By Chris Williams: According to his trainer Freddie Roach, Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) will be taking risks against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) on April 12th because they don’t see him as having the kind of power that they need to be all that concerned about. So instead of playing it cautiously, Pacquiao will likely be spending more time staying in the pocket against Bradley than he normally would.
“We’re not worried about his [Bradley] punching power,” Roach said to the Boxing Channel. “We can take risks and chances. I told Manny that he wasn’t busy enough in the first fight when he was fighting only one minute of every round. I told Manny he has to fight three minutes of every round to be dominant in the fight. The first fight was so easy that he began to fight just one minute of every round. He was content that he was getting the rounds, but the judges didn’t see it that way.”
Roach seems to be leading Pacquiao down the path towards another knockout by pushing him to take the fight to Bradley. Roach also seems to be in denial about Pacquiao’s previous loss to Bradley. On the one hand Roach is saying that Pacquiao deserved the decision against Bradley, but on the other hand he’s admitting that Pacquiao was fighting only one minute of every round. Roach’s confession about Pacquiao’s lack of hard work in the fight has to be seen as a confession that the better man was Bradley and not Pacqiao.
Bradley may not be a huge puncher like some of the fighters in the welterweight division like Marcos Maidana, but the thing is he doesn’t need to be a hard puncher to KO a fighter like Pacquiao. You have to remember that Pacquiao was knocked out cold by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, and it’s quite possible that all it will take is a shot that Pacquiao doesn’t see from Bradley to knock him out cold once again.
If Pacquiao is fighting I an aggressive manner like the way that Roach wants him to on April 12th, then it’s quite likely that he’s going to run into something that he doesn’t see coming. Once Pacquiao gets nailed, I doubt he’ll be able to remain on his feet.
I like the way Roach is so cavalier about Pacquiao having to take Bradley’s shots. He makes it seem like it’s not a big deal that Pacquiao will need to eat Bradley’s shots in order to land his own. That’s not the way to be when you’ve got a fighter who was knocked clean out the way Pacquiao was against Marquez. Roach should be worrying about trying to keep Pacquiao from mixing it up with Bradley.
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