By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) is amused how Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) has been making excuses about him being too compassionate with Bradley in their previous fight in 2012. Bradley says he doesn’t want Pacquiao to have any more excuses after he beats him next month on April 12th, so he’s looking to get him as motivated and angry as possible so that the excuses won’t be there for the 35-year-old Filipino star.
“Boy, did I get in his skin,” Bradley said via desertsun. “I didn’t think I would get under his skin. I’m just reciting what your fans are saying…He said he felt compassion for me in our first fight, and this time around he’s not going to show compassion…I want the best Manny Pacquiao. So when I whoop him, then I’ll get even more credit. I don’t want no excuses at the end of the night.”
The excuses may come anyway, because we’ve already heard them about the leg cramps, marital problems, late night telephone calls, and the basketball games. I’ve lost track of the excuses that I’ve heard from Pacquiao’s fans why he lost to Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez. But if Bradley thinks that there won’t be any excuses if and when he beats Pacquiao again, he’s got to be kidding himself.
There will be at least one big excuse for why he got beaten, and at least one or two more excuses. Bradley just has to ignore all that and just be satisfied with him getting a win over Pacquiao, because fans are probably not going to give him any credit no matter what.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach doesn’t acknowledge that Pacquiao got beat last time, and neither Pacquiao. Bradley isn’t likely going to get either of them to admit that he was the better man in this fight, but it doesn’t matter. As long as Bradley gets the win, he can move on knowing that he beat Pacquiao for a second time. He’ll have his name on his resume permanently as having beaten him, and he can have that as part of his legacy.
A win for Bradley will be a good thing for Bob Arum of Top Rank, because he won’t need an excuse to keep matching Pacquiao and Bradley up against each other. Arum won’t even need to match Pacquiao up against any of his other Top Rank stable fighters, because he can keep putting him in with Bradley until he eventually wins.
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