Though Bradley was clearly rattled at a few points, Pacquiao maintained a conservative approach through much of the bout, unleashing crucially timed combos and moving his head to avoid most of Bradley's best counters.
Pacquiao had Bradley hurt at the end of the seventh round only to let him recover through the first half of the eighth. Ultimately, two judges scored the bout 116-112 with the third judge having the score 118-110, all for Pacquiao.
There was no controversy this time and Bradley was humble in defeat, giving Pacquiao all the credit for beating him this time.
Bradley started off the fight strong as both fighters kept their distance throughout the first round. Pacquiao managed a late flurry of action in the round, but he applied very little pressure and seemed more intent on defending himself than attacking.
Bradley displayed a picture perfect jab in the early going, using the whole ring to keep himself in range while backing away from Pacquiao's power punches. Pacquiao picked up the speed in the second round but just didn't show the same level of aggression as Bradley did.
He caught Bradley sleeping and pressed forward with a combo, but Bradley was loading up with every punch. He connected with one of his best punches of the round when he hit Pacquiao with a bombing right hook inside the last 30 seconds.
Bradley went into a more defensive mode in the third, pivoting away from Pacquiao's best shots. He also tried to land more body shots, which Pacquiao seemed to ignore or just shrug off. Pacquiao landed a nice right hook in the early going of round three and really began putting his punches together.
He even mixed in a little rope-a-dope, luring Bradley in only to unload on him with accurate shots after Bradley would tire himself out with wild, winging roundhouses. Some of Pacquiao's best shots came in the final 30 seconds of the frame.
Pacquiao took his last round off in the fourth, but he did manage another thudding right hook and connected with some pawing jabs. Bradley took a less cautious approach and peppered Pacquiao with rib shots.
Bradley really turned it on at the halfway point, and betweeen rounds his corner told him Pacquiao was fading. Pacquiao pushed the action just a bit more in the fifth, keeping his hands up and working more combinations.
Bradley kept digging hooks to the body and stalking his foe all around the ring. He bombed a few nice power shots to Pacquiao's head before dropping his hands at the end of the round hoping to make Pacquiao rush in and leave himself open.
Pacquiao continued fighting in spurts, but always pushing the pace when Bradley was off balance or failing to protect himself. He absolutely unloaded on Bradley in the corner at the end of the round. As the round went on, it was clear Bradley was down to throwing one punch at a time and couldn't find any rhythm.
Between rounds Bradley confessed to his corner that he was "hurting" only to have his trainer Joel Diaz lose it on him, asking him repeatedly if he wanted to go home.
Of course, Bradley decided to stay and fight, but the fight was already slipping away from him. Diaz continued to try to motivate him through the rest of the breaks, but he consistently let Bradley know that the fight was close and he needed to win rounds.
Bradley threw some decent uppercuts in the seventh, but he also started slowing down and plodding around the ring instead of stalking with purpose like he did earlier in the fight.
Pacquiao's confidence grew with each landed punch, and he managed to trap Bradley in a corner once again, unloading crisp combos. Though Bradley waved him in, he was clearly frustrated that he couldn't seem to catch Manny making any huge mistakes.
Pacquiao had another weak round in the eighth, though he did step it up at the halfway point for a few moments. Bradley kept throwing one shot at a time, but he looked better and landed some really powerful body shots.
He was winging more shots and getting hit by counters, but he also started to showboat a bit and pretend to be hurt. During the ninth round, he went back to a jab-heavy approach.
He didn't look like he was able to plant his feet for most of his shots all of a sudden, and he did later complain of an injured calf. Pacquiao knocked him off balance in the ninth and continued to sneak in and land the more precise shots.
Before the 10th, Bradley's trainer was once again angry at his fighter.
"Stop the BS," said Diaz. "Stop playing."
Bradley took the advice and was more aggressive at the start of the tenth. He seemed to find a decent range on the inside for him to work his combinations only to let his foot off the gas and let Pacquiao right back into the fight.
Pacquiao landed the cleaner punches and kept managing to weave his way out of danger. The head movement was key for Pacquiao. Throughout the 11th, Bradley seemed to be in survival mode, backing up and moving in circles to avoid Pacquiao's advances.
He did get a little more active in the final minute of the round, but there was no desperation you'd expect from a fighter down on all the cards.
Pacquiao had the best start to any round of the night in the 11th, landing at will and forcing Bradley to run from him the whole round. Finally, Bradley was hurt bad enough for him to force a clinch, but Pacquiao didn't push the action and try to knock him out.
Bradley closed out the fight with spots of aggression in the final round, featuring mostly 1-2 combos. Both fighters traded shots through the last ten seconds after a clash of heads stopped the action with 12 seconds left to go.
Pacquiao once again used a jump-in, land and leave approach to win yet another round on the way to his unanimous decision win. He confessed after the bout to being hurt by an early Bradley punch that made him decide to fight a smarter bout the rest of the way.
Undercard Notes
Lightweight Raymundo Beltran improved to 29-6-1 with 17 KOs when he beat Arash Usmanee (20-2-1, 10 KOs) in the co-main event to give the Afghan-born Canadian just the second loss of his career. Beltran took home the vacant WBO NABO lightweight title with the victory.
Also on the undercard, Bryan Vasquez (33-1, 17 KOs) dominated Jose Felix, Jr. and handed the young super featherweight his first career loss after 26 wins and 21 knockouts to start his career.
Vasquez earned the interim WBA super featherweight title with the effort. Khabib Allakhverdiev (19-1, 9 KOs) and Jesse Vargas (24-0, 9 KOs) fought to stay undefeated and for the IBO and WBA light welterweight titles with Vargas coming away with a respectable decision victory despite his opponent coming on strong toward the end of the fight.
