Welterweight Timothy Bradley Jr forever became a legend after he defeated Manny Pacquiao, in the main event of their pay-per-view fight on this date. 

The bout had several strange aspects to it, but one of which was Manny Pacquiao delaying his main event fight so he could watch an NBA playoff game involving the Boston Celtics. Bradley entered the fight as a five-to-one underdog despite being viewed as the best junior welterweight, despite now fighting in the junior welterweight division and being a fringe pound-for-pound fighter during this time. 

The result was one of the most talked about split decisions in the history of the sport as Bradley won on two of the three judges scorecards which many observers including the HBO telecast didn't agree with.

The price of the pay-per-view is a modest $54.95, which is essentially twenty dollars less than the average pay-per-view ten years later. 

The attendance was 14,206 and pulled in a live gate of nearly nine million dollars. 

The Debate  

Many publications used the split-decision result of this fight as a way to attack the flaws of boxing at large. Pacquiao out landed Bradley in terms of landed punches, but Bradley outthrew Pacquiao. Pacquiao's total punches stats at the end of the contest was 253 landed punches out of 751 thrown, whereas Bradley landed 159 punches out of 839 thrown.

After the decision was read, HBO Boxing's Jim Lampley said the following

"That is a terrible, bogus decision...Tim Bradley has scored an upset split decision victory over Manny Pacquiao. God only knows how."

The decision despite being the biggest win of Bradley's career also was an elephant in the room. Bradley in his next fight against Ruslan Provodnikov had a fight of the century type bout in a fight that was viewed as a stay-busy-type fight against a club fighter that turned into a modern classic as Bradley was far too willing to exchange. It seemed despite beating Pacquiao, Bradley had a bigger chip on his shoulder looking to prove himself in the sport of boxing even after the win - as he never fully got his respect on that night.

Aftermath

Bradley would become one of the most iconic fighters of the last decade and the rare fighter not defined by public outrage. Bradley would fight all the greats and beat most of them - including a pay-per-view win over Juan Manuel Marquez. The Pacquiao fight will always be looked at funny to some, but Bradley who will be inducted into the IBHOF this year was nothing short of a legend. Despite his 5′ 6″ frame, Bradley seemingly had the heart of a giant, giving fight fans one classic after another. 

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