6 Thoughts on Pacquaio-Bradley Fight

1. It was the first pay-per-view boxing match I've seen. In true Filipino fashion, one of our neighbors - an Indian, no less - bought and hosted  the PPV in front of his convenient store along the street. Almost 80% of the neighborhood went out of their homes to tune in. Everybody gasped and writhed in agony with every back-and-forth slugfests between Manny Pacquaio and Timothy Bradley in every round, only to erupt into cheers later on whenever Manny slips in significant blows during the tussle. For the first time, the street felt like one of those large baranggay halls that host Pacquaio fights for the community to see. It was awesome.
2. I only started watching the match on the sixth round, so I can't really say about what happened before that. But when I was viewing what remained of hte fight, I really felt Manny will be hard-pressed to win because every time when he was about to go into hyperdrive, Bradley matched Pacquaio's offense with a flurry of his own, coupled by his excellent movement and great chin. In particular, Pacman's punches didn't seem to faze Bradley, just like Manny never really got hurt through the fight.
3. Normally, and according to popular belief, judges usually base their decision of a tightly fought contest in the final two or three rounds. No matter how Pacquaio may have won the other rounds, it won't mean shit if he failed to impress the judges in the 11th and 12th round. Suffice to say, Bradley did put in enough offense and controlled the flow of said rounds with his movement and counter-punching. Sadly, I thought Manny was, for a moment, outboxed by the challenger.
4. Despite these suppressed feelings, I really thought Pacquaio did enough to stick another feather in his already feathery cap. Let's face it, there's was nothing Bradley did that's noteworthy other than avoid getting knocked out or get out of trouble...
5. ...but I wasn't surprised when Bradley won, either. The rounds were razor-thin close that any round could have gone to either men. Still, my neighbors went silent in disbelief with the decision when Bradley, probably in disbelief as well, raised his hands and jumped into the turnbuckle for his celebration. As for celebration, my mother, who is a casual Pacquiao fan, stormed off the street and back to our home, where she seems to be laughing off the disappointment.
6. Nonetheless, it was a great afternoon. One of my neighbor friends called all his co-workers and cursed at them repeatedly. My other friend kept saying the quote, "You have to lose in order to win again" eight fucking times before he finally begin drinking his bottle. As for me, I had two bottles before sleeping it off at two in the afternoon.
7. Before ending this post, I just have to say: lay off Bradley, people. He didn't fucking cheat. He executed his game-plan based on his skills, which put Pacquaio in sorts of problems. Mulling over the decision, I now belief that Pacquaio should have won, but props go to Bradley, even for a fight he didn't deserve to win.