Bradley: I’ll be remembered forever after I beat Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 04/03/2016 - Comments

bradley812By Chris Williams: Tim Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) wants to be remembered forever by boxing fans in the distant future, and he believes one way he can become immortal is by beating Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) this Saturday night on April 9 in their fight on HBO pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bradley says a win over Pacquiao will cause fans in the future to always mention his name each time they would talk about Pacquiao, because he will have owned two victories over the Filipino fighter. However, Bradley might need to beat Pacquiao in a brutal manner for him to be truly remembered, because beating him by a 12 round decision probably won’t be enough.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. totally schooled Pacquiao last May in their ‘Fight of the Century’ on HBO/Showtime PPV, and yet he’s not given much credit for the win. For many boxing fans, the fighter that is given the most credit for whipping Pacquiao is Juan Manuel Marquez for his 6th round knockout win over him in their fight in 2012. Marquez knocked Pacquiao clean out in that fight, and had him face down on the canvas unconscious.

That fight is still remembered today, and it likely will be the thing that boxing fans in the future remember about Pacquiao when they bring up his name. They’ll say stuff like ‘Yes, Pacquiao was good, but Marquez knocked him cold. Pacquiao’s two prior wins over Marquez were controversial, as was the draw that Pacquiao got in their first fight in 2014.

Marquez should have won all the fights if the judging was better.’ I think those are things the fans in the future will say about Pacquiao. The only way that Bradley can insert himself into the equation is if he knocks Pacquiao unconscious too, and sends him into retirement off the back of a KO loss rather than a win.

Pacquiao would then be forced to try and get elected into the senate in the Philippines off of a knockout loss, and that could very well ruin his dreams of becoming a big time politician in the Philippines. That doesn’t mean Pacquiao won’t be able to live like a king. He’s got enough money to live high on the hog for the remainder of his life as long as he doesn’t give it all away to people in his home country. You’d hate to see Pacquiao give away all of his money and wind up broke and living a simple life.

“It should be a different outcome,” Bradley said to the media about his fight against Pacquiao this Saturday night. “I just listen to Teddy [Atlas]. If I follow the game plan. If I do everything I was trained to do like I did in the [Brandon] Rios fight. I listen to Teddy, and I do exactly what I was trained to do, I should have no problems beating Manny Pacquiao. You can be remembered forever for beating Manny Pacquiao like that. I want to be remembered, and I want to be talked about. Every time they mention Manny Pacquiao by someone in the future, I want to be mentioned. ‘Tim Bradley beat him. Tim Bradley beat Pacquiao.’ So my name will always be relevant in the sport. I will be mentioned for life. I just plan on being smarter than Manny Pacquiao on the night, quicker than Manny Pacquiao that night, and be stronger than him and just beat him. I just want a victory. I want a win. I’m fight to fight. I don’t know if I’m going to fight after this. After this, I’ll see what’s at stake, and I’ll see if I still got it or not. I don’t know. It depends on the outcome. It depends on how I look. I’ll assess my performance, and see if I got it. Teddy’s preparing me. We have a game plan we feel is going to work against Manny Pacquiao, and we plan on using that,” said Bradley.

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I do believe this fight is going to be completely different from the other fights that Pacquiao has had against Bradley in 2012 and 2014. Bradley’s new trainer Teddy Atlas will likely have him using movement, jabbing and throwing pinpoint body shots like Bradley did against Brandon Rios in his last fight. Bradley stopped Rios with some hard body shots.

I think we could see the same thing if Pacquiao can’t handle getting hit to the body. In the past, Pacquiao’s weakness was thought by many to be to his body. Marquez was one of the rare fighters that was able to hurt Pacquiao with head shots.

“It consumes you as you don’t know what will happen,” Bradley said via sports.inquirer.net. “I can’t make mistakes against this guy. But if I listen to Teddy, do what he exactly told me, there’s no problem. We’re ready for it. We’re ready for wherever we have to be. Enclosed in a phone booth, suitcase or a cubicle. if you’re close with Manny, he has that terrible habit of filling that space.”

Bradley can make mistakes against Pacquiao and still win. Bradley just needs to make sure that he doesn’t make those same mistakes repeatedly because then he will lose. One important thing that Bradley needs to be careful with is his foot movement. He can’t tear up his legs while shifting fast around the ring like he did in the first two fights with Pacquiao. Bradley doesn’t need to move so strenuously in order to beat Pacquiao.

It’s not as if Pacquiao is a huge puncher at 147. Bradley can take whatever punches Pacquiao lands if he’s out of position. The main thing is that Bradley just fights smart, and follows the game plan that Atlas has for him. I don’t think for a second that Atlas is going to have Bradley slugging it out with Pacquiao because he’s already tried that plan in their second fight in 2014, and it didn’t work well. Bradley fought much better in the first fight in 2012 in using movement to keep out of the way of Pacquiao’s shots, and then punishing him with fast forward attacks.



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