Tonight, two of the best welterweights boxers in the world Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez best known for their wins over Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, will fight in the ring to establish who is the real man at 147 pounds.
Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs) pulled off an upset when he defeated the reigning WBO champion Manny Pacquiao in a fight that almost everyone felt Pacquiao won. The decision was controversial and many boxing fans were angered and took out their frustration on Bradley. He went into a deep depression from the death threats and negativity thrown his way for a decision that he had no part of, it was a judges decision and he was getting all of the hate. To prove all the doubters wrong who said he ran from Pacquiao and fought scared, he went toe to toe with hard hitting former Pacquiao sparring partner Ruslan Provodnikov and he put on a fight of the year event, but got hurt several times in the process. Tonight Bradley wants to solidify his legacy by beating Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez who knocked out Manny Pacquiao and beat him without a judges decision.
Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs) has been living in the shadows of the Mexican greats, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera and he was best known for his tough close fights with Manny Pacquiao. Always fighting for respect and feeling slighted in each fight against rival Pacquiao, he took the fight out of the judges hands and knocked out Pacquiao. Now Marquez is looking to make history as the first Mexican to win 5 different weight division titles and he must dethrone Bradley to make his dream come true.
The undercard will feature a WBO featherweight title fight between first openly gay boxer Orlando Cruz of Puerto Rico against Mexican slugger Orlando Salido. Orlando Cruz made headlines when he came out of the closet as the first openly gay boxer, and he wants to make history by being the first one to win a world boxing title. Cruz will have a difficult task when he faces the hard hitting Orlando Salido on Saturday night.
Highly touted former Olympic Gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko will make his professional boxing debut at featherweight against experienced veteran Jose Ramirez.
Undefeated Light Heavyweight contender Sean Monaghan will face Anthony Smith as the opening bout.
Watch Timothy Bradley vs. Juan Manuel Marquez live on HBO Pay-Per-View, beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, October 12, 2013.
