Pacquiao: Bradley will have to prove he can knock me out

By Boxing News - 04/11/2014 - Comments

bradley24By Dan Ambrose: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) was talking knockout today at this weigh-in with former 8 division world champion Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bradley said he’s going to KO Manny, and leave no doubts at all who the better fighter is.

The confidence that Bradley exuded didn’t reflect with the reality of their previous fight, though, because Pacquiao was clearly the better fighter, and it was hard to give Bradly more than 1-2 rounds due to his inability to engage in the fight. He ran himself into two injured ankles, and ruined the whole esthetic quality of the fight with his constant running.

“Confidence. I have to knock Manny Pacquiao out and finish him off,” Bradley said.

You better believe Bradley is going to have to knock Pacquiao out, because he doesn’t have the power or the skills to beat Pacquiao by a decision. Honestly, I don’t see how Bradley is going to be able to win this fight unless he does knock Pacquiao out, because he was nowhere near the same fighter he was in their previous fight in 2012, and this was against a disinterested Pacquiao.

In response to Bradley’s bold statement, Pacquiao said “He’ll have to prove it in the ring. A lot of people say they’re going to knock me out, but not many do it. I have to finish my business.”

That build up to this fight has to have been a tough one for Pacquiao, because Bradley has been telling him the entire time that he’s essentially a fighter who doesn’t have it anymore. Bradley hasn’t strayed from that theme the entire time, and it’s like he’s taken it to the gutter and kept it there.

Pacquiao obviously is going to want to shut him up permanently on Saturday night. I hope this ends all discussion about who the better fighter is on Saturday night because I don’t see this as a 50-50 fight like a lot of people do. It seems like a mismatch as far as I’m concerned. Pacquiao has way too much for the weak-punching Bradley.

I’d like to see Pacquiao fight the red-haired Saul “Canelo” Alvarez after this fight. This would be a great match-up if Bob Arum could somehow patch up his differences with Golden Boy Promotions. I doubt they ever will, but I’d like to see Pacquiao and Canelo going at it in the future.



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