By Dan Ambrose: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) has never been thought of as a puncher, and his low percentage of knockouts on his resume shows that out pretty clearly. Bradley says he’s developed his power recently through the use of proper punching technique, and he plans on showing off his new power on March 16th against light welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov (22-1, 15 KO’s) in their fight at Home Depot Center, in Carson, California, USA.

Bradley said to Radio Raheem “I think they need to seem some knockouts. I’m not a huge puncher, but I can fight and they need to see me beating up this guy [Provodnikov]. Fans want to see excitement and I’m going to bring the intensity. I’ve been focusing on my technique. I rush a lot of my shots most of the time. The power is there, I’m strong, I can bench over 300 pounds, but I lack a little bit of technique. We see the difference in practice, and Ruslan is going to see the difference in the ring, I promise.”

I for one want to see if Bradley can actually do what he says he can because he’s never shown any hint of power in any of his fights. Bradley, 29, will be turning 30 in August, and usually a fighter has already shown power by this stage in their career.

Perhaps Bradley is a late bloomer but I kind of doubt it. His lack of power isn’t because he’s been throwing his shots in a hurry like he says. I’ve seen Bradley use what appears to be perfect technique in loading up, and yet he still lacked power. It’s kind of strange because he’s really muscular but the muscle doesn’t translate into power for some reason.

Bradley won’t need power to beat Provodnikov because this guy isn’t anywhere close to being on the same level as Bradley. It’s going to be competitive for a little bit, but Bradley’s hand speed advantage will enable him to dominate the much slower and more hittable Provodnikov to get the win.

In his last fight against Manny Pacquiao, Bradley looked muscle-bound and slow from all the weight lifting he did to put on weight for the fight. Instead of increasing his punching power, it made Bradley slow like a lot of weight lifters generally are because of their lack of flexibility. Had Bradley not run from Pacquiao the entire fight he would have been knocked out.