By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) thinks Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) has lost his nerve since being knocked cold by Juan Manuel Marquez in December 2012. That stoppage loss seems to have taken something out of Pacquiao’s confidence in his ability to take a hard shot, Bradley believes. As it is, Bradley feels that Pacquiao was afraid to get hit by him in their fight in June of 2012. But now that Pacquiao has been stopped by Marquez, Bradley thinks Pacquiao will be even more gun-shy and afraid to throw his shots for fear he’ll get hit with something.
“I think that he might not want to engage to much with me,” Bradley said to Fighthype. “He was real defensive for some reason…This time around, I don’t think he’s gonna engage that much. He got hurt, he admitted that [Brandon] Rios hurt him with a shot.”