HBO’s Max Kellerman believes than Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) is in a good position to defeat WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) this Saturday night and hand him his first loss of his career at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kellerman likes Pacquiao’s power and speed, and he feels those two factors are going to weigh heavily in him likely beating the 30-year-old light hitting Bradley in their important rematch.
Kellerman also sees it as difficult for Bradley to get a decision this time around if the fight is anywhere close due to Pacquiao getting the shaft last time he fought Bradley in 2012 with two of the judges seeing Bradley as the winner despite Pacquiao having dominated 11 of the 12 rounds.
“Pacquiao has more ways to win than Bradley,” Kellerman said to ESPN. “He can still be a aggressive. He’s certainly a puncher with both hands. Bradley hasn’t stopped anyone but an over the hill Casamayor. So you can potentially see Pacquiao winning by a stoppage. Obviously it can do the distance, but if it does it would be hard to imagine Bradley getting another decision if it’s a competitive fight. Bradley doesn’t have the kind of counter punching power that [Juan Manuel] Marquez has in running Pacquiao into something.”
Kellerman is right. Pacquiao definitely has more ways to win this fight, and it’s going to be very difficult for Bradley to get a win unless he knocks Pacquiao out. It’s possible Bradley could score a knockdown if he catches Pacquiao rushing in, but he’s not going to be able to count on getting more than one lucky knockdown in the fight, if that.
Bradley will need to dominate Pacquiao each round to get a decision, and it doesn’t sound like he’s going to mix it up enough for him to prove that he’s the better man. Bradley has already hinted that he’s going to fight Pacquiao the same way he did against Marquez by moving constantly. That’s not the kind of style that will work for Bradley in impressing the judges.
Bradley will need to stop and fight it out like he did against Ruslan Provodnikov for him to get the win. He’s not going to be able to get another cheap win like he did against Marquez by moving in constant circles for 12 rounds.