For most boxing fans, the proposed Pacquiao-Bradley trilogy will no longer make it to the box office as it did in their last two fights, and watching them in the ring for the third time would just be a waste of time and money.
Pacquiao and Bradley have fought twice in the past two years with the first fight going in favor of Bradley in a controversial judges’ decision that shocked boxing fans across the globe. The fight, which did 700,000 buys on pay per-view (PPV), took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in 2012.
The second fight happened last year in the same venue with Pacquiao avenging his loss by scoring a unanimous decision win which resulted in a higher PPV output at 800,000 buys.
But Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum insists a third fight will still be financially viable because fans would want to see a new version of Bradley under his new trainer Teddy Atlas, who seems to be doing wonders for him following his TKO win over Brandon Rios last November.
“Whether it’s the final fight, or “just” his next fight, we are going to pull out all of the stops and treat it like a big event,” Arum told Boxing Scene. “We’re going to dress it up with all of the bells and whistles, put on a strong undercard and present it as the first truly big PPV event of 2016.”
Arum is absolutely right because without a strong supporting lineup, fans will not be interested to see both fighters in the ring for a third time as they know Bradley lost to Pacquiao twice already despite judges’ decision favoring Bradley in their first encounter
One of the interesting fights that Arum wants to include in the undercard is a possible middleweight clash between Gilberto Ramirez and Arthur Abraham, who are both Top Rank (TR) fighters. Ramirez is unbeaten in 33 pro fights while Abraham is a veteran of 44 professional fights with four defeats.
Also being considered by Arum is unbeaten heavyweight contender Ike Ibeabuchi who has just regained his freedom after serving jail term for assault. Arum wants Ibeabuchi to face another TR fighter Andy Ruiz, who is unbeaten in 20 pro fights.
There are interesting stories about the characters in these proposed matches as they are unbeaten in their pro careers except Abraham who has four defeats.
In the next few days Arum is expected to announce the complete undercard lineup for the Pacquiao-Bradley trilogy which will take place on April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The full undercard lineup will allow boxing fans to assess and determine if the Pacquiao-Bradley trilogy will still sell after watching them fought twice in the past two years.
