Pacquiao vs. Bradley 3 Fight News: Top Rank CEO Bob Arum Admits Rubber Match Won't Be Easy To Sell
Just before the year 2015 ended, it was announced that WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley would be Manny Pacquiao's opponent on April 9th in Las Vegas.
"Desert Storm's" rubber match with the first and only eight-division world champion would be for the latter's 66th and final fight, before calling it quits after two decades of professional boxing to focus on being a public servant.
Pacquiao, a congressman of the Sarangani Province in the Southern region of the Philippines, is running for Senator at the May 2016 Philippine elections. Bradley and Pacquiao had already fought each other twice: the first one in June 2012 ended in a controversial split decision in favor of Bradley.
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Pacquiao, however, was able to avenge the said loss by winning a clear unanimous decision verdict in their rematch in April 2014. Among the likes of Amir Khan and undefeated world champion Terence Crawford, Bradley was chosen as Pacquiao's final foe.
But in a report by Edward Chaykovsky of Boxingscene, Top Rank head honcho Bob Arum is not optimistic about the fight's ability to sell.
"Will we do the same numbers for the first two Bradley fights? Probably not," Arum said. "We're going to try to come as close as we can, and hopefully we exceed it, but I understand what we're up against."
According to the same report, the first Pacquiao-Bradley fight generated a total of 890,000 pay-per-view buys, while the second one dropped to a total of 800,000. Both fights were held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which would also be the same venue for the upcoming one.
But despite his skepticism, Arum says he has made sure that they have done the necessary measures to make sure that they would make no unnecessary risks.
"I've run my numbers and I've done my math," Arum said. "I'm not out here with my head up my ass."
Bradley last saw action in November, where he fought another fellow former Pacquiao opponent, Brandon Rios. The fight ended with Bradley winning by ninth round TKO.
