By Yannis Mihanos: As we are moving closer to this Saturday’s HBO pay-per-view fight between Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) and WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s), experts, fans and tipsters from all around the world are making their own predictions. The fighting pride of the Philippines Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, the number 2 pound for pound in the world of boxing, takes the challenge of facing Bradley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Bradley, in his last 2 fights against Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez, has proved himself as a tough and skillful fighter, especially on the fight against Provodnikov where he had to go through hell to win the fight by a 12 round decision last year in March.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, after almost a year break, he returned back to the ring last November and with a solid performance easily defeated the tough guy Brandon Rios in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in Macao, China.
A few days now are left for Saturday’s Pacquiao-Bradley 2 rematch and the questions that surface are as follows: will Pacquiao take care of business this time? Is he the real Favorite for the fight?
In recent photos and videos, Pacquiao is appearing totally focused and ready for the fight. He also appears a little bit annoyed with all the rumors going on about his so-called lost killer instinct. Bradley has helped a lot on this subject by talking about it seemingly each time he speaks during interviews.
So will that annoyance turn into aggression in the fight for Pacquiao on Saturday night? I think it’s very possible. One thing is certain and that with the first fight still fresh in his mind, he can’t take anything for granted. Pacquiao can’t relax and expect winning on points. Do I think such decision can happen again and for the same match? That’s highly unlikely. They say lightning doesn’t strike twice and that’s true but in boxing stuff happens way too often as even lightning strikes twice.
So in normal terms I think Pacquaio will win. I would be mad to think otherwise; he is faster and stronger than Bradley. I mean no disrespect to Bradley, and that’s why I say it again: Pacquaio must take nothing for granted, because in any sport I have been into I have learnt this: “Do not underestimate your opponent.” if you do, get ready for problems.
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