But contrary to Arum’s statement, boxing fans have nothing to look forward to in terms of changes or issues that need to be settled in another encounter, except Bradley’s decision to hire Teddy Atlas, who seems to have made his case when Bradley mauled Brandon Rios to submission last month in Las Vegas.
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.
After five weeks of selling the fight to the public, nothing much had been reported about a surge in ticket sales for the upcoming fight.
But as Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz announced Pacquiao’s successful rehab from his recent surgery, there have been some talks about the manner in which Pacquiao carried out his post-surgery therapy.
The uncertainty of a successful post-operation rehab must have goaded Pacquaio’s trainer Freddie Roach to fly to the Philippines to start training earlier than expected.
There is no way of telling if Pacquaio’s shoulder surgery stemming from his torn rotator cuff is successful or effective until he actually tests it with a competitive fighter like WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.
It is this uncertainty that could influence the fans to watch the fight and to see how Roach deal with it on fight night.There has been a longtime agreement between Roach and Pacquiao where the Hall of Fame trainer would stop the fight the moment Pacquiao slips as he recently did with Jean Pascal.
“If I see he is slowing down and slipping in the fight I will be the first one to tell him,” said Roach before Pacquiao fought Brandon Rios in Macau, China. “We have an agreement that I will tell him that and he will retire,” he added.
Pacquiao’s performance in the upcoming Bradley fight is another reason why fans would still watch the fight aside from watching the new, improved Bradley courtesy of trainer Teddy Atlas.