Manny Pacquiao will be facing one of the tougher tests in his illustrious career on April 12th, when he steps in the ring with Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley for the second time in his career.
A win over Bradley could open up the door for a very lucrative fight to follow, but overcoming the current WBO welterweight champion is no given. Pacquiao is widely believed to have won their first battle in convincing fashion, but the judges awarded a decision win to Bradley. Since then, Bradley has proven his mettle in big wins over Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez.
He is a proven commodity at welterweight now, and a different fighter from when they first met. "Now I'm not the little dog on the block. I'm a top dog," Bradley said. "I'm a lot more mature as a fighter, as a man. I'm a little older, Pacquiao is a little older, so it's different. I've had some great wins in those two years and I feel I'm more than ready."
Juan Manuel Marquez is a common denominator between these two fighters, and he has been very picky about his next fight. He has pined for a Bradley rematch, and been vocal about having closed the chapter on his long-standing Pacquiao rivalry.
JMM wants to fight for belts only though, in his advanced age, and he's now amenable to fighting the winner of Bradley-Pacquiao, even if it means facing Pacman for a fifth time.
Pacquiao-Bradley V is something Top Rank CEO Bob Arum clearly wants as he re-iterated recently. "I would love to do Pacquiao-Marquez," Arum said. "Pacquiao has to win this fight and Marquez says he'll fight him. So it's a big incentive for Pacquiao...He'll fight the winner of this fight to win the belt."
The talk of Pacquiao-Marquez in the future seems to indicate a lack of faith that any deal with Floyd Mayweather Jr. can be made. If he wins, he's likely set to run it back with "Dinamita," and if he loses, then all hope for a Floyd fight is lost.
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