By David Lahr: In a radio interview at East Side Boxing, WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, when asked who will win the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight on March 13th, said “Mayweather, hands down. Easy fight. Like unanimous decision. It might be competitive at the beginning. Once he [Mayweather] gets in his rhythm, he’ll basically pot shot him [Pacquiao] from the outside. Stick and jab and come in with the left hook. And come in with the lead right hand. Use his movement to make Manny miss.”
I have to agree with Bradley in his assessment of the fight. Pacquiao will have problems with the movement and boxing ability of Mayweather, and probably lose very badly. As of now, the fight is up in the air because of the stalemate about the drug testing issue. However, the fight is still very doable but one of the two sides will have to give in about blood tests for the fight to take place.
Bradley had more to say about the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, saying “Hands down, Mayweather [meaning that Mayweather will win the fight. Manny is a great fighter. He comes to fight. He has power in both hands, but I don’t think he has the ring smarts to out-think Mayweather. If you look at the beginning of the Cotto fight, when he [Cotto] was patient and using his jab, leading with his left hook, he was catching Manny. When you look later in the fight when Cotto was moving, Manny couldn’t catch up to him. Mayweather can do that all night long. He’ll [Mayweather] will make the fight boring all night long, use his jab, pot shot from the outside, get in and get out of danger. I don’t think that Manny will catch up to him. I don’t think Pacquiao’s hands are faster than Mayweather’s. I think Mayweather’s footwork would isolate Pacquiao’s speed.”
“Manny seems like he needs to be planted to swing. I looked at him and thought if he gets in with a slick boxer, they’ll give him problems. A great boxer will give him [Pacquiao] problems. Most of the boxers he [Pacquiao] faces come forward. I you look at his [Pacquiao] resume, most of the guys he faces come forward. Anybody that stands in front of him, Pacquiao will eat alive, because he throws from too many angles. But if anybody gives him [Pacquiao] movement and gives him angles, you’ll give him a challenge. And if someone is bigger than him with longer arms, like Mayweather, and smart, I think he [Mayweather] will be able to dominate him [Pacquiao]. I’m certain on this.”
I have to agree with everything that Bradley says in his interview. I think Mayweather is much too slick, too big and too fast for a fighter like Pacquiao to beat. I see the fight as being as one-sided as Bradley describes it. Hopefully, the fight can be made because it would be interesting to see if Bradley is correct about his prediction. He correctly predicted that Pacquiao would stop Cotto. However, in this case, Bradley thinks Mayweather would be too good for Pacquiao.
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