By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) will taste the bitter fruit of defeat on June 9th against Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s) if Pacquiao puts in another performance like he did last November in his questionable 12 round decision over Juan Manuel Marquez.
Like Brandon Rios, Pacquiao was given a win that was a highly unpopular one that ran counter to the fight that boxing fans and many boxing writers saw. Pacquiao could have made things a lot easier on himself by agreeing to give Marquez and immediate rematch to prove that his performance was just an off night.
However, Pacquiao instead preferred to take on Bradley rather than get back in the ring with Marquez for a fourth fight. Maybe it was a wise decision because Marquez seems to have the formula to beat Pacquiao, even though they’re not giving him the wins each time. I saw Marquez beating Pacquiao three times already, so I’m not surprised Pacquiao isn’t eager to fight this guy again.
Bradley will win on June 9th unless Pacquiao is able to fight above the level he showed against Marquez, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and Joshua Clottey. That version of Pacquiao would lose to Bradley, so I’m hoping that Alex Ariza comes up with some kind of strength and conditioning plan that raise Pacquiao’s game for the Bradley fight because he seems to have slipped a lot from his prime performance against Miguel Cotto in 2009.
Something isn’t right. Freddie Roach better come up with some new ideas for him because everyone seems to have a good idea of what Pacquiao is going to do nowadays in the ring. Maybe the competition has caught on to the ideas that Roach comes up with, and it may be that Roach is going to have to shake loose some new ideas from his head. And Ariza needs to come up with some better strength training that works because Pacquiao has looked old as of late.
The stuff that Pacquiao does in the ring is so predictable. He throws the same combinations and looks the same from fight to fight. Roach talks about this or that, but it’s always the same Pacquiao. I don’t think that he can change game plans. I see Pacquiao nodding his head in between rounds but the results are always the same with Pacquiao rushing forward trying to land his combinations and then move to the outside. If he fights like that against Bradley, he’ll get beat. It’ll be easy for Bradley because he knows what Pacquiao is doing.
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