Pacquiao-Bradley III Would Be A Great Fight - On HBO

Why not put the fight on pay cable?

People are unhappy right now because word is out that Manny Pacquiao may indeed face Timothy Bradley yet again for his "going away" fight in April. First off, I'm not convinced it will be Manny's last trip to the ring. What's more, I'm not crazy about seeing Manny and Tim face off again myself, unless, of course, they were to get it on live on HBO. Then I'd love to see it.

Here's the thing. People today avoid rematches for no particular good reason. What's wrong with a rematch, I ask you? Yeah, you've seen the fight before, but things change. Robinson fought LaMotta a lot, but you don't hear people complaining about it now. Why? Because it was a classic series of fights. Robinson won the vast majority of them, but LaMotta was trouble for Sugar Ray and everyone knew it.

Whether or not Bradley is trouble for Manny is debatable, but I wouldn't mind dedicating my Saturday night to see how a third go round between the two would work itself out. Both guys are terrific fighters, after all. What's more, now that Mayweather has retired they would be facing off to see who was the undisputed ruler of the welterweight division. That's good stuff. It's just not pay per view worthy stuff.

Asking people to pay a whole lot of money to see these two go at it yet again is ridiculous. The drama that will come from questions regarding Pacquiao's age and skill set - along with other questions pertaining to Bradley's teaming up with Teddy Atlas - won't provide enough enticement for people to cough up the better end of a hundred dollars. Why not just put the matchup on at nine pm some evening this spring for people to see on pay cable?

Because both Pacquiao and Bradley are expensive fighters, that's why. Indeed, at this point they might be too expensive for fans to bother paying to see face one another. Honestly, does anyone picture this fight doing the kinds of numbers Cotto-Canelo did, much less Manny-Floyd? The idea of a third fight is fine by me. The idea of putting it on Pay Per View? Not so much.

Oh well, maybe Manny will end up fighting Amir Khan after all, anyway.