GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/11 June) – I have grown this habit of scribbling down my own scorecard every time Manny Pacquiao fights after he was held to a draw by Juan Manuel Marquez.
So Sunday, I again took a few notes which actually sum up the way I saw every round of his fight with Timothy Bradley. I have four pages from my notes.
Rounds 1-3
Manny Pacquiao captured all first three rounds of the fight with Bradley trying to probe Manny’s defenses. Bradley was the busier, throwing more punches but it was Manny who were landing the more accurate and heavier punches. Manny is outlanding and outpunching Bradley. At the end of the first round, long time second corner man Buboy Fernandez was telling Manny, “basaha, basaha” (read, read him – referring to Bradley). Pacquiao is bringing the fight to Bradley in the first two rounds and they intermittently traded punches in spurts. Manny was landing his powerful left straights which Bradley cannot seem to figure out.
Rounds 4-6
Action picked up as both fighters were looking to engage in a brawl. In Round 4, both fighters locked themselves up several times and went at each other with loaded bombs.[]
Manny repeatedly caught Bradley and may have hurt him a couple of times. The crowd was roaring in approval. Manny clearly won the round convincingly by landing the cleaner and clearer punches. In Round 5, Bradley started cautiously but was again forced to engage Manny in furious exchanges. Bradley was swinging wildly while Manny had his share of misses. Still Manny got the better of exchanges. In Round 6, it was Manny’s turn to pace himself but caught Bradley with a powerful uppercut to end the round. I gave all rounds at this stage of the fight to Manny.
Rounds 7-9
Pacquiao resumes hunting for Bradley who would oblige in toe-to-toe battle from time to time and would inevitably end up at the receiving side of exchanges. More power shots coming from Manny. In Round 8, Bradley tagged Manny several times but was quick to retaliate. Buboy urged Manny to feint his attacks. In what arguably was the best round of the evening, both fighters went after each other all over the ring with both fighters throwing caution to the wind.[]