Participating in his 66th pro contest, Pacquiao put on a scintillating effort at times to see out what for all intents and purposes was a third convincing win over five-time world champion and Top Rank stablemate Bradley.
Even at 37 years of age, the ‘Pacman’ retains his lighting quick reflexes which helped him catch Bradley off balance in the seventh and ninth rounds to score the only two knockdowns in 36 rounds against Bradley.
In the opening rounds, Bradley, 32, looked to have begun brightly but wasn’t able to make the most of his opportunities and could only bag the third, fifth and eighth rounds on my 117-109 card.
At the end of an entertaining bout, Pacquiao was awarded the decision 116-110 by all three judges and heads off into what will hopefully be a short-lived retirement for the eight-weight world title holder.
In the co-feature, the talented Gilberto Ramirez became the new WBO super middleweight champion with a faultless display against wily veteran Arthur Abraham.
The 24 year-old pushed his awesome record to 34-0 with a 120-108 victory across the board in a fight that saw the Mexican fulfil a 2011 prediction made by WBN that the then 19 year-old would be a future world title holder.
‘Zurdo’ had Abraham in trouble more than once in the fight, and it was only the sixth round that could be argued in favour of the now ex-champion, who just didn’t do enough to keep his title.
