The defeat of Manny Pacquiao against Timothy Bradley does not come as a surprise, it has been expected by Bob Arum himself who hinted for the first time that he has already scheduled November 10 as the date for the rematch.
If Arum has that full confidence of a Pacquiao win he should not have endorsed a rematch clause for an impending upset by Bradley in this fight if it was not expected.
Besides, Arum has manifested his doubt of a Pacquiao win when he revealed that it was the reason why he has not talked about any other fight with Pacquiao not until Pacquiao’s fight with Bradley is over.
During training prior to the fight, Arum checked on Bradley’s preparation in the desert city of Indio, California, and was awestruck by Bradley’s confidence level and demeanor.
Since that visit a bigger than life stub ticket for the November rematch has been floating around in Bradley’s camp which has sown intrigue among boxing fans, aficionados and the media as well.
Was it coincidence or was it an orchestrated anticipation that a Pacquiao loss is going to happen?
In the fight, one could easily noticed that Pacquiao lacks the explosiveness and and seemed to be sluggish at 147 lbs. against Bradley.
While in his previous fights against bigger and taller opponents, he was sporting a 144 lbs. fighting weight just not to jeopardize his speed and agility.
But this time, it was quite strange why Pacquiao was in a heavier weight against a smaller guy like Bradley?
The decision by the three judges seemed to favor Arum’s expectation of a rematch by reflecting an out of this world results of the bout deliberately favoring Bradley to win.
Business wise, it could be profitable for Arum to do a rematch. With the loss, Pacquiao’s purse accordingly could probably be reduced by 50 percent of what he was previously receiving and for Bradley his purse could be doubled.
In the first Pacquiao-Bradley fight Arum is paying Pacquiao approximately US$ 30 million while Bradley is receiving around US$ 9 million dollars or a total of US$ 39 million.
In the rematch Arum would be paying both fighters approximately US$ 14 million each.
