By Dan Ambrose: Former two division world champion Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) believes he’s developed some added power to his game after his recent loss to Manny Pacquiao last April.
Bradley says he hurt Pacquiao in that fight with some of his shots on three occasions, and he feels that’s an indication that he now has more power. Bradley doesn’t comment on the possibility that Pacquiao’s chin might not be the same since his one-punch knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.
Bradley, 31, is going to need additional power for his fight this Saturday night against the tough Argentinian fighter Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Chaves, while a flawed fighter, he’s a big puncher capable of knocking out many welterweights in the division if he catches them with the right shot. If Bradley doesn’t want to stink up the joint by running all night long then he’s going to need to be able to stop at some point to trade with Chaves.
It would be nice if Bradley actually did have additional power in his game, because it would enable him to stand his ground and possibly chop Chaves down the way that Keith Thurman did last year in his 10th round stoppage. However, if Bradley is going to do that then he’s going to need to be able to take Chaves’ best shots without getting concussed like he was in his close win over Ruslan Provodnikov in 2013.
Bradley was badly hurt by Provodnikov and knocked down in the 12th round of the fight. Chaves has similar power as Provodnikov, but with a little better hand speed. If he’s able to connect with some of his big shots against Bradley then we could see Bradley hit the deck once or twice in the fight.
“I was able to hurt Manny Pacquiao several times in that fight. I do feel like I definitely am more powerful; I’m shifting more into my shots,” Bradley said via Fighthype.com. “I can brawl, I can fight, in or outside, I can box.”
It’s doubtful that Bradley is hitting any harder than he ever was in his career. It’s more likely the case that Bradley stopped running and sat down on his shots in his rematch against Pacquiao, and that was the reason why he was able to briefly stun Pacquiao once in the fight. It didn’t look like Bradley hurt Pacquiao more than once. There was one hard right hand that Bradley clearly hurt Pacquiao with, but he wasn’t able to add to the shot.
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