By Bart Barry-

Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Filipino former world champion and current senator Manny Pacquiao matches himself with American welterweight Jessie Vargas in a pay-per-view fight televised by promoter Top Rank. Pacquiao retired in April after decisioning Timothy Bradley in their third match but returns seven months later because that was always the plan. Vargas lost to Bradley a month after Pacquiao lost to Mayweather in 2015 but recently stopped Sadam Ali and got chosen for Saturday’s fight because that flash of power in March is expected to prove anomalous – if Pacquiao or Top Rank thought there were any way Vargas’d stretch Pacquiao this fight would not happen.

There isn’t much to be done but write about this spectacle however undeserving. In bygone years the hungerstrike we experienced these last howsoever many months would induce an appetite coiled as a spring and ready to leap towards a million buys after a month of promotional coverage under the auspices of reportage, but no more. There are but two types of boxing coverage that survive today in the United States: the financially selfinterested and the quixotic.

They’re easily identified. Positive coverage of Pacquiao-Vargas is financially selfinterested, the line between publicist and reporter gone to the publicists, and quixotic coverage, those who cover the sport from habit or nostalgia, is not positive. No American without financial selfinterest understood Pacquiao’s retirement and even less his comeback from that faux retirement – since declaring Pacquiao’s third match with Timothy Bradley in April the last time Pacquiao would fight did little to promote the match and according to Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum did not begin to offset the damage done the fight’s marketing by Pacquiao’s strongly worded reiteration of his strongly held beliefs about others’ sexual orientations or the lasting damage done the sport by Pacquiao’s terrible 2015 match with Floyd Mayweather.

Yes, the shoulder match. No one has forgiven Pacquiao for that halfassed performance, nor should he, but most of us have forgotten it – until Pacquiao decides to promote his match with Vargas by telling us he’s healed and ready for a second serving of Money. It’s the wrong message because it makes some of what few consumers remain interested enough in our sport to purchase a match from a promoter’s website reconsider that purchase for fear their support might launch another yearslong buildup to another terrible superfight no one asks for anymore, and Richard Schaefer just began a comeback of his own, too, in case more nostalgic dissonance were craved (incredibly he says fans approached him at fights and told him the sport needs him).

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COMMERCIAL BREAK
Boxing’s only eight-time world champion and sitting senator returns Saturday in a match you can purchase through his promoter’s website because, in a historic show of ungratefulness, HBO and Showtime and all the terrestrial networks on which Pacquiao was possibly rumored potentially to fight for the last eight years declined to pay retail prices for what worn and defective merchandise they’re now offered.

Camera-phone footage indicates the Senator is in the best shape of his life.

“Manny’s in the best shape of his life,” reported Coach Freddie from training camp. “I know I’ve said this each of his last 12 fights, or more, but this time? The best. Unbelievable.”

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Pacquiao looked quite good against Timothy Bradley seven months ago, better than Jessie Vargas did, but just because Vargas lost the Pacquiao sweepstakes 19 months ago does not mean Vargas lost the Pacquiao sweepstakes. Vargas did after all clip Bradley at the end of their match and may very well have . . . if only the referee . . . in an unprecedented act of interference . . . the very integrity of the sport . . . and probably deserved to win by knockout, something Vargas’ promoter was not at liberty to disclose while selling Pacquiao-Bradley 3, but now after a closer look thinks all aficionados should revisit.

Talk of Pacquiao’s milling with someone who might beat him like Terence Crawford and make Pacquiao actually retire succumbed this summer to sobriety and brought us limping to Saturday’s spectacle, possibly a tuneup for Pacquiao’s future match with middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, a rich promotional subplot given how much press Golovkin’s trainer receives for threatening the world’s best light heavyweights while trashtalking a junior middleweight and actually fighting a welterweight.

Pacquiao press releases now include airlines and flight numbers in the hopes of materializing an enormous crowd at LAX, something worthy of promotional footage on SportsCenter, alas. The American fight scene to which Pacquiao returns for Saturday’s fight is worse than the one he visited in the spring but more apparently awful to Pacquiao because, one assumes, Pacquiao’s previous purse guarantees were voided by his retirement and the dearth of interest the Pacquiao brand now generates among cable-network executives – before one considers what American consumers now know of politics in the Philippines complemented by our own fatigue with domestic politics. One begins to wonder if promoting Pacquiao as a successful Filipino politician still is the sage tact it once appeared.

Or perhaps all this is superfluous because nobody is about to discover Manny Pacquiao; those of us interested in Pacquiao enough to purchase Saturday’s fight, or heaven help us travel to it, know Pacquiao well enough to know how steadily his capacities have eroded since that 2012 encounter with the Marquez spearchisel and aren’t any longer candidates for a Pacman conversion. We know with Pacquiao we are either at the beginning or the middle part of the embarrassing stage many great prizefighters end their careers with. However extraordinary Pacquiao was in ascent, his descent is all too ordinary.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the April 9 bout between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley generated between 400,000 and 500,000 Pay Per View buys.

“It will be somewhere between those numbers, 400,000 and 500,000. It’s all being added up, but it will be closer to 400,000 than 500,000. Terrible,” said Top Rank’s Bob Arum.

Yes, it loses money,” Arum said. “It was not one of our big successes. It happens. We’re big boys. Do I feel good about it? No.”

“Certainly the pushback from Manny’s gay remarks killed us,” Arum said. “It hurt us a lot. But I think it was also less a reaction to the match than a reaction to the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. It was a reaction like Mayweather got. Mayweather also got punished [by consumers].”

By Norm Frauenheim

Bob Arum ripped Donald Trump. Mocked him, too, from a bully pulpit on a stage for what the promoter called the No Trump Undercard. It was clever advertising and might have generated as many pay-per-view sales as Manny Pacquiao’s decision over Timothy Bradley in the main event.

Part show and part substance, part satire and part serious, it was mostly words, another political debate during a political season as silly and tiresome as any boxing news conference ever could be.

But it had a face, too.

Oscar Valdez’ face.

In one promising featherweight, Valdez personifies two cultures that Trump wants to divide with a wall. Valdez’ roots are on both sides of the border between Arizona and Mexico. He went to grade school in Tucson. He began to box there. Then, he moved to Nogales on the Mexican side of the border where he became a two-time Mexican Olympian. He speaks like an American kid. He speaks like a Mexican kid. There’s no wall big enough to separate the American from the Mexican in Valdez.

“I’m not really into political end of things in the USA,’’ Valdez said before delivering the card’s best performance, a fourth-round stoppage of Evgeny Gradovich, the self-proclaimed Mexican-Russian and the IBF’s former 126-pound champion, at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. “But what I do know is that I that I wouldn’t want Trump to be president of the United States. It would affect other countries.

“Mostly, I’m just focused on this fight. But I’m also excited to be on this card. Knowing that we have Bob Arum’s support on what he’s calling the No Trump Card, it just brings a little more flavor to it.’’

More edge to it, too.

In addition to Valdez, the April 9 card included Gilberto Ramirez, who won a WBO title became the first Mexican to win a major super-middleweight belt with a decision over Arthur Abraham, a German of Armenian descent. There was also junior-welterweight Jose Ramirez, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, faces Manny Perez of Denver in a bout scheduled for 10 rounds. Ramirez, the son of farm workers in central California, is an activist in water conservation.

Valdez, Gilberto Ramirez and Jose Ramirez were the collective face of what Trump’s proposed wall opposes, Arum said. Trump loves to talk about winners. On Arum’s card, however, he was the loser. Mexico 3, Trump 0.

“Without a wall, they just show that, back and forth, great things happen across the border between the two countries,’’ Arum said.

There is already a wall along much of the border between Mexico and Arizona, where there was a heated immigration controversy about six years ago with the state legislature’s passage of SB 1070.

Valdez, who fought in Tucson in December, has traveled through that wall’s checkpoints often, visiting his mom and grandmother in Tucson and his family in Nogales.

“I’m blessed to have grown up on both sides,’’ said Valdez, who now lives in Hermosillo when he’s not training in Southern California. “Having grown up in Mexico means so much to me. My culture, my family, is everything. Having grown up in the United States means so much. It’s so important to know English. It’s meant so much to have gone to school in Tucson and still have friends and family there. It will always be my second home.’’

In part, Valdez’ emergence as a featherweight contender is a symbol of Arizona’s resilience as a boxing market. It’s always been a good one, yet it all but disappeared for a couple of years in the wake of SB 1070.

Mexican advertisers stayed away, forcing Arum to move a Jose Benavidez Jr.-featured card in 2010 out of the state and to Chicago early in his career. The controversy even prompted Jose Sulaiman, the late president of the World Boxing Council, to issue an edict, asking Mexican fighters to boycott the state. Some did, some didn’t. But the impact knocked Arizona out of the ring of viable markets long enough to wonder if it would ever come back.

It has, it is, because of the gyms that dot the state’s Sonoran desert like cactus. From Phoenix to Tucson, from Michael Carbajal to Oscar Valdez, there’s always another one. Good fighters are part of the landscape. Part of the culture.

At some point, Valdez, who stopped Gradovich with the best left hand from a fighter with Arizona roots since Carbajal, hopes to fight again in Tucson, although his rapid ascent might keep him in bigger markets. In the immediate aftermath of his victory over Gradovich, there was talk he would wind up on the Terence Crawford-Viktor Postol card on July 23, also in Vegas at the MGM Crawford.

“I do know people – cousins, friends, family — who have been deported, especially in the state of Arizona. There was a time there when it got really crazy. You know, it was sad. Just sad. I know my friends. They’re not terrorists. They just come to work, come to make a better life.’’

Fight for one, too.

By Bart Barry-

Saturday at MGM Grand in the first retirement match of his career and second rematch with California’s Timothy Bradley, Filipino welterweight Manny Pacquiao decisioned roundly Bradley by three fair scores of 116-110, an odd-looking tally representing both a Pacquiao pulldown in round 7 and a knuckleball knockdown in the ninth. The deserving man won. Little more can be said for the fare.

An emotional sendoff it was not. It was a luggery, a strained thing, an effort to aggrandize hoarse as Teddy Atlas’ voice. Too, there was promoter Bob Arum seated beside Jerry Jones, owner of the stadium where Pacquiao fought Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito in 2010, as if to put the lie squarely to the halfassery of promoting the match in front of them like Pacquiao’s last – or was Jones onhand to offer Arum his venue for Lomachenko-Walters?

Pacquiao fought Bradley the way he had for their 24 rounds that preceded Saturday’s belligerence: as a congressman vote-counter campaigning for a win. There was naught of the mania Pacquiao showed Erik Morales, naught of the rage he flashed at Juan Manuel Marquez. It was a politically correct effort by Pacquiao, sanitized, sportsmanlike, humane. Right down to the requisite spar-with-me-bro glove kisses at the open of each round.

Bradley wanted to win the right way more than he wanted to win, seeing chances to lead with his head as he so often did on his way to the majors and banishing the thought quickly as it arrived. Manny and Timmy are great buddies! They fought like it, too, much to the chagrin of the comparatively small number of us born-every-minute folks who purchased their fight.

Trainer Teddy Atlas convinced Bradley during their camp what the promotion somehow convinced the rest of us: Finding and blitzing a heavybag like Brandon Rios prepared a man for counterpunching Pacquiao. The only men who succeeded in counterpunching Pacquiao in his career, though, were the two master counterpunchers of the era, Marquez and Floyd Mayweather. Bradley, a volume puncher athletic enough to counterpunch b-level guys, was not going to win a match in which he was outworked anymore than Pacquiao had a chance of outsmarting Mayweather 11 months ago.

There was a spot in the first rounds of the match in which Bradley clearly knew Pacquiao was about to jab him, prepped himself to parry or slip, and got smitten anyway. When something that discouraging happens to a professional athlete his trainer can feed a third of MGM Grand with five loaves and two fish between rounds and it ain’t going to matter. Atlas spent a commentary career watching Pacquiao on video like the rest of us, no doubt thinking all the while if only he could teach someone with great reflexes to see Pacquiao’s triggers and tells the way Atlas did, historians would wear Atlas’ name on their lips for a generation. He got that guy with Bradley, and it mattered nothing at all.

Bradley’s best chance with Pacquiao was his first chance; Bradley was the wildcard in that fight, rhythmically unpredictable, flexibly awkward. It was a match in which either guy might have sprained an ankle careening past the other, and it just happened to be Bradley who did. Ever since then Pacquiao has been everything Bradley is – only much more so.

By the sixth round Saturday what became apparent was this: Only Marquez among all men who matched themselves against Pacquiao had the balls to see Pacquiao’s jabfeint-hopback-jabpounce and step directly into it, manifesting a faith in his physical genius that said, “One of us goes to sleep right now, and I don’t much care which.” Bradley saw Pacquiao’s signature move and tried to jab it or retreat from it or absorb and counter it. But not once in 108 minutes of standing across from Pacquiao did Bradley sellout the right hand Marquez-style. Wherever go one’s memories of Pacquiao, then, should follow Marquez – the two matched wonderfully and gave us so very much in their four fights.

Asked for Pacquiao’s legacy my thoughts go immediately here: 6-2-1 (3 KOs). That is Pacquiao’s record against prime versions of Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez. There is nothing any prizefighter has done in the last 25 years that is so impressive as that. No handicapping, no trickeration, no legerdemain, no bullshit: Pacquiao fought three first-ballot guys nine times. And most of that happened before SportsCenter even knew the Filipino’s name.

Pacquiao leaves the game, if he does, having amortized most of that goodwill, yes – despite what those whose salaries now rely primarily on Pacquiao revenue tell us during telecasts. Some of us have enriched him for woeful garbage like his matches with Shane Mosley, Brandon Rios and Chris Algieri. So be it. Historians will not either forgive Pacquiao’s effort against Mayweather with its submissive lack of urgency, even while they concede things might have been different before Floyd orchestrated a five-year delay (we will not forget how close they came to signing contracts in December 2009).

When Pacquiao’s matches happened against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto, I cared very little. I care less now. The way Pacquiao unmanned Barrera, though, 2 1/2 years after Barrera undressed Naseem Hamed and 15 months after Barrera decisioned Erik Morales, the way Pacquiao made Morales make heroic choices to beat him 11 years ago, the way Pacquiao swarmed Marquez in 2008 till both men were covered in blood – those images form Pacquiao’s legacy for me.

Before his charge’s third fight with Pacquiao, Mexican trainer Nacho Beristain – actually the sort of mentor Teddy Atlas tells everyone Atlas is – described Pacquiao as “a wildcat.” A better image of the prime Pacquiao is not yet unearthed: Beaming maniacally round his mouthguard, banging his gloves together, blood on his trunks and gloves and beard, beseeching madness and violence from other men before slashing their faces open with weirdly angled punches thrown at the wrong moments of an unknowable beat . . .

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

LAS VEGAS – If it was a farewell fight, it will be remembered for how Manny Pacquiao kept the good in bye.

Pacquiao flashed some moments of his best days as a fighter, knocking down Timothy Bradley twice and scoring a unanimous decision in a one-sided fight Saturday night that left no questions, other than perhaps why these welterweights ever had to fight three times.

Pacquiao’s speed and power began to assert their superiority in the fourth and left Bradley looking resigned and even somewhat demoralized after knockdowns in the seventh and again in the ninth. The second knockdown, the result of wicked left hand from Pacquiao, nearly set Bradley head over heels.

Above all, Pacquiao’s victory provided further evidence of just how wrong those scorecards were when Bradley won a split decision in 2012.

In the immediate aftermath of hearing the scores 116-110 on all three cards, there wasn’t much celebration from Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs), who won a clear-cut decision in a 2014 rematch. If anything, he was subdued, uncertain perhaps about what he’ll do next.

He’s a Filipino Congressman. He faces an election for his country’s Senate on May 9. It looks as if he is moving into his life after boxing.

“Yes, I am retired,’’ he said in the middle of the ring. “I want to go home and spend time with my family and serve the people.’’

If the crowd of 14,665 at the MGM Grand represented his people, they want him to serve by continuing his ring career. They cahnted “Manny, Manny”” from round to round. They stood and applauded through the final minute of the bout. Their roaring affection for him could make it very hard for him to stay retired.

Meanwhile, Bradley (33-2-1, 13 KOs) seemed to have as much affection for him as anyone. Pacquiao invited him to payer meeting Sunday morning and, according to a publicist, Bradley was planning to go.

They smiled and embraced like old buddies after the final bell. The loss leaves uncertainty about his career. He said he would discuss what to do next with wife and manager Monica.

“I can still fight,’’ Bradley said.

He can, but not against Pacquiao anymore.

Mexico 3, Trump 0

The No Trump Undercard was Bob Arum’s way of expressing his opposition to presidential candidate Donald Trump’s controversial comments about Mexicans and the Republican front-runner’s promise to build a wall along the United States’ southern border.

It was a message that needed a follow-up.

The follow-up was delivered, a three-punch combo, before the Pacquiao-Bradley main event.

Three bouts featured fighters of Mexican descent. All three won with power and precision that could have knocked down just about any old wall.

Gilberto Ramirez (34-0, 24 KOs) became the first Mexican to win a super-middleweight title by scoring a shutout, 120-108 on all three scorecards, over Germany’s Arthur Abraham (44-5, 29 KOs) for the WBO’s version of the 168-pound title.

Two-time Mexican Olympian Oscar Valdez (19-0, 17 KOs), who began boxing in Tucson, put himself in line for a shot at a world featherweight title by throwing the best left from a fighter with Arizona roots since Michael Carbajal for a fourth-round TKO of Evgeny Gradovich, who calls himself the Mexican Russian. After Valdez dropped him, Gradovich (21-2-1, 9 KOs) looked like neither. He only looked finished

Super-lightweight Jose Ramirez (17-0, 12 KOs) , a 2012 U.S. Olympian who fights for water conservation in central California when he isn’t fighting in the ring, punished Manny Perez (25-12-1, 6 KOs) of Denver in a sustained beating throughout 10 rounds for a 97-93, 98-92, 99-1 decision.
Best of the Undercard

Oleksandr Gvozdyk calls himself The Nail. Nadjib Mohammedi knows why.

Gvozdyk (9-0, 7 KOs), a Ukrainian light-heavyweight and a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, nailed him with straight right that dropped Mohammedi (39-5, 24 KOs), face-first and unconscious, onto the canvas at 2:06 of the second round.

Mohammedi speaks French. Jay Nady gave the 10-count in English. Didn’t matter. Mohammedi never heard it.

The Rest

Welterweight Egidijus Kavaliauskas (13-0, 11 KOs), a Lithuanian training at Robert Garcia’s gym in Oxnard, Calif., was better in every way, scoring a unanimous decision over Deniz Ibay (15-1, 9 KOs) of Germany

Youth was served with German teenager Leon Bauer’s unanimous decision over Russian super-middleweight Hshat Khusnulgatin (12-2, 6 KOs) in a bout that set one record. The 17-year-old Bauer (8-0, 6 KOs) was 10 days younger than Jose Benavidez Jr. was in his in 2010 debut.

There was a second helping of youth with another 17-year-old, Las Vegas super-featherweight Devin Haney (4-0, 2 KOs) winning a unanimous decision over Puerto Rican Rafael Vazquez (2-5)

Russian welterweight Konstantin Ponomarev (30-0, 13 KOs) stayed unbeaten, but keeping that 0 intact was tough and controversial in a 10-round split decision over Brad Solomon, a Lafayette, LA fighter who left the ring once beaten.

HBO Sports serves up the exclusive replay of the highly anticipated third fight in the heated Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley Jr. rivalry when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING:® MANNY PACQUIAO VS. TIMOTHY BRADLEY JR. is seen SATURDAY, APRIL 16 at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT). The HBO Sports team, which was ringside at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, called the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Other HBO playdates: April 17 (10:30 a.m.) and 19 (11:00 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates: April 18 (11:00 p.m.)
HBO Signature: April 17 (4:15 p.m.)
The two highly decorated welterweights who are among the sport’s top pound-for-pound performers came into the matchup with determination to score a convincing victory. Pacquiao and Bradley split the first two meetings with each winning by decision.

By Norm Fraueheim-

LAS VEGAS – Timothy Bradley stepped onto the scale and gestured as if to say there wouldn’t be any surprises

There weren’t.

At a weigh-in without an ounce of the unexpected, Bradley and Manny Pacquiao both came in under the welterweight limit of 147 pounds for their third fight Saturday in an HBO pay-per-view bout at the MGM Grand.

Bradley, his face a serene mask of confidence and his upper body sculpted like an ancient statue, came in at 146.5 pounds. Pacquiao, a little less sculpted yet smiling as he always has, was one pound lighter at 145.5.

There was no trash talk. No threats. History stood between them and perhaps in front of them. Roberto Duran was there, holding a WBO belt specially made for the occasion.

Pacquiao was to his right, Bradley to his left. After posing for the requisite photographs, they turned and left Duran, standing alone with the belt and alone in his undisputed place among history’s all-time greats.

For Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) and Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs), history isn’t the issue. Only Saturday night is. For them, it’s one last chance to settle some of the questions that have been there since Bradley’s controversial victory by split decision in their first meeting in 2012.

It’s a chance for Bradley to prove that maybe it wasn’t quite as controversial as everybody thought it was four years ago. For Pacquiao, it’s a chance to put a final punctuation point on what is perceived to be a rivalry, despite his clearcut decision in their first rematch. The Filipino can prove, once and for all, that he has always been the better fight.

“I have a lot to prove,’’ Pacquiao, a slight favorite, said Friday in what has become a refrain throughout the last few weeks.

Enough proof might be a definitive reason for him to walk away, say farewell, to a career that has already made its own share of history in the ring and for the Philippines. He’s a Congressman and candidate for his country’s Senate. There’s talk he might be president one day.

On Saturday, however, the current Congressman, would-be Senator and wanna-be President only hopes to be the winner.

Bradley, who has endorsed him as politician, is confident that the canvas-covered district between the ropes will belong to him this time around

“Got to get ready for tomorrow, baby,’’ Bradley said. “I think there are going to be a lot of disappointed fans out there.’’

Bradley was talking to Pacquiao’s constituency, a deeply loyal crowd whose faith in him as a Filipino icon remains unshaken by his controversial comments about gays in February.

Questions linger, of course. At opening bell, the biggest one will be about Pacquiao’s right shoulder.

He underwent surgery for a reported muscle tear after a disappointing loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May. How strong is the shoulder? Pacquiao’s promoters say he has fought with the tear since his 2008 victory over Oscar De La Hoya. There are questions about why he didn’t undergo surgery then.

If he had undergone surgery earlier, would he have avoided his long knockout drought? He hasn’t scored stoppage since 2009.

“I don’t know,’’ Pacquiao said.

The guess is that Bradley will test the surgically-repaired shoulder often and early. But the other guess is that Bradley could encounter twice as much power and from more angles from Pacquiao now than he did before surgery.

There are a lot of guesses now. In the end, maybe there’s a surprise.

HBO’s pay-per-view telecast is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with junior-welterweight Jose Ramirez (16-012 KOs of Avenal, Calif., against Manny Perez (25-11-1, 6 KOs) of Denver. Ramirez was 138 pounds and Perez was 137.5 Friday.

The telecast’s second bout features Mexican featherweight Oscar Valdez (19-0, 16 KOs) of Nogales against ex-IBF champion Evgeny Gradovich (21-1-1, (KOs) of Russia. Valdez was 125 ½ pounds, Gradovich 126.

The third televised bout features WBO super-middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) of Berlin against Mexican Gilberto Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs). Both were at 168 pounds Friday.

LONDON (April 8) – Boxing ace Amir Khan has hailed Manny Pacquiao as one of the greatest ever.

The Filipino superstar is set to call time on his illustrious career when he takes on Timothy Bradley live and exclusive on Premier Sports this Saturday night from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Speaking about his former stablemate Khan was quick to praise the eight-time world champion regarding him as one of the best of his generation.

“What Manny has achieved in boxing is incredible,” Khan told Premier Sports. “If he does call it a day with his career he can look back and be very proud of what he achieved because very few fighters have done what he has.

“He’s been in top fights, won a lot of world titles and has fought for everything to get to where he has got to so I have nothing but respect for that.

“It’s clear that he is one of the best fighters of this generation and I wish him nothing but the best if he does end his career against Bradley,” he said.

The 29-year-old Bolton boxer who is lined up to face Canelo Alvarez in a megafight at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas next month for the middleweight world title was in the running to be Pacquiao’s opponent this time around.

However, despite intense negotiations the fight never materialised, something which Khan hoped would have taken place.

“You always want to test yourself against the best and Manny is still one of the best around. It’s a fight we tried to make happen between us but for some reason or other it never came about,” said Khan.

“My team met with Bob Arum in London and we had agreed everything but it didn’t happen. It would have been a great fight and backstory but we both have other big fights coming up so are focused on them.

“I have no doubt it would have been an explosive fight but I wish Manny luck in his fight with Bradley,” said Khan.

37-year-old Pacquiao will meet Californian Bradley in a rubber match following previous meetings in 2012 and 2014.

Five-time world champion Bradley controversially won the first one before Pacquiao bounced back to win their second meeting in style, with this weekend’s clash set to be the decider.

Khan has picked the Philippines Congressman to come out on top despite acknowledging the improvements in Bradley.

“I think the fight will be closer this time around but Manny will have too much in the end. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back from his shoulder injury though and what sort of affect that will have on him,” Khan said.

“Bradley has improved under Teddy Atlas but it takes time to really get to know each other and they’ve only been together for one fight so it’s still early in their relationship.

“I’m interested to see what they have up their sleeve for this fight but I’m sure Manny will be able to deal with it,” he said.

To watch Pacquiao v Bradley 3 live and exclusive on Premier Sports for only £9.99 visit premiersports.com or call 0871 663 9000.

LAS VEGAS (April 6, 2016) — This week, someone’s life will change forever as AMERICAN IDOL, the cultural phenomenon that changed the face of television and created some of today’s biggest music stars, will crown its 15th and final AMERICAN IDOL. That newly-crowned winner – in his/her post-IDOL debut — will be whisked to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to sing The National Anthem before Fighter of the Decade MANNY “Pacman” PACQUIAO, and five-time world champion TIMOTHY “Desert Storm” BRADLEY, battle it out in a 12-round high stakes welterweight showdown. Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with MP Promotions and Tecate, Pacquiao vs. Bradley will take place on Saturday, April 9 and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 PM ET / 6:00 PM PT.

America’s most crucial – and last-ever – vote will take place when the remaining finalists battle it out live from Dolby Theatre Tonight! Wednesday, April 6 (8:00-9:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed). AMERICAN IDOL’s two-part Grand Finale will be filled with surprise appearances and star-studded performances, including winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, along with Jennifer Hudson, who return to the IDOL stage one last time to perform on Thursday, April 7 (8:00-10:06 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed). The farewell celebration will continue, as IDOL pays tribute to the past 15 seasons, the amazingly talented contestants and the millions of fans who called, tweeted, texted and championed their IDOLS, before the 15th AMERICAN IDOL is crowned.

In addition to superstars Clarkson and Underwood, Thursday’s final episode will have all-star performances by former IDOLs, including Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Scotty McCreery, Phillip Phillips, Candice Glover, Caleb Johnson, Nick Fradiani, Ace Young, Allison Iraheta, Amber Holcomb, Blake Lewis, Bo Bice, Brandon Rogers, Bucky Covington, Carly Smithson, Casey James, Chris Daughtry, Clark Beckham, Clay Aiken, Colton Dixon, Constantine Maroulis, Danny Gokey, Diana DeGarmo, Elliott Yamin, George Huff, James Durbin, Jennifer Hudson, Jessica Sanchez, Joshua Ledet, Justin Guarini, Katharine McPhee, Kellie Pickler, Kimberley Locke, Kree Harrison, LaToya London, Lauren Alaina, Melinda Doolittle, Pia Toscano, Sanjaya, Skylar Laine, Tamyra Gray and more, before host Ryan Seacrest announces the results of America’s votes and the final IDOL is crowned.

Here are the three finalists:

Trent Harmon Age: 25 Hometown: Amory, MS
Keep up with Trent at:
TWITTER: @TrentWHarmon
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TrentHarmonMusic
INSTAGRAM: @trent.harmon.music

Dalton Rapattoni Age: 19 Hometown: Dallas, TX
Keep up with Dalton at:
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La’Porsha Renae Age: 22 Hometown: McComb, MS
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Remaining Tickets to Pacquiao vs. Bradley are priced at $1,204, $804, $604, $404, $254 and $154, not including applicable service fees. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets are also available for purchase at mgmgrand.com or ticketmaster.com.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.hbo.com/boxing or www.mgmgrand.com on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #PacBradley to join the conversation on Twitter.

LONDON (6 April) – Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is sceptical about Manny Pacquiao hanging up his gloves following his rubber match with Timothy Bradley this weekend.

The Filipino superstar is tipped to call it a day and bring to an end a glittering fight career after his decisive showdown with American rival Bradley, live and exclusive on Premier Sports.

The eight-division world champion has political ambitions in his home country, as he runs for a seat in the Philippines senate, however, Roach believes his star pupil still has more to give to boxing but expects him to put on a great display if his journey is to end on Saturday night.

“I personally don’t know if this will be Manny’s last fight but he is training like it’s going to be his last fight. Manny has achieved so much in his boxing career and if this is going to be his swan song I know he wants to go out blazing with a spectacular performance,” said Roach.

“If the opportunity for a knockout presents itself during the fight, he’s going to go for it. He knows how to close the show and he wants this show closed with fireworks. He wants to finish the book on his boxing career with a spectacular ending.

“I do think Manny has more quality fights in him. His power, speed, work ethic are still superior to most others,” he said.

56-year-old Roach, who has worked with numerous world champions including the likes of Mike Tyson, Miguel Cotto and Oscar De la Hoya, ranks Pacquiao as the greatest he has trained.

“Manny is the greatest fighter I have ever worked with,” said Roach. “I have never seen another fighter accomplish so much. Forget the raw talent and drive to win, Manny was a great student who never rested on his laurels.

“He was a sponge who was always willing to learn new things. He challenged me to teach him new things. He made me a better trainer.

“For me, it’s been an experience unique to Manny. I wish I had a million fighters with as much drive and a willingness to learn new things,” he said.

Five-time world champion Bradley has been praised for his recent performances since switching trainers to Teddy Atlas and many expect the Californian to give Pacquiao the toughest test of what will be their trilogy this time around.

Roach, though, does not think there has been much change in Bradley’s style and expects him to revert to his old ways once he feels Pacquiao’s power.

“I don’t feel Bradley has changed that much. Sure, we will make some adjustments for the changes his new trainer implemented in the last fight, but as soon as Manny lands some meaningful punches, Bradley will revert back to his old style and that’s what we have to be prepared for. The log in the ocean is going to end up being a log in the buzz saw.”

To watch Pacquiao v Bradley 3 live and exclusive on Premier Sports for only £9.99 visit premiersports.com or call 0871 663 9000.

LAS VEGAS, NV (April 4, 2016) – Fight Week is here!

Boxing’s only eight-division world champion and the reigning Fighter of the Decade, Congressman MANNY “Pacman” PACQUIAO, and five-time world champion TIMOTHY “Desert Storm” BRADLEY return to Las Vegas. Before they collide in their 12-round high-stakes welterweight showdown of pound for pound titans, they will make their Grand Arrivals, Tomorrow! Tuesday, April 5, in the front lobby of the MGM Grand. Bradley will arrive at 12:30 p.m. PT followed by Pacquiao at 1:00 p.m. PT. Fans are invited to give these two gladiators a championship welcome.

Pacquiao vs. Bradley will take place Saturday, April 9, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. This will also mark the first time former Trainers of the Year Freddie Roach and Teddy Atlas have faced each other from opposite corners. Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with MP Promotions and Tecate, the Pacquiao vs. Bradley championship event will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT.

The NoTrump pay-per-view undercard will feature World Boxing Organization (WBO) super middleweight world champion “King” ARTHUR ABRAHAM defending his title against undefeated No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger GILBERTO “Zurdo” RAMIREZ, undefeated No. 1 WBO featherweight contender and two-time Mexican Olympian ÓSCAR VALDEZ defending his NABO featherweight title against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight world champion EVGENY GRADOVICH and 2012 U.S. Olympian JOSE RAMÍREZ defending his World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental Americas super lightweight title against MANNY PEREZ. The Abraham vs. Ramirez world championship fight is co-promoted by Sauerland Event and Zapari Boxing Promotions

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Remaining Tickets to Pacquiao vs. Bradley are priced at $1,204, $804, $604, $404, $254 and $154, not including applicable service fees. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets are also available for purchase at mgmgrand.com or ticketmaster.com.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.hbo.com/boxing or www.mgmgrand.com on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #PacBradley to join the conversation on Twitter.

By Bart Barry-

Saturday at MGM Grand in a fight for the vacant WBO International (better than domestic, less than world) Welterweight belt Filipino Manny Pacquiao will make the first last match of his career against California’s Timothy Bradley. It will be the third time the men meet and Pacquiao’s first fight since disappointing himself, pay-per-viewers and his entire country against Floyd Mayweather in May. Expectations are low.

And so we return to the unpleasantness, the badfaith, the malcontentment. This fight will be preyed upon by what abiding discontent aficionados feel towards Pacquiao, and after his performance in the Fight to Save boxing there’s no chance casual fans want a part of it.

Cynicism all round, then, and what else is new? It’s deeper and uglier this time.

Those casual fans who felt hoodwinked by Pacquiao’s performance 11 months ago and then rightly resented talk of his shoulder afterwards, persons inexperienced in the hucksterism of our beloved sport, persons who didn’t know every loser in every fight has a plethora of excuses – the dishonorable ones reading us their list; the honorable ones having their trainers do it – had no intention of buying the second fight of their lives Saturday, but Pacquiao’s comments against homosexual acts, well, those ignited the same persons to encourage a boycott.

It’s not a legacy or a revenues booster, but bless Pacquiao for holding his line frankly, for resisting the media bullying that now passes for awareness or enlightenment or openmindedness or whatever the next euphemism is for herd animals collectively rising on their hindlegs to whinny disapproval via social media, outstanding birthplace of antisocial behavior. Pacquiao’s comments were not new or in any way different from previous comments he’s made, and they were far more honest than whatever halfassed apologies came later and the corporate distancing his business partners foisted on us, hating the sin and the sinner unless some revenue might yet be milked from the sinner and then hating only the sin.

Once more the foil in all this is Timothy Bradley, decent, gracious, genuine, grateful, and wholly unmarketable. Someone somewhere probably hoped the folks so theatrically offended by Pacquiao’s unwavering commentary would rally behind a friendly black Californian, husband in a mixed marriage, father to biracial children, but no: Those who consider being offended an intellectual feat rally against things, not for them.

Bradley did his part to get the rubber match: he looked vulnerable against secondrate competition till hiring a famous trainer then looked unstoppable against secondrate competition. Teddy Atlas has failed a bit as a ham, though, hasn’t he? There was supposed to be a battle of wits between Teddy and Coach Freddie, an antagonism onto which novelty seekers might latch, but it hasn’t come off. Atlas, finally, takes himself and his profession too seriously to make mirthful with Coach Freddie. There is no American interest in the sport of boxing anymore either, which must be considered a hindrance of sorts.

Pacquiao has chosen for his farewell tilt a far superior opponent to the guy Money May used for his failure of a goodbye in the fall, but it’s hard to imagine that will save this. Bradley, after all, is the unsympathetic guy who robbed Pacman in 2012.

That was an enduring example of the way misanthropes rally against things and not for them. Tired as they were of cheering for Pacquiao a large number of folks decided to project their rage with life on Bradley, just about the least-deserving target of mass hatred prizefighting has produced in a generation. It took Bradley to show some of us what a large number of despicable people populate our ranks, and no we haven’t forgotten.

Coincidentally, this was not Pacquiao’s fault. He thought he won the first match with Bradley, even if he knew he didn’t win its predecessor, his third match with Juan Manuel Marquez, but he wasn’t fractionally animated in the post-Bradley-fight press conference as his promoter Bob Arum – realizing, as Arum did, this decision would cool talk of a Mayweather megamatch for years. We forget that now for a couple reasons, the largest of which being what a dreadful thing the Mayweather match was when it did happen.

The other reason: Marquez knocked Pacquiao stiff six months after Pacquiao was robbed by Bradley. Those of us who watched from ringside as Pacquiao was conclusively outboxed in the second half of his third fight with Marquez and then made to miss continually by Bradley were not surprised Marquez got him – even if every person at ringside was jolted by how decisively Marquez took Pacquiao’s consciousness – and even less surprised how hopelessly Pacquiao fought Mayweather 2 1/2 years later.

Apparently Pacquiao beat Bradley in their rematch – after mis-scoring their first fight I was seated too far from the ring to see the fighters as more than circling electrons in a microscope, and I didn’t care enough to watch the tape – which got Pacquiao a shot at Chris Algieri, which somehow got Pacquiao a shot at Floyd Mayweather, which again went the way every aficionado knew it would even while some boxing writers did their promotional best to envision ways Pacquiao might win.

One hopes Saturday’s match is competitive as it should be, raising Bradley’s next purse while sending Pacquiao into his first retirement with dignity. It can’t possibly be worse than his last fight.

I’ll take Pacquiao, SD-12, in a match Bradley wins by two rounds.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

BOB ARUM: This is a very interesting promotion as far as I’m concerned. A lot of people are concentrating on the new and improved Tim Bradley. Manny Pacquiao with his right arm now totally repaired – he has had that torn rotator cuff since before the De La Hoya fight. A lot of athletes are able to perform well with a torn rotator cuff – a lot of pitchers in the major leagues are able to perform well with it. Obviously now that it’s repaired, it is at full strength. Freddie will tell you that Manny is hitting harder with the right hand – even harder than with the left hand, so he is now going to be a real two-handed fighter which is very interesting. I think Tim Bradley’s big advantage is that he is going in with a game plan. I don’t think he had much of a game plan in the first two fights but certainly Teddy has given him one. I am very excited for my “NoTrump Undercard” with the young Hispanics contenders and I think it is resonating tremendously, particularly with the Hispanic community. I’ve done dozens of radio interviews and television programs with the Hispanic media and there is a lot of excitement.

How are tickets selling?

BOB ARUM: The Ticket situation is good. It is about what it was last time that Manny fought Bradley. There are approximately 2,00 tickets left and a lot of those will go in the last week. They are selling at a very good clip so if we don’t sell out we will have at least 14,000 people in the arena on April 9. I am still optimistic that they will all be gone by fight night.

What is your aiming point for the pay-per-view?

BOB ARUM: I really think that we have a shot to go over 700,000. I really think that Manny and Bradley will do most of the numbers, but let me tell you that my Hispanic army is marching out there and we are going to do a tremendous number from people, aside from the Pacquiao-Bradley numbers, that want to see these Hispanic stars in very, very important fights. I am pretty confident that we will do over 700,000 with a little break here and there. Maybe if Trump opens his mouth a little bit more we can go over 800,000.

Do you think Bradley will be different for this fight? What has Freddie been telling you and what do you think it will it be?

MANNY PACQUIAO: Bradley has a new trainer for this fight and a new game plan and I am very excited for that because we will see more action in the ring in this fight.

In the first two fights he was avoiding your left hook. Will you use it more this fight or less?

MANNY PACQUIAO: Right now I have been working on my right hand and my right hook which is very good. My left hand is still good, but my right shoulder is healed and that is good, because I can use it with real power.

Freddie said it took you longer to get in shape for this fight. Is that because of the layoff or the shoulder?

MANNY PACQUIAO: We had a lot of time to exercise for this fight. We had a lot of time to train and all I can say is training camp was great and I am ready for the fight and everything is great.

Do you feel like the layoff has helped you?

MANNY PACQUIAO: That is one thing, it is good to have a long layoff in boxing – I feel fresh and new and I feel good now when I train every day. I really enjoyed this training camp.

You haven’t had a KO since 2009. Is that something that weighs on your mind or frustrates you? Or do you even think about it?

MANNY PACQUIAO: Yes, I am thinking about that. I have thinking about the last knockout that I had was in the Cotto fight and I believe the Margarito fight should have been stopped. It was a long time ago. I am thinking about it (the knockout) and that’s why I work hard. Right now it is a good thing that I had a layoff – I feel excited and fresh in my body and I will try hard for it in this fight.

Bob mentioned you’ve had a torn rotator cuff since the De La Hoya fight. Had you ever given consideration to having the surgery before since it has lingered for so long?

MANNY PACQUIAO: That fight was in 2008, so it was long ago. I still felt good and every time I rested the pain was gone.

Was it the worst in the Mayweather fight and psot-Mayweather?

MANNY PACQUIAO: Yes, in the fourth round. In the fourth round when I was throwing a lot of combinations. I hurt it coming off of one of the combinations.

It seems like you have been going back and forth regarding retirement. We know you have said you want to pursue your political career full time to assist your countrymen. Where do you stand on that right now?

MANNY PACQUIAO: After this fight I have already said that my mind is to focus on my job. If I win a Senate seat I have a big responsibility and I need to focus on that. I cannot say right now that I am going to retire. I don’t want to say that because I don’t know what the feeling is when you leave boxing. I will give it great thought when I return home.

So, you are going to have this fight, go back home and do your work and see what happens – and leave the door open?

MANNY PACQUIAO: My mind right now says to retire, but we don’t know.

Bob, have you spoken about this with Manny? What is your position?

BOB ARUM: Manny told me that he was going to retire after this fight, but I have been around this business for 50 years and a lot of fighters can’t walk away, so I am not advertising that this is going to be Manny’s last fight. It could be but then it may not be. He said he’s going back to run for Senate and if he becomes a Senator, he’ll have to decide whether to devote full time to the senate or he can work in a continuous boxing career. But again, that is going to have to be something that’s he’s going to have to decide. But one thing, for everyone on this line, I am not selling this fight as Manny’s last fight, so if he does come back after this fight – don’t say I deceived anyone.

Freddie, have you spoken about retirement with Manny following this fight? What is your position?

FREDDIE ROACH: We have talked about it a little bit. He told me he’s going to retire and I told him I think he still has some more fights left in him if he wants and he did ask me about training if he goes into the Olympics, if they let the pros in the Olympics and I said of course I will. That’s as far as we got. We didn’t talk about any fights after this. We are just concentrating on this fight right now.

Freddie, have you given any thought about not having Manny around any longer as a fighter?

FREDDIE ROACH: Of course, I will miss him. We have been together for a long time and I will go to all of his birthday parties in the Philippines and we will be friends for life.

Bob?

BOB ARUM: Well, I look back on it, working with Manny, but I have been at this for a long time. Fighters retire, but the life of boxing continues. If Manny does retire, I’ll concentrate on Terence Crawford, Jessie Vargas and Gilberto Ramirez and Oscar Valdez and Jose Ramirez, Jesse Hart and a whole host of other guys, and Nonito Donaire. So again, I will look back at it like when I promoted Muhammad Ali and George Foreman – that it has been a tremendous experience and I’m grateful for it but life goes on. One thing is for sure – I ain’t retiring. You are going to have me around for another 50 years.

Manny, do you think if you had the surgery earlier you would still be in the middle of this non-KO string?

MANNY PACQUIAO: I am not sure.

Freddie?

FREDDIE ROACH: I am not sure. He was young enough to get through the injury. We didn’t know it was a severe injury and we worked through it. The thing is when he moved to 147 and fighting against guys that when they went into the ring weighed 160, the thing is, it’s tougher against the bigger guys. He had a lot more knockouts at 140 and 135 of course but those guys were much smaller. I think that had more of an effect than the injury.

Do you expect Bradley to bang the shoulder early to see how healthy it really is?

FREDDIE ROACH: No because I think he would be wasting his time. He doesn’t have the injury right now. We were working on it and it has been 100% great for this training camp. The surgery went well and the rehab went well and Manny is 100% at this point.

Manny, you are in the political business, what do you think about the “NoTrump Undercard?”

MANNY PACQUIAO: All I know is that we have a good undercard.

Bob, have you heard from anyone in the Trump organization regarding the undercard?

BOB ARUM: I don’t take their calls.

Manny, in the two fights against Tim, which did you think you did better? The one you lost or the one you won?

MANNY PACQUIAO: I think the same. I believe the same, because I won both.

Which one were you happier with?

MANNY PACQUIAO: The one that I won.

Why that that one different or better?

MANNY PACQUIAO: The difference was throwing a lot more punches. To make sure I won every round to win the fight.

Do you believe it is important for you to win this fight to carry momentum into your election back home?

MANNY PACQUIAO: It is very important to get the win for my country and the people in the Philippines, but the most important thing is a win for my country and a win for my legacy in boxing.

Do you think a win will help you in the election?

MANNY PACQUIAO: Yes.

What do you think about professionals fighting in the Olympics?

BOB ARUM: The idea that you will allow professional boxers into the Olympics, at this short notice, is absolutely insane. The idea that Manny Pacquiao would face off with some 17 or 18 year old kid, who has no professional experience, is not only stupid, it’s dangerous. These people ought to have their heads examined. People say that professionals play basketball. That’s true, but in basketball you can dunk over somebody, but it’s not a hurt game. In boxing, if you put experienced pros in with rank amateurs there will be serious health consequences. I don’t understand why they are now raising this issue. It makes no sense to me.

On this short notice it seems extremely unlikely it will happen…

BOB ARUM: Absolutely – extremely unlikely. Andre Ward says he wants to go to the Olympics. Many Pacquiao says he wants to got to he Olympics. Are they going to fight 17 year old kids?

Manny, if this happens, would you consider fighting in the Olympics?

MANNY PACQUIAO: Yes, after this fight I am going back to the Philippines to do my job and if they allow me to fight in the Olympics – I am not going to say that I am going to fight or saying that I am not. I am not closing the door and I am not committing to it – I am thinking about it.

With the long layoff, did it make you realize that you don’t need boxing anymore in your life?

MANNY PACQUIAO: With the long layoff in boxing – I feel better right now – I feel fresh. A long layoff is a good thing because I was able to spend more time with my family and concentrate on helping the Philippine people.

Freddie, Teddy Atlas trains fighters to be more aggressive, how does that play to you?

FREDDIE ROACH: Well, if he will be more aggressive I will be happy for that. If his fighter fights a little harder we will fight back. Manny is ready for whatever he brings to the table. We see the adjustments he is trying to make but once Manny hits him, he will revert back to what he does best. I am not worried about Teddy Atlas, believe me.

In Closing…

MANNY PACQUIAO: Thank you everyone and all of the media and make sure you watch on April 9. There is going to be a lot of action in the ring and I am excited for that. Thanks you and God bless all.

BOB ARUM: I would like to make some observations. I really believe that this third fight between Manny and Timothy will be by far the best of the three fights. It will be very exciting and I believe that one way or another it is going to end in a knockout.

Also pay attention to the Arthur Abraham – Ramirez super middleweight world title fight. If Ramirez wins that fight, he will be the first Mexican to win a world title in a weight class as heavy as super middleweight and he will be one of the future stars not only in Mexico, but all over the world in boxing. Keep your eye on this kid, he’s 24, handsome, well spoken and fights well. If he wins this fight and becomes a champion, he will be a big star.

As will Oscar Valdez if he can get by Gradovich. Gradovich is a non-stop fighter and Valdez is a two-time Mexican Olympian and a real up and coming fighter.

Then there is my favorite, the farm worker. His parents came to this country to work in the fields. Jose Ramirez as a kid picked peppers in the fields at thirteen or fourteen years of age – he put himself through college, was a member of the U.S. Olympic boxing team – he fights his first ten round fight against Manny Perez, a very tough fighter from Denver. Jose is a kid to really focus on. He is a social activist. He is a spokesperson for the Latino Water Coalition, for immigration rights – he is a kid that’s going to make a difference.

I am very excited about this entire card on April 9. People are going to be tremendously entertained. I am really putting myself out on the line to say that it will be a complete night of boxing of the best that boxing has to offer.

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Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with MP Promotions and Tecate, the Manny Pacquiao – Tim Bradley high-stakes welterweight championship event will take place on Saturday, April 9, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT. The NoTrump pay-per-view undercard will feature World Boxing Organization (WBO) super middleweight world champion “King” ARTHUR ABRAHAM defending his title against undefeated No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger GILBERTO “Zurdo” RAMIREZ, undefeated No. 1 WBO featherweight contender and two-time Mexican Olympian ÓSCAR VALDEZ defending his NABO featherweight title against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight world champion EVGENY GRADOVICH and 2012 U.S. Olympian JOSE RAMÍREZ defending his World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental Americas super lightweight title against MANNY PEREZ. The Abraham vs. Ramirez world championship fight is co-promoted by Sauerland Event and Zapari Boxing Promotions.

Remaining Tickets to Pacquiao vs. Bradley are priced at $1,204, $804, $604, $404, $254 and $154, not including applicable service fees. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets are also available for purchase at mgmgrand.com or ticketmaster.com.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.hbo.com/boxing or www.mgmgrand.com on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #PacBradley to join the conversation on Twitter.

LONDON (1 April) – Premier Sports will air what is likely to be boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao’s final fight live and exclusive in the UK when he steps in against Timothy Bradley next Saturday night.

The pair clash for the third time on April 9th when they will look to settle an old score with both fighters sharing a win apiece from their previous meetings in 2012 and 2014.

Taking place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Premier Sports will be the only the place for British fight fans to see the Filipino legend in action before he hangs up his gloves.

Premier Sports is available on a number of platforms including Sky, Virgin, TalkTalk and online for just £9.99 a month, with no-connection fee or minimum term.

The channel was launched in August 2010 and has screened a number of top sporting events from football, rugby league, motorsports, ice hockey, boxing and many others.

The live broadcast of Pacquiao’s megafight with American ace Bradley will see the eight-division world champion back in the ring for the first time since his blockbuster showdown with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather last May.

Five-time world champion Bradley is coming off an impressive ninth-round stoppage over the tough and durable Brandon Rios, and will be looking to avenge his only defeat to date when he takes on Pacquiao.

Both men are in good spirits ahead of the bout and will be looking to make sure they put on a great show come fight night.

“I look forward to my battle with Timothy Bradley and giving boxing fans a fight they will always remember,” said Pacquiao. “This fight has a very special meaning to me and I will pour every ounce of my being — physically, emotionally and spiritually — into preparing for Bradley. “He has my full attention. I dedicate this fight to my fans and to my countrymen throughout the world who have kept me in their prayers. And as always, I fight to bring glory to the Philippines,” he said.

“I have always dedicated myself to who I am on fight night. However, on April 9th I will not only have dedicated myself to that but also delivering the performance that everyone has long awaited,” said Bradley.

Richard Sweeney, General Manager of Premier Sports, added: “We are delighted to be showing Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Timothy Bradley live and exclusive in the UK. This is going to be a fantastic fight between two of boxing’s biggest and best names. Premier Sports offers great sporting content to our subscribers and at just £9.99 represents real value-for-money. This is one fight not to be missed.”

To watch Pacquiao v Bradley 3 live and exclusive on Premier Sports for only £9.99 visit premiersports.com or call 0871 663 9000.

HBO Sports, widely acclaimed for its innovative and provocative boxing programming, examines the upcoming HBO Pay-Per-View® showdown between battle-tested rivals Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley when UNDER THE LIGHTS: PACQUIAO-BRADLEY debuts SATURDAY, APRIL 2 (11:05-11:20 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO.

Other HBO playdates: April 3 (9:00 a.m., 5:00 p.m.), 4 (5:50 a.m.), 5 (1:15 p.m.), 6 (noon, 11:15 p.m.), 7 (3:45 a.m.), 8 (7:45 p.m.) and 9 (5:30 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: April 2 (1:25 a.m.), 4 (4:45 p.m.), 7 (3:00 p.m., 8:45 p.m.), 8 (12:15 a.m.) and 9 (11:00 a.m.)

The special will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO and HBO On Demand, and at hbo.com/boxing, as well as other new media platforms.

Hosted by HBO Boxing commentator Max Kellerman, UNDER THE LIGHTS: PACQUIAO-BRADLEY will feature a panel that includes two future Hall of Fame fighters and HBO Boxing analysts who have experience on the sport’s biggest stage: Roy Jones Jr., a four-division world champion, and Bernard Hopkins, who has held titles in two weight classes and became the oldest champion in the sport’s history in 2013. Also participating in the roundtable conversation will be Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame trainer, who will weigh in on how the eight-division champ is preparing for the rubber match in this heated rivalry.

For more information, visit hbo.com/boxing; become a fan on Facebook at facebook.com/HBOBoxing; and follow on Twitter and Instagram at @HBOBoxing. Follow the conversation using #PacBradley.

“Pacquiao vs. Bradley” takes place Saturday, April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. (ET)/ 6:00 p.m. (PT).

March 25, 2016 – Leading up to the highly anticipated welterweight bout between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley Jr. – set for Saturday, April 9 and presented live by HBO Pay-Per-View® – HBO Sports will present the exclusive replay of two intriguing showdowns that highlight the remarkable skill and will of these competitors.

On Friday, April 1 at 12:00 a.m. (ET/PT) and Saturday, April 2 at 10:00 a.m. (ET/PT), HBO2 will replay Pacquiao vs. Bradley I 2012 and Bradley vs. Rios 2015 back-to-back. On June 9, 2012 in the bright spotlight of Las Vegas, Timothy Bradley Jr. won a controversial split decision over Manny Pacquiao, igniting a hot debate in the boxing community. Did Bradley do enough to win the fight?

This past November in Las Vegas, Bradley displayed his incredible skill package under new trainer Teddy Atlas unleashing an arsenal not seen before as he dominated slugger Brandon Rios, registering a 9th round stoppage. Can this revamped fighting style trigger a Bradley triumph over the future Hall of Famer in the third installment of their rivalry?

Both fights will also be available 24 hours a day to HBO NOW, HBO On Demand® and HBO GO® subscribers beginning Monday, March 28.

Pacquiao vs. Bradley takes place Saturday, April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT.

LOS ANGELES (March 22, 2016) – Undefeated contenders GILBERTO “Zurdo” RAMIREZ, ÓSCAR VALDEZ and JOSE RAMÍREZ, former world champion EVGENY GRADOVICH and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum hosted a Los Angeles Media Workout on Tuesday at Fortune Gym. The fighters worked out and discussed their upcoming championship fights on the Manny Pacquiao – Timothy Bradley NoTrump pay-per-view undercard (http://lat.ms/1o41mcT).

GILBERTO RAMIREZ
“This is my time. I have a lot of respect for Arthur Abraham. He’s a great champion. I know he’s working hard in training camp as am I. It’s going to be a great fight. I have to be smart in this fight. We are working on keeping the pressure on Abraham by throwing high volumes of punches and staying on top of him. I’m going to be a second skin on him. I feel a great sense of history fighting to become Mexico’s first super middleweight champion. It is a great honor representing my country in this fight. All I am thinking about is April 9. Looking past this fight is meaningless. The future is now.”

ÓSCAR VALDEZ
“My vast amateur background has prepared me to adapt to many different boxing styles. Gradovich is a breakthrough opportunity for me professionally. A victory over him is a big step that will lead me to a world title shot. I’m not feeling any pressure. I want this fight. I have trained my whole life for this fight. I stand up for The President but Donald Trump doesn’t deserve my respect.”

EVGENY GRADOVICH
“I have I lived and breathed this fight since training camp began. It’s all I have thought of. I’m an old school Mexican-style fighter. I love Julio César Chávez, Juan Manuel Márquez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. I know everyone thinks Valdez is the future star of boxing but I love this sport too much to allow him to beat me and move me down. I’m going to start fast and keep my foot on the gas pedal.”

JOSE RAMÍREZ
“It’s a dream come true fighting on a card headlined by a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley. Millions of people around the world will be watching us fight. It’s what I have dreamed of since I first entered a gym as a boy. The fans from the Central Valley have been very loyal to me and I am very loyal to them. I am proud to represent our common causes that mean so much to the farmers, specifically water issues. I used to be a picker. I picked peppers. I want to help bring a tomorrow to the farmers and their families. Everyone counts. I am honored to be a voice for them. They are not alone. I am a first generation American. I was proud to represent the U.S. in the Olympics because of the ideals that are the foundation of this country. Donald Trump lacks the education to understand this and why those ideals make our country is so. I want to show and share the lesson that you can succeed.”

BOB ARUM
“All these fighters here today need to win and win impressively. They do that and the sky is the limit for them. Zurdo’s skill set and size give him an advantage over Abraham who is a strong, tough fighter. I am very proud of this NoTrump undercard and everything it symbolizes.”

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Gilberto Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs), from Mazatlan, Mexico, co-promoted by Zapari Boxing Promotions, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) No. 1 super middleweight contender and mandatory challenger, will get his first world title shot when he challenges WBO super middleweight champion ARTHUR ABRAHAM (44-4, 29 KOs), of Berlin Germany. Valdez (19-0, 16 KOs), of Nogales, Mexico, the WBO’s No. 1 featherweight contender, will defend his NABO featherweight title against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight champion Gradovich (21-1-1, 9 KOs), a Russian native who lives in Oxnard, Calif. Jose Ramírez (16-0, 12 KOs), of Avenal, Calif., and a 2012 U.S. Olympian, will defend his World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental America super lightweight title against MANNY PEREZ (25-11-1, 6 KOs), of Denver, CO.

These six warriors boast a combined record of 158-16-2 (96 KOs) — a winning percentage of 90% — with a victory by knockout ratio of 61%.

HBO Sports presents LEGACY ON THE LINE: FROM BRADLEY TO PACQUIAO. Chronicling the lessons and controversies Bradley has endured in his high-profile rivalry with the boxing legend from the Philippines, the special debuts THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 26 (midnight-12:30 a.m. ET/PT) and is narrated by Liev Schreiber.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with MP Promotions and Tecate, the Pacquiao vs. Bradley world championship event will take place on Saturday, April 9, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT. The Abraham vs. Ramirez world championship fight will be co-promoted by Sauerland Event and Zapari Boxing Promotions.

Remaining Tickets to Pacquiao vs. Bradley world championship event are priced at $1,204, $804, $604, $404, $254 and $154, not including applicable service fees. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets are also available for purchase at mgmgrand.com or ticketmaster.com.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.hbo.com/boxing or www.mgmgrand.com on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #PacBradley to join the conversation on Twitter.