Pacquiao Vs. Bradley: No, That Poster For The Rematch Is Not Proof Of A Conspiracy

Almost immediately after the robbery on last night’s HBO pay-per-view awarding Timothy Bradley a split decision win over Manny Pacquiao, photos began to circulate of a poster for the rematch between the two supposedly “printed weeks before the fight.”

This was proof enough of a fix for some. After all, it’s already got a date set? And tickets are on sale?

There is a bit of a hole in that line of thinking, though, mostly with the fact that the poster was created by Timothy Bradley’s camp to express their confidence in his ability to pull off the victory. Since there was a rematch clause in the contract and a November 10 date was already the target should the rematch be needed, Bradley’s camp did a little bit of fancy PR work.

Here’s Bradley posing with the poster on May 29 at his open workout via Stephen Dunn of Getty Images. Note the same poster, same shoes in the bottom corner (Bradley’s Nikes), same media members..etc:

The Washington Times even wrote about the poster after that workout:

News media found themselves greeted by a smiling Bradley along with a poster promoting the rematch between himself and Pacquiao on November 10 in Las Vegas with tickets on sale June 10. They were even handed press credentials.

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It turned out to be a spoof, a poster Bradley custom designed himself to demonstrate his confidence in putting on a true challenge to the popular Filipino eight-time champion.

So, no. That poster is not proof of a fix in last night’s fight. Not unless you believe that giant novelty ticket to the rematch that Tim Bradley brought to the pre-fight press conference was proof that he’d already purchased his ticket from the super secret underground brokers.