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19 March 2024

Pacquiao vs Bradley rematch: Arum takes aim at MGM Grand

Published
By AFP

Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley faced off in the final press conference for their welterweight world title rematch on Saturday, but it was promoter Bob Arum providing the fireworks.

Arum thought there was far too much Floyd Mayweather in evidence at the MGM Grand, where signs and banners promoting Pacquiao-Bradley 2 were side-by-side with materials advertising Mayweather's May 3 fight against Argentinian Marcos Maidana.

Arum introduced Richard Sturm, President of MGM Grand Entertainment and Sports, as "the president of hanging posters and decorations for the wrong fight".

Sturm sidestepped the criticism, but he was still sitting next to the podium when Arum closed the press conference at the MGM's Hollywood Theater with another blast at the venue.

"In the Venetian they wouldn't make a mistake like this," said Arum, the founder and chief executive of Top Rank Promotions who staged Pacquiao's 2013 bout against American Brandon Rios at the Venetian hotel-resort in the casino haven of Macau.

"They knew what fight was scheduled in three or four days and they wouldn't have a 12-1 fight all over the building that's going to take place three weeks from next Saturday," Arum said.

"But that's why one company makes a billion dollars a quarter and the other hustles to pay its debt," he added.

The broadside from the 82-year-old Arum was a sharp contrast to the restrained comments from Saturday's combatants, even though both Pacquiao and Bradley have said they have plenty to prove.

Bradley was stung by the outrage that greeted his split-decision triumph over Pacquiao here on June 9, 2012, with even the World Boxing Organization saying that upon review, the decision should have gone to Pacquiao.

In the build-up to the rematch, Bradley has goaded Pacquiao, saying the 35-year-old veteran has lost the "killer instinct" that made him a world champion in eight weight divisions.

Pacquiao, whose loss to Bradley was followed by a brutal knock-out loss to Juan Manuel Marquez before he righted the ship with a convincing points win over Rios, promised an entertaining bout.

"Everything is all said," Pacquiao said. "Both fighters are doing our best to do our job in the ring and make you guys happy and to give a good fight to make people happy."

Added Bradley: "It doesn't really matter what we say, it only matters what we do. Me and Manny Pacquiao basically went through hell in training camp to put on a great show for the fans."

As he moved to sit down, Bradley asked Arum if he'd hit the right notes.

"Why don't you ask the guy whose picture is up all over building (Mayweather) when he's going to fight somebody real?" Arum said.

"I'm not going to say that," Bradley said with a half-laugh. "You can say that."

Wrapping things up, Arum pleaded age as his excuse for speaking his mind.

"If whatever I said was incendiary," he said, "I'm an old guy and I apologize."

CONTROVERSIAL WIN

The vitriolic abuse that Timothy Bradley received after his controversial triumph over Manny Pacquiao had him contemplating not only ending his boxing career but even his life, Bradley said Wednesday.

The unbeaten American should have been on top of the boxing world after claiming the World Boxing Organization welterweight world title with a 12-round split decision over Filipino ring icon Pacquiao.

But most observers thought Pacquiao clearly won the fight, and the controversy that erupted left Bradley living through what he called the "darkest time in my life".

"Did I consider suicide? Hell yeah," said Bradley, who is looking for redemption in Saturday's rematch with Pacquiao.

"I was thinking I don't want to box anymore - I don't even want to live anymore," said Bradley, who recalled receiving hate mail, even a death threat, letters "belittling me, saying 'You're not a true champion.'"

He recalled strangers at gas stations, flinging insults as they drove away, and was still bemused by one so-called fan who asked him this year who he was fighting next.

When he told her he'd face Pacquiao this month, she said she hoped he won this time.

"And that was one of my fans!" Bradley said.

Bradley credited his wife, Monica, now his manager, with helping him climb out of the abyss.

"I realised the important things in my life, realised who was important," Bradley said.

He notched two impressive victories in 2013, absorbing brutal punishment but emerging with a 12-round unanimous decision over Ruslan Provodnikov in his first defence of the title, then winning a 12-round split decision over Juan Manuel Marquez - who had knocked out Pacquiao in December of 2012.

Along the way, Bradley said, he's learned to let the criticism roll off him.

"It doesn't affect me," he said. "I know who I am. I'm a great fighter."

Bradley's trainer, Joel Diaz, believes his fighter has what it takes to send the 35-year-old Pacquiao into retirement with another defeat on Saturday.

"That is what we're here for," Diaz said. "I think it's Manny Pacquiao's last fight."

Pacquiao, who has built a record of 55-5 with two draws in a pro career that began in 1995, says he's used to that kind of talk.

After losing both of his fights in 2012 - to Bradley and Marquez - Pacquiao revived his career with a unanimous decision over American Brandon Rios in Macau last year.

"It's not new for me," he said of a prediction that this fight could be his last. "I heard that in my last fight with Rios. They have to prove it in the ring.

Pacquiao, who has parlayed his sports fame into election to Congress in the Philippines and has expressed ambitions to run for president, says he doesn't believe his journey as a fighter is close to being over.

He doesn't expect anything Bradley does to change that.

"My journey will continue beyond Saturday night," Pacquiao promised.