Roach: Bradley will come in head first against Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 04/23/2012 - Comments

Image: Roach: Bradley will come in head first against PacquiaoBy Chris Williams: Freddie Roach seems to think he’s got it all figured out how Timothy Bradley will be trying to fight his guy WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao on June 9th. Roach thinks Bradley won’t try and counter punch him as Juan Manuel Marquez so expertly did last November.

Instead, he sees Bradley fighting aggressively by taking the fight to the 33-year-old Pacquiao to wear him down like Marquez did.

Roach said to the Manila Bulletin “I have one counter puncher in case Bradley mimics Juan Manuel Marquez, because Manny and Buboy think that might happen, but I don’t see it. I think he will be aggressive and I don’t think his style will change that much and he will come in with his head first.”

If I was Roach, I’d focus on getting a number of good counter punchers because that’s how Bradley will likely be fighting Pacquiao if only because Pacquiao will be the one taking the fight to him. They plan on using Russian light welterweight fringe contender Ruslan Provodnikov as one of Pacquiao’s sparring partners, and I hope he’s not what Roach considers a counter punchers because he’s clearly not. Provodnikov is an aggressive easy to hit fighter that leads with his face and is nothing like Bradley.

Roach seems excited about the thought of Provodnikov sparring with Pacquiao, as if it will really help him get ready for Bradley. I see it as a waste of time. He might as well put the gloves on Buboy and have him spar with Pacquiao because using Provodnikov will come out to be the same thing in getting Manny ready for Bradley.



Comments are closed.