Roach: Pacquiao promised me he’ll KO Bradley in the rematch

By Boxing News - 06/13/2012 - Comments

Image: Roach: Pacquiao promised me he'll KO Bradley in the rematchBy Chris Williams: Having failed at beating Timothy Bradley last weekend in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao wants another shot at him in November to try and regain his lost World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight strap he lost in their big pay-per-view bout at the MGM Grand.

Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach says that Pacquiao already promised him that he’ll knock Bradley out in the rematch, and Roach believes him.

Roach told ESPN 1100 “The fight I want next is [Floyd] Mayweather, of course. Bradley is a brave, brave guy, but I don’t see Bradley improving in that short of a time. I see the same result. I will get my wish because Manny promised me he will knock him [Bradley] out and usually when Manny promises something he does it.”

An couple of things here: Pacquiao may have a good record when promising things to Roach, but we’re talking about Pacquiao in the past against fighters coming off serious beatings, without much ability to move, and in some cases weakened by Pacquiao’s catchweight handicaps. Sure, I bet Pacquiao has a great record of making promises to Roach, but those promises probably came against other fighters that didn’t have much left when they fought Pacquiao or were weight drained enough to where he could beat them. Promises don’t mean anything when a fighter gets old.

You can drag out any old fighter and he may give you promises 24/7 about how he’s going to whip one of the champions. But it doesn’t mean anything because the old fighter doesn’t have the skills anymore to fulfill the promises he’s making. A fighter gets old and what can you do? That’s why I don’t give much weight about Pacquiao supposedly promising Roach he’s going to knock Bradley out in the rematch. I thought Pacquiao was going to KO him in their fight last Saturday. What happened?

If Pacquiao couldn’t knock Bradley out then, he certainly won’t be able to do it in the rematch in November. Honestly, Pacquiao will do a lot worse in the rematch, because Bradley now knows how to beat Pacquiao by using movement. Pacquiao looked helpless when Bradley was moving in the second half of the fight. In the rematch, Bradley will be moving all night from round, picking the slow-footed Pacquiao off and getting out of the way before he can move his wooden legs around the ring. I just wonder what excuse Roach will cook up for when Pacquiao not only fails to get a knockout, but then loses again? I can see another repeat to where Roach says the judges got it wrong, and that Pacquiao should have won. I don’t see that ever changing. At some point, hopefully Roach can step back and see that his fighter has seen better days. Maybe at that point he can give Pacquiao some valuable advice by telling him he should hang up his gloves.



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