Manny Pacquiao vs Timothy Bradley fight start time on HBO PPV hinges on Heat vs Celtics Game 7 finish

There's an intriguing situation set to play out tonight (Sat., June 9, 2012) with two major events colliding.

In the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Miami Heat will host the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which is scheduled to tip off sometime around 8:30 p.m. ET.

This, of course, comes in direct conflict with the big Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley boxing match taking place later in the evening at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The HBO pay-per-view (PPV) goes live at 9 p.m. ET with the undercard leading into the big main event fight.

Considering the collective star power involved in the Heat-Celtics game, which includes the polarizing Lebron James in the game of his life, the promoters of the Pacquiao fight want nothing to do with it. In fact, according to Top Rank officials, Pacquiao vs. Bradley will not begin until the NBA game has finished.

Even if that means killing time while it plays out. Indeed, XFINITY Sports tweeted the following:

Bob Arum just said they have bought enough satellite time for up to 4 OTs (2 am). If it goes past then, it'll be interesting on many levels.

So if Miami and Boston end up in a tightly contested game that runs longer than any NBA playoff game should, we could end up with an incredibly interesting situation on our hands. Chances are, however, the game will finish long before Pacquiao and Bradley hit the ring, which should be around midnight ET.

Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for complete coverage of the Pacquiao vs. Bradley PPV event tonight. Whenever it starts, we'll deliver LIVE, round-by-round coverage of the championship clash, as well as the under card bouts, right here.

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