Laban kay Bradley, may pinakamalaking premyo para kay Pacquiao.
Nilinaw ng tagapayo ni Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao na si Michael Koncz na pinakamalaki ang kikitain ng Pinoy boxer sa paghamon kay WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley kaya ito ang pinili nilang laban.
Sa panayam ni BoxingScene.com news editor Steve Kim, iginiit ni Koncz na ang sagupaan nina Pacquiao at Bradley sa Abril 9, 2016 sa MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada sa Estados Unidos ay huling laban na ng Pilipino bago magretiro upang haraping ang karerang pampolitika.
“As it stands at this moment, I can honestly say this is Manny Pacquiao’s last fight,” diin ni Koncz na binalewala ang mga kritiko na humulang lalangawin ang sagupaan.
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Dalawang beses nang naglaban sa Las Vegas sina Pacquiao at Bradley una noong 2012 na napagwagian ng Amerikano sa kontrobersiyal na 12-round split decision, at noong 2014 na kumbinsidong nanalo sa puntos ang Pinoy 8-division world champion.
“We looked at what was the best financial package for Manny and I was dealing directly with Amir Khan. I kept him posted as much as I could. I even let him know what we had to pay Bradley to fight in the hopes that he may become more realistic in his purse,” ani Koncz. “And I was even contemplating Adrien Broner but we had to look at everything in a package deal and fortunately - or unfortunately - the best package financially I could get for Manny was a rematch with Bradley.”
Idinagdag ni Koncz na hindi siya naniniwalang hindi papatok ang ikatlong sagupaan nina Pacquiao at Bradley lalo’t galing sa dalawang sunod na panalo ang Amerikano.
“It’s not our fault, we were running out of options on opponents. That’s the bottom line. So we can only do the best that we can do and it’s not Manny’s fault, it’s not my fault that possible opponents like Amir - and I give him credit that he realized that there are other people in play and he came down on his demands, which I appreciate and that I’m thankful for - but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for us,” diin ni Koncz. “Again, my job is to do the best I can do for Manny and unfortunately whether the fans like it or not, that’s in the financial aspect and that’s what I did.”
Tatanggap si Pacquiao ng garantisadong $20 milyon bukod pa sa pay per view hits kaya aabot sa mahigit P1 bilyon ang kikitain niya sa huling laban bago magretiro. (Gilbert Espeña)
