A week before his scheduled title defense against undefeated Timothy Bradley, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao has seen his odds to win the fight drop ever so slightly from 2/9 all the way to 1/7, a sign that the public has laid some wood on Pac-Man to chomp down the man they call “Desert Storm”.
For his part, Bradley’s odds have remained relatively the same from a few weeks ago at 9/2 odds.
So the question, especially in light of Pacquiao’s more recent fights, is this: is it at all surprising that Pacquiao is a heavy favorite in this fight?
Our answer: not at all. And that’s even with all the distractions that seem to gravitate towards the Filipino champion in the weeks leading up to a big fight.
In true Pacquiao fashion, the champ has been inundated with plenty of controversies that would have struck down a lesser man. Leading up to this fight, he has been accused of plenty of off-ring shenanigans, including his failure to submit the proper documents regarding the amount of money he’s been making from his fights. Then there’s the issue of his foundation failing to pay the necessary shipping charges on a consignment of goods that was seized by the Philippine customs last month. If those weren’t enough, strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza abruptly left his training camp for a brief period, followed by Pacquiao’s now controversial, albeit overblown, stance on homosexuals.
Run that list down again and it’s almost impossible to imagine how this man can keep his wits together in preparation for Timothy Bradley.
Then again, he’s still Manny Pacquiao, the reigning WBO welterweight champion and regarded as “option 1a” in the mythical pound-for-pound rankings opposite Floyd Mayweather. Never mind the fact that Pacman hasn’t knocked somebody out cold since his flash-bang of a fight against Ricky Hatton. Or that he wasn’t all that impressive in his last fight against long-time arch-nemesis, Juan Manuel Marquez.
Whatever apprehensions people may have off him, Manny Pacquiao is still a Filipino typhoon when he gets in that ring, and when you’re going up against a guy who has a glass jaw and doesn’t possess a thimble of the knockout power of the Filipino superstar, then the odds have fallen this way for a good reason.
In addition to the always popular match betting, another line that’s worth looking into is the “Method of Victory” and predictably so, the safest line is Pacquiao winning by either decision or technical decision at even odds.
Meanwhile, a Pacquiao KO, TKO, or disqualification has been propped at 7/4 while a draw or technical draw carries 28/1 odds. If you’re smelling an upset of colossal proportions, then Timothy Bradley’s decision or technical decision line is at 7/1 whereas a knockout, a technical knockout, or disqualification hits at 10/1 odds.
