By James Slater – Ring legend Thomas Hearns, who will be immortalised further when he is inducted into The Hall of Fame this very weekend, has given his opinion on tomorrow’s big Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley fight from Las Vegas. “The Hitman,” no stranger to big Las Vegas fights himself, is one of those experts who is giving unbeaten WBO welterweight title challenger Bradley a chance of scoring the upset.
And Hearns, who will be joined by fellow greats Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and others in Canastota, knows of what he speaks. Back in January of 2011, as the unbelievably well-conditioned warrior known as “Desert Storm” was getting ready to face the then unbeaten Devon Alexander, Hearns spent some time working with Bradley, training him and even sparring with him. Hearns attempted to do what his great trainer Emanuel Steward did for him all those years ago, and unlock the secrets of being able to throw power punches..
Bradley, 28-0(12) is no big puncher like Hearns, yet Tommy feels his tips have helped the Palm Springs man.
“Bradley was a really good listener,” Hearns told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports. “I didn’t have a lot of time to work with him, but I was impressed with him. He has a good jab and he needs to use it more. When I was working with him that day, after I showed him a few things, he got in there with that right hand behind the jab and, believe me, it was a good punch.
“People who think Pacquiao is just going to [walk right through Bradley] are in for a surprise. He has what it takes to beat Pacquiao. And Pacquiao has what it takes to beat him, which is how you get a good fight. Bradley has worked really hard to get where he is and he wants to be the best. He’s not a slapper. No way. I don’t think Pacquiao is going to want to be hit by one of those right hands.”
It will be a huge shock if Bradley goes in there and bosses Pacquiao before stopping him, on that everyone agrees. Those fans and experts who do pick Bradley to win (and there are a substantial amount of them; primarily because the thinking is Pacquiao, at age 33, might be on the slide) feel he will do it by winning a hard-fought battle of attrition. Hardly anyone is picking Bradley to halt Pac-Man.
But if Hearns is right about Bradley’s strength and capable right hand, we could, as he says, be in for a surprise. But Tommy will hopefully enjoy the fight whoever wins – and then jet off to Canastota for his big day on Sunday. The “Hitman” in The Hall, where he belongs!