Bradley’s trainer will have him go all out against Pacquiao if he’s losing

By Boxing News - 04/12/2014 - Comments

bradley5777By Dan Ambrose: Joel Diaz, the trainer for WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s), says he’s going to have Bradley go all out by the 6th round if he sees that the fights not going in Bradley’s direction. Diaz wants Bradley to go out in a blaze of glory by trying hard for a knockout against the aging 35-year-old Pacquiao, and by doing so he feels that it’s possible that he could score a knockout. Diaz notes that Pacquiao is an older fighter who fades late in his fights, and he thinks that Bradley could capitalize on that by going all out in the second half of the fight.

“In the later rounds, Tim gets stronger,” Diaz said to HBO. “We know that Manny Pacquiao, at this point in his career, he’s very strong in the early rounds and he fades in the later rounds. Of course, age kicks in at one point in your life. Tim is the type of fighter that can adjust to any stage that Manny Pacquiao brings. At the same time I’ve very aware to make adjustments round by round. If I see that the fight is not going our way between the 1st and 5th, and if I see at the end of the fight we’re not going to get the decision and we’re not putting rounds in the pocket, we’re going to go all out. I’m going to tell Tim, ‘If we’re going to lose the fight, then let’s give the people what they want to see. Let’s give it all.”

“If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down swinging.’ If I see in the fight that we’re not controlling rounds and at the end of the fight, we’re not going to win the fight, I’m going to tell my fighter, ‘Let’s give it all. If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down swinging.”

Roy Jones Jr. doesn’t think that’s a smart thing for Bradley to do because of his lack of power. Jones believes that it would be a bad idea for the light-hitting Bradley to go right into the teeth of Pacquiao’s offense, because that’s something that Bradley tried to do against Ruslan Provodnikov last year and it didn’t work out well for Bradley. Provodnikov hurt him several times, and him down on the canvas in the 12th round. Bradley got the win, but only because Provodnikov gave away a number of the middle rounds after getting tired. If Pacquiao doesn’t get tired tonight, Bradley could be in a lot of trouble.

“No, that’s not Bradley’s game and that’s not something I would advise Bradley to do,” Jones said. “Bradley only has 12 knockouts. Pacquiao, we know can punch. Provodnikov can punch. Provodnikov hurt Bradley a couple of times. I don’t think that’s a very smart thing for Bradley to do, but I guess that’s what he wants his fighter to do to satisfy the fans.”

There’s no question that Bradley will gain the fan’s respect by going all out if he’s losing the fight, and it might actually be the only way he can salvage his respect if it’s a situation where Pacquiao is totally dominating him. At least by going out in a blaze of glory, Bradley can hold his head up high after the fight by saying he gave it his all. What he doesn’t want is to turn into a punching bag like Brandon Rios turned out to be.



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