles with him and is very lucky to have never lost to him. But then again you make no excuses for Pacquiao given he's a fully fledged welterweight and he fought Marquez at a catchweight but are more than willing to use the same excuse to try tarnish his record. Double standards I think.

Mosley came into survive and when that is all Mosley wants to do that is what he will do. Pacquiao was winning pretty much every round comfortably so why change what you are doing.

Bradley has a chance but for me it depends on what Pac has left or how much all the things he has going on outside the ring start affecting him. If Pac is anywhere near his best Bradley won't go 6 rounds unfortunately I don't think he is. I can see Bradley winning a close fight on the cards.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:
I can see Bradley winning a close fight on the cards.

Do you think that there's a danger that if its anyway close the decision will be given to Manny regardless?

paperbag_puncher wrote:

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:
I can see Bradley winning a close fight on the cards.

Do you think that there's a danger that if its anyway close the decision will be given to Manny regardless?

After the Marquez fight you wouldn't be surprised. Arum might think he can mould Bradley into a star though so he might get the nod.

Nice comment Sugar. Agree with what your saying, and i dont think for one moment that Pacman looked poor etc in his fights. I just think that maybe in different circumstances they could have been different, but who knows. I dont like the catchweight cowpat that goes on in Boxing.

I have gone off Pacquiao ever since the Margarito fight, not really took an interest in anything.


But now he is actually fighting a decent live opponent, im interested. Id loved to see him smash him to peices but who knows!

I hate catchweights but I really didn't care about Margarito. To be honest if Pacquiao had come down to the ring with a claw hammer and opened up his skull I think I might have been quite happy.

The Mosley fight was a joke. I understood the De La Hoya one it was purely for the cash but not Mosley. The amazing thing is Mosley has another big pay day when he fights Alvarez and Kahn has been talking about fighting him as well!

I would love to see Pacquiao at his best and batter Bradley but I don't think we will. He's a congressman in the Phillipines and that's a proper job. Not many other elite fighters have a second job. That must drain you.

This is very true. Mosley is, at the moment, just a name. The younger generation such as Alvarez and Khan want a peice of him. Mayweather was justified as Mosley ran into the ring after Mayweather fight and challenged him out. Funny times. Have you seen the latest Mayweather vs Cotto HBO Face Off? Quite funny, But nowhere near as funny as the Face Off between Pascal vs Hopkins 2.

d260005p wrote:This is very true. Mosley is, at the moment, just a name. The younger generation such as Alvarez and Khan want a peice of him. Mayweather was justified as Mosley ran into the ring after Mayweather fight and challenged him out. Funny times. Have you seen the latest Mayweather vs Cotto HBO Face Off? Quite funny, But nowhere near as funny as the Face Off between Pascal vs Hopkins 2.

I don't begrudge Mayweather fighting Mosley but not for the reason you state? If Audley ran in and challenged Wlad should he get a shot? In truth Mosley was too far gone to win especially after over a year out. Obviously Pac fighting him afterwards made no sense.

I favour Manny but it wouldn't be the biggest shock if he lost on points (Bradley is never going to stop him).

Confidence is a big factor and any opponents of Manny should be more confident than they have been in years.

If Bradley stays busy and quick on his feet plus plays dirty which he's well capable of he could just do it, but even then would Bradley need to win 9 rounds to get the decision?

Found it strange when the latest mayweather and PAC fights were made that it was mayweather cotto that sparked the interest. Cotto has two hopes, but Bradley is unbeaten, under-rated and in his prime. Very much a live fight in my view

d260005p wrote:This is very true. Mosley is, at the moment, just a name. The younger generation such as Alvarez and Khan want a peice of him. Mayweather was justified as Mosley ran into the ring after Mayweather fight and challenged him out. Funny times. Have you seen the latest Mayweather vs Cotto HBO Face Off? Quite funny, But nowhere near as funny as the Face Off between Pascal vs Hopkins 2.

Mosley was still up there around the top men at 147lbs when Floyd beat him. The face off was good. Floyd and Kellerman at least treated Cotto like a proper fighter. Last time they just mocked Ortiz. They were both sitting laughing and asking him how he was going to beat Floyd.

Not seen the one for Hopkins vs Dawson 2. Is it on youtube?

I think there is a chance of the upset in this. I wouldnt have Pacquiao as big a favourite as the bookies.

I think Pacquiaos handspeed and power advantages will pose a big challenge for Bradley. But if Bradley can cut of the ring, pin Pacquiao down and fight up close then he can win as he is much better at in fighting.

I think Pacquiao will try to utilise his handspeed advantages by fighting in and out in bursts. But I think Bradley knows that to beat this you need to keep the pressure on Pacquiao as he is trying to get out after an ambush and follow him to the ropes. Marquez was successful against Paquiaos style because he was able to chase Pacquiao and catch him as Pacquiao tried to get out.

Some very valid points about Manny's recent performances but to me, it's a sign of him struggling with 'boxers' rather than him slowing down.

He won easily against Shane, who came with no ambition to win whatsoever after being tagged. I'm not sure how Manny is meant to look great against a guy that won't open up and is clever enough to survive.

He was lucky against Marquez but showed great fitness and determination to pull himself back into the fight to make it a close call. Not a sign of his body slowing down.

It could very well be that Manny has gone over the peak but I have a feeling that it is the counterpunching style that troubles him, more than his physical capabilities being on the wane.

One point for me is that this could end up being a Hatton style KO. Bradley is an aggressive come forward guy and Manny tends to like guys who walk forward.

An upset wouldn't be a total shock and would justify the doubters, but neither, given Bradley's style, would a dramatic return to form with a big KO.

I would be extremely surprised if Bradley beats Pacquiao. I get the feeling that lot of people think he is there for the taking since Marquez made him look ordinary and beatable. I really think Pacquiao is going to KO bradley mid to late. Marquez has fought Pacquiao 3 times and knows exactly how to fight him. Bradley isn't anything like Marquez and anyone who goes forward will be eaten for breakfast by Pacquiao. I don't think Bradley is going to box on the backfoot, has he ever displayed this ability??? Pacquiao is too fast and hits too hard imo.