WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) thinks he can get a decision against Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) when they meet up next month on April 12th. The conventional wisdom is that Bradley will need to score a KO over Pacquiao to get a decision this time, due to the controversy that surrounds their previous bout in 2012. Fans think that there’s no way that the judges will want to give Bradley a second decision and have to face the heat from the boxing community.
Bradley feels that he’ll be able to do better in the rematch against Pacquiao because he’ll have two healthy feet for the bout, and this will enable him to move quickly to get out of the way of Pacquiao’s swinging shots.
“I don’t think I have to knock him out to get a definite result, but if the knockout presents itself I will take advantage of it,” Bradley said via the Sweetscience. “This second fight against Manny Pacquiao I will pick up where I left off the first fight…I will be faster than Pacquiao, I will be hungrier than Pacquiao. I have been in the ring with Pacquiao so I know exactly what to expect.”
Having two healthy feet won’t give Bradley any additional power for the rematch, as he didn’t look powerful for his last two fights against Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov. Bradley’s power was less than impressive in both fights, and that means he’s going to need to use movement to keep out of range of Pacquiao’s shots at all times. This brings up another question.
Will the judges give Bradley rounds if he’s playing keep away for 12 rounds and just looking to peck away with one shot at a time? It’s doubtful that Bradley can win a fight like that. He’s going to need to actually engage Pacquiao to win because he already got a victory on the cheap against him last time without mixing it up, and he recently was given a win over Marquez by fighting in the same defensive, non-crowd pleasing manner.
Against Pacquiao in the rematch, Bradley is going to need to fight more like he did in the Provodnikov fight whether he likes it or not. If Bradley doesn’t have the chin or the power to fight Pacquiao in that manner, then that’s his problem. He’ll simply lose, and get the loss that he should have received the last time he fought Pacquiao.
