WBO welterweight title fight: Manny Pacquiao vs Timothy Bradley – as it happened! (2024)

Jim Lampley of HBO TV thinks there's going to be a third fight.

I'm not sure Bradley deserves another shot - he was very disappointing tonight, even offering injury excuses after the bout. This is a guy who "beat" Pacquiao with an fractured ankle, so whatever bothered him can't be worse than that.

So the Pacman is the champ again and for many, that will be justice served. He wins 116-112, 116-112 and 118-110 - that's pretty convincing.

That's all for tonight - for all joined us tonight, tomorrow or wherever you are, thank you for reading.

Hey Manny you can't say nothing against Manny man...I lost to one of the best fighters in the world.

No excuses what so ever...but I suffered an injury in my right foot, I strained my calf. You can boo, I don't care.

He threw a lot of punches, he threw counter punches and right hook. I got hit once and I said it's not good to be careless.

Big changes...he's very tough. it's good fight, he gave me a good fight.

I listened to my corner and timing...

I am very happy tonight because the victory is ours.

All three judges have it by unanimous decision. Manny Pacquiao is WBO welterweight champion again - Bradley claps at the result, he's a good sport, especially after being hugged by Manny's mom. So, Pacquiao has reasserted himself in the boxing world, rebounding from two losses in his previous three fights, until tonight.

So now the judges count their cards, HBO TV here in the US says 97% of tweeters believe Pacman to be the winner. Manny's mom is there to comfort her son. Here comes the result...

Pacquiao has connected unofficially on 45 more shots. This is it for bradley, he needs a knock down desperately. Pacquiao to the face of Bradley with a left - it turns his head! A frustrated Bradley is blocked by Pacman, who is on the verge of taking his title back. They trade punches before the ref calls time - it's an accidental head-but, Pacquiao has blood on his cheek. Bradley decides to go for it with ten seconds left but that's way too late. He puts his hands up but that's just saving face.

If this doesn't go to Pacman, then the judges are watching a different fight.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 9 Bradley

And down the stretch we come - just two rounds left in Las Vegas.

Bradley has been neutralized - and a big right from Pacquiao, who is still moving well. I don't know why Bradley isn't going for it right now - maybe he's counting on the judges again? A little left, right from Bradley does little to no damage. This round is even, but that doesn't help.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 10 Bradley

It's Pacquiao's fight to lose now. If he can tread water from here he'll re-take the belt. There's a Pacquiao right jab to the face of Bradley, but it's slower going here than it was in the tenth round. A Manny combo lands, Bradley needs a knockout now to win, surely, he's just not taking any rounds lately.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 9 Bradley

This is a big round for Bradley, he needs to make some kind of impact here. He's been too conservative in his approach in the latter half of this fight. Pacquiao knocks Bradley off balance, not once but twice. Then a right hook, a jab, a combo, Bradley is on the ropes, Pacquiao is in control, dictating the terms of this fight.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 9 Bradley

"Stop the bullsh*t Tim" says his corner.

"The jab will win you the fight" says the Pacquiao corner.

"Manny, Manny!"

Pacquaio has a poised look - he seems like he's channeling his experience to gain an advantage over a fighter five years his junior. They trade jabs - one gets to Bradley who starts performing for the crowd, perhaps to try and fool them into thinking he's in control. He's not, he's frustrated, although this was pretty even.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 10 Bradley

We've got action - big hits by both fighters. A body shot by Bradley with his right. Another Pacquiao flurry - two sets of them. Bradley is in some trouble, but he snaps back with a right. Now Pacman to the body - Bradley seems a bit stunned as the Vegas crowd get on their feet in appreciation of the Filipino who wins this round.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 9 Bradley

Bradley is aggressive to start the round, but both these guys seem to be settling in for the long haul - even if that's not what Bradley wants. Pacquiao with a little break through, jabs to the face. And then Manny finishes with a flurry of punches - were they effective? Bradley heads back to his corner shaking his head, as in, no, they weren't. Still, you've got to give this round to Pacman.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 9 Bradley

Timothy is scolded by his corner:

You want to go home? We'll f*cking go home right now.

Pacquiao had Bradley on the ropes for a moment, then they trade punches. It's a calmer round after an active fourth. A little body combo from Pacquiao, then Bradley to the face with a right hook. Pacquiao slowing down a touch - he's lost a tiny spring in his step. Manny ends with a left-handed offensive, but this is even.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 10 Bradley

A low-ish blow by Bradley early in the round. Big right to the face from Desert Storm, then jabs from Pacquiao. Even start to the round. Now there's a flurry from Bradley! To the head, to the body. Here comes Bradley! We heard all week how he wants to knock him out and it wasn't just conjecture.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 9 - 10 Bradley

"He's fading, he's fading kid" is heard in the Bradley corner.

A Manny combo - then bradley puts his head in his opponents stomach, pausing the action. Pacquiao looks fresh, he's moving very well. Dancing. Bradley misses with a big punch to the head. Pacman to the body now and another big miss from Bradley. Uppercut gets through to the face of Pacuaio. The crowd loves this, they waited long enough!

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 9 Bradley

Manny's mom is getting to work in supporting her son - there's a lot of scripture and crosses involved - a spectacle.

A Pacquiao hook! The fighters have to be separated. Now there's a little blood on the eye of the Filipino, but here he comes with a flurry of punches from the 35-year-old - that's momentarily interrupted by a right hand from by Bradley. They are both going at it now - back and forth. It's a war here in the second round, but Pacquiao had the edge, landing a big left to the face of Bradley.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 10 - 9 Bradley

They trade body shots to start. It's fairly conservative stuff, just a little feeling out going on as you can imagine. A little advance by Manny as he lands a blow above the waist. The crowd is supporting Pacquiao again. There's an awful lot of defense but it opens up as the round winds down. A couple of rights to the face by Bradley are blocked but he has a slight edge after one.

Unofficial Guardian scorecard

Pacquiao 9 - 10 Bradley

I'm going to protect you, but you have to protect yourselves says the ref.

He's got the wrong sport. Anyway, we're off!

Pacman is in white shorts, Bradley is in grey and white camys.

He's doing his thing, buffon just a little lower than usual.

The re-match the world has been waiting for, 12 rounds of boxing for the WBO Heavyweight Championship of the world.

It's a bit something like this...

Head down, camouflage robe. A slow methodical walk towards the ring, all business. Boos from the crowd - he's the enemy within.

.

He's heading in, wearing a white robe with blue trim, and looking like he does...relaxed.

The crowd are less so, screaming "Manny, Manny". Who ever thought we would see the day a Filipino gets the support of the locals over someone from the US? We've seen this before of course, but it is still a sight.

It's after nine in Las Vegas, after midnight on the east coast of the United States, 5AM in the UK and just past midday in the Philippines, a nation whose adored Manny Pacquiao is getting set to try and take back the WBO Welterweight title.

And here come the fighters!!

It's Ashanti - and she's done it before as well.

It's Jessica Sanchez sining the Philippines anthem - she's done it before, here's a look.

Jack Nicholson is in the house...

So is Jake Gyllenhaal and Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller - sitting separately I might add.

It's finally over - all three undercard fights went the distance - eesh!

Ray Beltran is the NABO Lightweight champion, defeating Arash Usmanee handily 118-110, 117-111, 117-111.

We are inching closer to getting this on - thankfully.

The ref tonight is Kenny Bayless - check out this clip below, he talks about his officiating the Pacquiao Marquez fight during which the Filipino was knocked out.

After last time, there's a lot of eyes on the judges. They are:

Craig Metcalfe of Calgary of Canada (his day job is a real estate agent) - four years of experience, seven title fights. He is actually a late replacement.

Michael Pernick of Florida, USA - 21 years of experience, 66 title fights.

Glenn Trowbridge of Nevada, USA - 14 years of experience, 37 title fights.

Will they get it right this time?

Well, based on what Bradley was able to do to Pacquiao with a fractured left foot, without socks on, and how well he’s performed lately, I think it’s hard to bet against Bradley, even if the bookies in Las Vegas disagree. Of course, Pacquiao could pull a wild rabbit out of his hat, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I think Bradley is great, in eight.

Manny has other ideas...

But not all are buying what Pacman is selling.

How about you? Send your predictions to:

@lengeldavid or email at david.lengel.freelance@theguardian.com

And I'm sure there's more to come.

Manny Pacquiao is the favorite tonight according to our friends in Las Vegas setting the lines. To win $100 USD on the Filipino, you'll have to put up $260. More odds on the bout tonight can be found here.

There has been some pre-fight chatter that a commitment to God by Pacquiao has made him too polite to knock out opponents. The LA Times reported that there are no fewer than seven pastors on the Pacman staff, earning some $10,000 monthly - three of them are in Las Vegas to help guide the Filipino to victory this week. His trainer, Freddie Roach is among those who is concerned about the perceived lack of killer instinct questions that are following around Pacquiao.

But I've told Manny there's payback in the Bible, there's eye for an eye, there's murder in the Bible, and if you go to the right page, you'll find it.

Pacquiao hasn’t knocked out a fighter since 2009, a trend that continued in November when he beat American Brandon Rios in a unanimous decision in Macao. Prior to that it Pacman was victimized by an enormous punch from Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand in December of 2012 - a counter blow to the stomach sent Pacquiao to the canvas, shocking the world, just as he seemed to be going in for the kill during a bout he was controlling.

Meanwhile, an emotional Bradley showed grit in surviving a blood bath against Russian Ruslan Provodnikov in a unanimous decision a year ago, and going on to beat Marquez in a split decision back in October. Critics lauded Bradley’s 2013, and generally believe that he’s a better fighter coming in tonight than he was two years ago against Pacquiao.

Khabib Allakhverdiev does not look good right now - his face is a real mess and I'm not sure how he got through it. Still, this was a war and these two could get together again. For now however, the home town product Jessie Vargas is the NEW, WBA Junior Welterweight champ, thanks to a 117-111, 115-113, 115-113 scoring.

Ray Beltran and Afghanistan-born Arash Usmanee are up next.

Maybe, but they're still going, Jessie Vargas and Khabib Allakhverdiev are heading into the 11th round.

I mentioned in the preamble that Arum was in a grumpy mood. That's because the 82-year-old walked onto the Vegas strip and saw a 20 story poster advertising the upcoming Floyd Mayweather Jr./Marcos Maidana contest attached to the very same MGM venue hosting the fight tonight. It doesn't help that the advertised fight is being promoted by rivals Golden Boy Promotions.

The champ is interviewed by HBO TV here in the USA, and he seems a lot less relaxed than the footloose and fancy free Pacquiao. Here's what he has to say.

What makes you think you can knock out Pacquiao?

The training I went through, all the hard work that I went through man.

The last time you went looking for a knock out against Ruslan Provodnikov, later, you said you would have approached the fight differently. Why go in tonight looking for the knock out?

This is the top of boxing, right here man. A win over Pacquiao would put me at the top of boxing, that's where I want to be.

On why this bout is so big:

It's very important to get the public perception and the media perception, especially after the first fight. This is what I'm doing it for, I've already beat Pacquiao. The second time around I need to get everybody agreeing with me in the decision by the judges.

I've never seen you this intense before a fight...

Another day at the office, that's all it is. I'm not nervous or anything, just another day at the office, just another guy I have to take out.

Well, those last two quotes seem at odds with each other, don't you think? This is definitely not another day at the office for Bradley.

Here's a look at all the pre-match weighing in which took place on Friday.

In case you were wondering, in the first bout tonight, Bryan Vasquez retained his interim WBA super featherweight title with a victory over Jose Felix Jr - the bout was scored 117-110, 114-113, and 114-113.

Jessie Vargas and Khabib Allakhverdiev are going at it in the fourth round of this 140 pound fight - Khabib has a swollen right eye.

Meanwhile, HBO are speaking with Pacquiao before the fight:

In response to being told that Bradley wants to knock him out, Pacquiao said:

Maybe he's nervous.

Pacquiao on what he expects to see from Bradley:

I don't know, maybe he's going to box, sometimes he's going to come inside, that's good.

Welcome to our live coverage of Manny Pacquiao (55-5, 3 KO's) vs Timothy Bradley (31-0, 12 KO's) - it’s great to have you aboard for this long anticipated title bout. This is the second go around for these two, and fight fans may recall that the last time they met in Las Vegas, it all ended somewhat controversially. Of course, that’s a massive understatement to those who know, with the Filipino congressman having his WBO title ripped away thanks to two of the three ringside judges scoring the match 115-113 in favor of Bradley. Bob Arum was not amused.

I've never been as ashamed of the sport of boxing as I am tonight.

If you think Bob was in a bad mood back then, you should have seen him this week, but more on that later.

Nearly two years on, at the very same MGM Grand location, both fighters have plenty to prove. Pacquiao wants to show he still has it, that the 35-year-old can be the aggressive knock out machine once more, that he hasn’t lost his competitive edge, and most importantly, that the judges made an enormous mistake. It’s seemingly enough motivation for an eight division champion who doesn’t have to worry about his legacy.

Desert Storm Bradley must to show the boxing world that he’s the true champion, not just a flash in the pan who benefited from a gross miscarriage of boxing justice.

It’s not often in sports that the winner of a fight comes into a re-match with the onus on him to gain the respect of the boxing community, a collective group that universally condemned his win in June of 2012 over Pacman. But that’s the case tonight, and Bradley, who got none of the plaudits or praise normally reserved for an upset victory over one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the history of the game, has made it clear that he’s out to take what he thinks is his. Simply put, the 30-year-old is after respect.

Bradley surely has a lot more to lose tonight - should he not overcome Pacman it will be considered a serious setback for a career with room to grow. If Pacquiao goes down, he could elect to call it quits, go back home, run for the Philippine senate, and enjoy the rest of his life as the pride of a nation. No big deal.

How will it end? Well, that’s a question that will be answered in a short while. Until then, why not tweet in your predictions and thoughts to @lengeldavid or you can write in the old fashioned way, via email at david.lengel.freelance@theguardian.com. I also highly recommend checking out our preview from Kevin Mitchell.