Pacquiao will taste defeat against Bradley if he continues to have leg problems

By Boxing News - 04/05/2012 - Comments

Image: Pacquiao will taste defeat against Bradley if he continues to have leg problemsBy Chris Williams: A theme for the last few of Manny Pacquiao’s fights has centered around him doing well initially with his speed, combinations and fierce all out attacks against mostly over-matched opposition. Pacquiao would then develop leg cramps in the later rounds that would curtail his limited movement making his very hittable. Leg cramps are something that Pacquiao needs to try and solve because he can’t afford to develop leg problems in his fight against WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley on June 9th.

This is one of the few fights where Pacquiao is fighting someone with hand speed nearly as his own if not better. That’s going to be a difficult thing for Pacquiao because he generally likes to dish out most of the punishment. He’s not like that now because he’s getting hit a lot nowadays.

All Bradley has to do is fight Pacquiao on even terms for the first six or seven rounds, and the come on in the 2nd half of the fight when Pacquiao’s leg cramps start surfacing once again making it difficult for Pacquiao to use his side to side jumping around that he likes to use in his fight. Once Pacquiao can no longer jump around due to the leg cramps, Bradley will have him where he wanted.

It’ll be too easy for Bradley if Pacquiao starts cramping up in the legs because Bradley will be able to control the spacing of the fight and do whatever he wants to do against Pacquiao. The fight could be settled early if Bradley is able to get to Pacquiao to make him want to quit. Once the legs are gone, Pacquiao will have nowhere to go against Bradley. It’ll be down to Pacquiao’s hand speed, which isn’t enough if he hasn’t got his legs there to keep him from taking so many head shots from Bradley. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach can only do so much for him in terms of advice. But if the legs are gone, then he’ll be like ship without an engine just drifting along getting battered by Bradley.



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