Whether truly victorious or the beneficiary of a suspect decision, Tim Bradley is the real deal. Did he not outperform your expectations?

Everyone who considered him a decent-at-best, light welterweight, went up in weight and "beat" the second best welterweight in the world. I admit when I've been wrong (Lucian Bute, Ismayl Sillakh), but I felt strongly that Tim Bradley would give Pacquiao all he could handle and that this would be no walk in the park for Pacquiao. The concerns over Bradley's punching power were overblown. Categorizing his style as just an aggressive brawler were incorrect. He can box with speed on his back foot well and he has above average defense. No longer can we describe him simply as a good, but not great, boxer. He is in our p4p and is a threat to anyone from 140-147. Stand up Desert Storm!

On the other side, credit to Pacquiao for taking two tough fights in a row. Putting the distaste for Top Rank aside, clearly now we can all agree that Marquez and Bradley were not gimme fights. I said as much prior to both fights (recall the thread that Marquez was a tougher opponent for Pacquiao than Ortiz was for Mayweather). Whether Pacquiao is on the slide (it looks like it) or his opponents were better than the media made them out to be, Pacquiao took on challenges.

I think Tim Bradley gave a good account of himself Saturday night. He can be proud of his effort, where it was clear he gave his 100%.

Originally Posted by Rantcatrat

On the other side, credit to Pacquiao for taking two tough fights in a row. Putting the distaste for Top Rank aside, clearly now we can all agree that Marquez and Bradley were not gimme fights. I said as much prior to both fights (recall the thread that Marquez was a tougher opponent for Pacquiao than Ortiz was for Mayweather). Whether Pacquiao is on the slide (it looks like it) or his opponents were better than the media made them out to be, Pacquiao took on challenges.

Lol don't give team Pacquiao credit for 2 fights that they thought would be easy but turned out not to be. I know for a fact that they thought turning up against Marquez at 144 was all Pac had to do..so no, I will not give him credit..but I will for Bradley because at least he hasn't tasted defeat. I still said that if Pac struggled against Bradley that it would say more about Pac than it would Bradley as an opponent..I thought Pac handled him well though apart from the lack of work rate which made it a closer bout than it should have been.

Nah I think something fishy was going on in this fight, I'm sure pacquiao could have had him out of there in the 4th , he was too quick for Bradley , he let him get back into the fight for sure. Bradley couldn't take Pacquiaos speed, and you could clearly tell he was out of his comforte Zone when Pac picked up the pace.

Khan would batter Bradley IMO, he would be too quick for him, going off that peformance I don't rate Bradley at all anymore.

Originally Posted by Tam Seddon

Nah I think something fishy was going on in this fight, I'm sure pacquiao could have had him out of there in the 4th , he was too quick for Bradley , he let him get back into the fight for sure. Bradley couldn't take Pacquiaos speed, and you could clearly tell he was out of his comforte Zone when Pac picked up the pace.

Khan would batter Bradley IMO, he would be too quick for him, going off that peformance I don't rate Bradley at all anymore.

I don't think there is anything fishy with Pacquiao's performance. It's more of him being complacent. After the Marquez fight, he seems to be confident that close fights will be scored in his favor. And he is not as fierce as he was before, the hunger is gone.

In his fight with Bradley, he sensed (just like most of us) that he is way ahead in the score cards hence he appeared to have just coasted along during the later rounds. BAD MOVE! Maybe that loss will bring back that ferocity. Or maybe he is on such a decline that no amount of motivation will bring back his previous self.

Originally Posted by InTheNeutralCorner

Originally Posted by Tam Seddon

Nah I think something fishy was going on in this fight, I'm sure pacquiao could have had him out of there in the 4th , he was too quick for Bradley , he let him get back into the fight for sure. Bradley couldn't take Pacquiaos speed, and you could clearly tell he was out of his comforte Zone when Pac picked up the pace.

Khan would batter Bradley IMO, he would be too quick for him, going off that peformance I don't rate Bradley at all anymore.

I don't think there is anything fishy with Pacquiao's performance. It's more of him being complacent. After the Marquez fight, he seems to be confident that close fights will be scored in his favor. And he is not as fierce as he was before, the hunger is gone.

In his fight with Bradley, he sensed (just like most of us) that he is way ahead in the score cards hence he appeared to have just coasted along during the later rounds. BAD MOVE! Maybe that loss will bring back that ferocity. Or maybe he is on such a decline that no amount of motivation will bring back his previous self.

He badly hurt him in the 4th I just don't know why he didn't knock him out and he just let Bradley win the 5th round , it was as If he just let him back in the fight IMO. When pacquiao was using his handspeed and quick footwork Bradley had no chance whatsoever he was getting schooled, I just thought it was strange how Pac slowed down, it really was as if he let Bradley get back into the fight.

That's just my opinion anyway, I thought it was a strange fight. PAC needs to just rematch him and stop him, he's more than capable IMO.

Originally Posted by Tam Seddon

Originally Posted by InTheNeutralCorner

Originally Posted by Tam Seddon

Nah I think something fishy was going on in this fight, I'm sure pacquiao could have had him out of there in the 4th , he was too quick for Bradley , he let him get back into the fight for sure. Bradley couldn't take Pacquiaos speed, and you could clearly tell he was out of his comforte Zone when Pac picked up the pace.

Khan would batter Bradley IMO, he would be too quick for him, going off that peformance I don't rate Bradley at all anymore.

I don't think there is anything fishy with Pacquiao's performance. It's more of him being complacent. After the Marquez fight, he seems to be confident that close fights will be scored in his favor. And he is not as fierce as he was before, the hunger is gone.

In his fight with Bradley, he sensed (just like most of us) that he is way ahead in the score cards hence he appeared to have just coasted along during the later rounds. BAD MOVE! Maybe that loss will bring back that ferocity. Or maybe he is on such a decline that no amount of motivation will bring back his previous self.

He badly hurt him in the 4th I just don't know why he didn't knock him out and he just let Bradley win the 5th round , it was as If he just let him back in the fight IMO. When pacquiao was using his handspeed and quick footwork Bradley had no chance whatsoever he was getting schooled, I just thought it was strange how Pac slowed down, it really was as if he let Bradley get back into the fight.

That's just my opinion anyway, I thought it was a strange fight. PAC needs to just rematch him and stop him, he's more than capable IMO.

I think Pacquiao is now a pastor or something. This may have affected the way he inflicts injury on his opponent. Since Bradley does not appear to be hurting him, he did not see the urgency or need to finish Bradley off. If this is the case, then he does not belong in boxing anymore.

It's a strange one. I said on other threads that I thought it was a close fight going in and Bradley was more than capable of winning. He got the decision but I don't think he deserved it, so although he won I expected him to perform better than he did. I expected him to be more fearless and relentless and throw a lot more but can't really blame him for being wary after feeling Pacs power.

Honestly, the only thing that surprised me is that he didn't get knocked down.
Besides the decision of course.

Originally Posted by Tam Seddon

Nah I think something fishy was going on in this fight, I'm sure pacquiao could have had him out of there in the 4th , he was too quick for Bradley , he let him get back into the fight for sure. Bradley couldn't take Pacquiaos speed, and you could clearly tell he was out of his comforte Zone when Pac picked up the pace.

Khan would batter Bradley IMO, he would be too quick for him, going off that peformance I don't rate Bradley at all anymore.

Bradley was hurt by twisting his ankle more than any punch. It looked spectacular at the time, but just watch the replays. It was nasty and could have torn ligaments.

I thought Bradley fought well all things considered and give him a better shot in a rematch. Bradley is on that level.

Im interested to see the rematch. He strained ligaments in his foot in the second round and still managed to fight a good fight. Will he be able to do better without damage to his foot in the next fight.

Its weird, Tim was so out of it for three rounds I really struggle with a definitive answer to why Pacquiao didn't just get him out of there. Bradley was for a couple of rounds at least looking like a fighter who was resigned to the fact that they was getting beat up and hurt and out gunned and just put his head down and swung as if to say ''I determined at least to go out on my shield''.

That's where the Ricky Hatton special SHOULD of happend!

But Bradley surpassed himself in his ability to box though. I mean it was clear that in the begining his game plan was to make it uncomfortable as possible for Pacquiao then was absolutely forced into a corner where he ended up almost committing suicide and then actually came out of it an almost totally different fighter.

I mean I know he kinda did that against Petterson but Pacquiao Did NOT see that happening.