By Chris Williams: Says the tax issues he’s been going through recently aren’t affecting him as he gets ready for his June 9th fight against unbeaten Timothy Bradley. However, while Pacquiao isn’t affected, you really have to wonder about that because a lot of people would be affected by tax problems.

Pacquiao said this to RingTV “I am not affected. This is nothing new to me. I have been reading the bible to gain strength and inspiration. I am still focused and I won’t allow these issues to affect my concentration.”

I don’t know. What Pacquiao says could be true but it could be there in the back of his mind gnawing away at his nerves and distracting him. Above all, the distraction from it could be the tipping point for his fight against Bradley. If both fighters are pretty much even in ability, you take the tax thing and pile that on top of Pacquiao in terms of a big energy draining distraction for them, then that could be all that it takes for Bradley to get the win.

Pacquiao is already showing signs of aging in his last few fights and with his legs going, and him slowing down to the point where he’s now very hittable. Bradley could end up taking this fight over a distracted Pacquiao, who might not be there mentally on June 9th. You got to be someone really good at compartmentalizing your problems to tune something like this out in order to keep a full focus on an opponent like Bradley.

Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s personal adviser, says that this isn’t a problem for Pacquiao, saying “He’s a tremendous multi-tasker.”

We’ll see about this, won’t we? If Pacquiao comes into this fight with a 1000 year stare, you know what the deal is. He’ll get beat with ease unless he’s 100% focused on Bradley, and there’s a great chance that he gets beaten anyway.