Congratulations Manny Pacquiao! Once again, time stood still as millions of people from around the World watched the long awaited rematch - "Manny Pacquiao vs Timothy Bradley II". It's a journey of Pacman who lost 2 years ago and his quest for redemption. The "Pambansang Kamao" of the Philippines Manny Pacquiao has done it again, by winning against Bradley with a unanimous decision and gaining his WBO welterweight championship belt. Manny Pacquiao is truly the best pound for pound fighter out there and as well as the quintessence of his title People's Champ! But then again, I would also have to commend Timothy Bradley who showed the World that he belongs among the World's elite boxers and for being such a sport.
"I lost to one of the greatest Fighters" and "No excuses what so ever" said by Timothy Bradley on the post fight interview.
Timothy Bradley suffered his first loss in his boxing career.
Pacquiao won vs Bradley via unanimous decision – 116-112, 116-112, 118-110.
OK, Manny won the fight but have you noticed that there's no new Pacquiao X Nike merchandise before the fight. There's even no Nike logos on his shorts, and gloves. Pacquiao didn’t even get a congratulatory message, or a tweet from Nike after the fight. Try to search for his name on Nike's website and all you get nothing but just speed ropes. It seems that Manny Pacquiao is not relevant to Nike anymore.
Years ago, a Manny Pacquiao fight was a cause for a celebration for Nike. The brand would tap into the huge Filipino fan base and drop Manny Pacquiao merchandise such as shirts, shorts, and kicks leading up to fight night. It was also a proud moment for us Filipinos to be mentioned and placed in the same ads with the likes of Kobe, Allyson Felix, Stefan Janoski, Larry Fitzgerald, and many more. But now it looks like time has passed.
The reason for this is that Nike has removed Manny Pacquiao's Sponsorship, and signed Jon Jones instead. Is it because of his loss to Marquez, when he got “knocked the f**k out”? Or the sport of boxing is on the steady decline. We really don't know the answer. Only Manny or Nike can answer this question for us.
One thing is sure though, Nike is saying hello to the new and goodbye to the old as Nike has dropped Manny Pacquiao as a result of Jones.
According to MMAweekly.com, Dana White while speaking about Jones signing with Nike said, “They’re shutting down the Manny Pacquiao line and starting up the Jon Jones line."
"I don’t know why they shut down the Pacquiao line, but they did and that (expletive) was selling like hot cakes. I got Manny Pacquiao (expletive) from Nike." - Dana White
This might be a sign of Mixed Martial Arts taking over the combat sports World, or just a coincidence that we are looking too much into, or maybe Nike is just waiting for another Pacman run. Anyway, I still hope that Nike will be on the bandwagon again soon and truly celebrate Manny's comeback. Good luck Manny!
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