8. "This is the first fight in a long time..." In response to Reply # 0
where I feel Manny has some serious hunger going into the fight. Before the fourth fight with Marquez he was distracted as fuck, and we only saw that fire come out once he got KO'ed that first time.
Other than that though... Rios, Margarito, Mosley, even Cotto... he let up at some point or another against all them dudes. I don't think that'll happen this time.
22. "Had it 7-5 Pacquiao" In response to Reply # 12
I think I gave Bradley 1, 3, 8, 10, 12--can't remember for sure. Maybe I'll go back and watch once more before the fight.
It's still worth discussing even if it's a bit of a dead horse. Bradley's 8-4 card is not realistic (he's a proud guy), but he wasn't bullshitting that he slipped a *lot* of Pacquiao punches that were thrown quickly and *looked* like they landed. Pac's compubox numbers were inflated as hell by flashy punches that almost touched flesh.
I would argue that maybe 8 of the 12 rounds were close rounds where neither fighter landed all that much substantial. I gave Bradley one or two rounds off his jab alone, just because Pac was hardly landing any punches himself. And IMO Bradley clearly won 10 and 12.
37. "As did I.. mofos was listening to the commentary instead of watching the..." In response to Reply # 12
The reality is Manny was hitting air then trying to make up for it with flurries the last 15 seconds of the round... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <---- 5.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlgiritpmfo
=======================================
Ditch the paper, save the trees, and go mobile! Text bizcard to 32462!
38. "RE: As did I.. mofos was listening to the commentary instead of watching..." In response to Reply # 37
>The reality is Manny was hitting air then trying to make up >for it with flurries the last 15 seconds of the round...
but those flurries won him a lot of rounds. Yes, Manny was largely ineffective, but Bradley was even more ineffective, not landing much of anything, and his work-rate was way too low to win a fight against pacquiao unless you can homerun hit like Marquez.
41. "dawg, Manny was doing poot dust for 2 1/2 minutes of most rounds" In response to Reply # 38
& then tried to make up for it w/ mostly ineffectively flurries at the end of the rounds.. The judges saw right thru that shit.. lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <---- 5.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlgiritpmfo
=======================================
Ditch the paper, save the trees, and go mobile! Text bizcard to 32462!
44. "I think it would be really interesting to do a round-by-round post" In response to Reply # 42
Sometime before the rematch, if a video of the full first fight is still out there.
Post each round, post under each round who we think won and why, and then post our final scores. I would be really interested to see what people have to say. I imagine that I could be swayed in either direction on a number of the rounds.
26. "Side question: Does Bradley have a false sense of elitism?" In response to Reply # 0
I actually think one could argue both ways soundly.
On one hand, he's done nothing but win against high-level opposition, fought the very best available (particularly against provodnikov, marquez, and pacquiao) - and justly or not - is undefeated and walks with the swag of an undefeated fighter...you have to respect that.
On the other, nobody has seriously entertained the idea that he won the pacquiao fight (except Bradley and/or anti-pacquiao stans), he survived a life/death brawl with Ruslan where he finished the fight on his knee, seconds away from possibly being stopped - and despite his impressive win against a seemingly hungover marquez, he still doesn't quite *seem* like an elite fighter even though his record states otherwise.
28. "he dominated solid B level fighters though" In response to Reply # 26
like devon alexander and lamont peterson the ruslan thing i think was more about bradley getting caught up in a war than ruslan being on his level as a fighter really the only ppl from 140-147 i see beating him right now is manny and floyd
>really the only ppl from 140-147 i see beating him right now >is manny and floyd
And the fact that he just beat marquez (by a razor thin margin in a fight where I thought marquez looked 'hungover' from the pacquiao fight) further solidifies bradley as top-tier..maybe A- ... certainly above B+. His wins v. Alexander and Peterson proved he's *very* good..but is he great? I think the verdict is still out.
In many ways - I think this fight w/ pacquiao is really a great matchup that brings forth *real* clarity in the division. If Pacquiao looks great, there's no denying he's back at the elite level. If Bradley (really) wins this time, there's no denying that he's elite.
I just don't think Bradley is *quite* in the position to be talking down to Pacquiao, saying he doesn't have it anymore, when he's talking to a guy that already beat him.
>I just don't think Bradley is *quite* in the position to be >talking down to Pacquiao, saying he doesn't have it anymore, >when he's talking to a guy that already beat him.
Pageantry, salesmanship, gamesmanship, general shit-talking, self-motivation, etc. Not worth reading too much into these face-offs, even if they are entertaining.
29. "I think he's truly elite" In response to Reply # 26
First, I do reject the idea that Pacquiao was dominant in their fight, even if some people act like it's a crazy notion. Pacquiao did *not* land that often against Bradley, regardless of what compubox says. And Bradley had two injured feet, which often seems to be forgotten or ignored.
The only guy who has landed against Bradley consistently was Prov, and that's because in that fight, Bradley *deliberately* chose to abandon the skills that make him elite--ring IQ and elusiveness. That he beat Marquez more decisively than anyone sans Mayweather is only confirmation of his status IMO.
It's not that Bradley has done nothing but win--or his persona--that makes him elite. Danny Garcia is not elite IMO, and he has those qualities too. It's that Bradley has insane, almost unparalleled reflexes and is harder to hit cleanly than almost any other fighter alive--when he chooses to be. And he is an extremely smart fighter--when he chooses to be.
To me, the reason he's not considered elite seems to be that the skills that make him elite are subtle and not eye-catching. That's probably why he was never considered a prospect in the first place--he didn't blow people out of the water with speed like Gary Russell or Jesse Magdaleno, and he definitely didn't flatten people like Wilder or Golovkin. He just landed his punches and slipped those of his opponent. And he still does, better than almost anybody on earth--when he chooses to. That's it.
31. "RE: I think he's truly elite" In response to Reply # 29
>First, I do reject the idea that Pacquiao was dominant in >their fight, even if some people act like it's a crazy notion. > Pacquiao did *not* land that often against Bradley, >regardless of what compubox says. And Bradley had two injured >feet, which often seems to be forgotten or ignored.
I agree w/ all of that. But that still doesn't mean Bradley won the fight - he didn't. Pacquiao actually looked off in that fight to me, but Bradley was even more off and barely landed anything of substance himself. Pacquiao won that fight simply by outworking Bradley in sort of a bad night for boxing all around in terms of the fight being underwhelming and the judicial competence being bewildering.
>The only guy who has landed against Bradley consistently was >Prov, and that's because in that fight, Bradley *deliberately* >chose to abandon the skills that make him elite--ring IQ and >elusiveness. That he beat Marquez more decisively than anyone >sans Mayweather is only confirmation of his status IMO.
I didn't think his win vs. Marquez was particularly decisive - but it was impressive. I think Ruslan showed that with superior firepower, you can beat Bradley because he doesn't have enough power to hold off stronger fighters *if* they can land...which is a big if, of course. However, Bradley will give you opportunities to land because as slippery and skilled as he is at evading punches, there are moments in a fight where he can't resist slugging, and that does not favor him against big punchers like pacquiao. So it will be interesting to see if he can resist trading with pacquiao, which to me is his only chance to win in that fight.
Where Bradley *is* elite to me is in willpower. Rarely have I seen a power fight with his type of resilient spirit. I just don't think he's going to be busy enough to beat Pacquiao. Bad matchup for him.
33. "RE: I think he's truly elite" In response to Reply # 31
>I agree w/ all of that. But that still doesn't mean Bradley >won the fight - he didn't. Pacquiao actually looked off in >that fight to me, but Bradley was even more off and barely landed >anything of substance himself. Pacquiao won that fight >simply by outworking Bradley in sort of a bad night for boxing all >around in terms of the fight being underwhelming and the judicial >competence being bewildering.
Fair enough.
>I didn't think his win vs. Marquez was particularly decisive - >but it was impressive. I think Ruslan showed that with superior >firepower, you can beat Bradley because he doesn't have enough >power to hold off stronger fighters *if* they can land...which >is a big if, of course. However, Bradley will give you >opportunities to land because as slippery and skilled as he is >at evading punches, there are moments in a fight where he >can't resist slugging, and that does not favor him against big >punchers like pacquiao. So it will be interesting to see if >he can resist trading with pacquiao, which to me is his only >chance to win in that fight. > >Where Bradley *is* elite to me is in willpower. Rarely have I >seen a power fight with his type of resilient spirit. I just >don't think he's going to be busy enough to beat Pacquiao. >Bad matchup for him.
It's his reflexes. Willpower is what got him through the Prov fight when he chose to fight stupid. Marquez, Peterson, and Abregu all had gobs of willpower too. They just couldn't hit him back.
Eventually his reflexes will diminish, and he'll lose a few fights and probably fight on too long, and when that happens people will probably say he was never elite. But right now he's elite IMO.
49. "its almost sad the false reality Bradley lives in" In response to Reply # 0
i mean its really sad to see a Asterisk Champion that the top fighters dont want to face because there's just no respect for his belt. Its clear as day nobody in the sport really rates him as a champion. Shoot people barely say it. Not to take away his skills, he's a great fighter but everytime he talks on 24/7 its like he's trying to convince himself...not us.
53. "So, if Bradley wins again, what are y'all gonna say?" In response to Reply # 0
. . . . . .
*** Proverbs 9 : 7-9 7 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. 8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. http://instagram.com/casethenupe
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
Okay Sports
