By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) has added more muscle for his April 12th rematch against Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) and he appears to be punching with greater power than he has in the past. In looking at Bradley go through his paces during a workout this week, he’s definitely throwing with new-found power, and it’s quite possible that we could see a knockout in this fight if he’s able to catch Pacquiao with a big shot.
Bradley realizes that he’s punching with more power, because he’s predicting that his fight with Pacquiao will end in a knockout this time rather than having it to go a decision.
Most of Bradley’s new power seems to be coming from his arms. He always had big arms, but he’s added additional size and it’s made him heavy-handed without it hurting his hand speed. Having extra power to accompany Bradley’s already impressive hand speed may be enough for him to score a knockout against Pacquiao, especially if the Filipino star is fighting too aggressively like how he’s promised. The combination of Bradley’s new muscle strength that he’s put on and Pacquiao’s mindless all-out attack style of fighting could very well produce a knockout for Bradley in this fight.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach would do well to have Pacquiao fight cautiously in this fight instead of sending him out with his foot to the floor on the gas pedal, as Roach has talked about in the last couple of weeks.
Roach is so worried that Pacquiao will lose another decision due to him fighting only a small portion of the round, and he’s going overboard by telling him he has to fight for the full 3 minutes of each round. That’s the wrong thing to tell your fighter when he’s been knocked out the way Pacquiao has in the recent past. If Roach is smart, he’ll have noticed the added muscle on Bradley’s frame, and the power that he now has so that he can warn Pacquiao not to mix it up with him the way he did in their previous fight in 2014.
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