Boxing: Pacquiao will exploit Bradley’s flaws

By John F. McKenna (McJack): Trainer Freddie Roach insists that his charge World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) will exploit the many flaws in the fighting style of undefeated WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (28-0-1 NC, 12 KO’s). Roach and Pacquiao have obviously studied the tapes of Bradley’s past fights and apparently like what they see. Pacquiao and Bradley will square off on June 9 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas in what will be an HBO Pay Per View (PPV) event. Roach was quoted in PhilSTAR.com SPORTS HUB saying: “I have watched a lot of tapes of him and have seen a lot of holes in his defense. We are going to take advantage of them. “ Roach of course would not go into detail on what those defensive lapses are. Suffice it to say that Roach believes that Bradley is taking a big step up not only in class, but also in experience. Freddie although acknowledging that the youthful, well conditioned Bradley is indeed a strong fighter who will attempt to impose his will on Manny, believes that Pacquiao’s speed, power and ring generalship will prevail when the two fighters clash. Roach admittedly has concerns over Bradley’s penchant for leading with his head, but he says that Team Pacquiao has prepared “Pacman” for anything that “Desert Storm” has in his arsenal. Pacquiao sparring partners are mimicking Bradley’s head first approach and Roach is quick to point out that come fight night Pacquiao will have an antidote to Bradley’s style which inevitably leads to the clashing of heads. Illustrating just how serious Roach has taken the challenge of a fighter he was once dismissive of, Freddie combed the world in search of a fighter who would best replicate the fighting style of Timothy Bradley. He believes he found him in Rusian Provodnikov, who he had flown in from Siberia to join Team Pacquiao. Provodnikov first worked with Manny at Baguio in the Philippines and later travelled to Roach’s famed Wild Card Gym in Hollywood to continue working with “Pacman”. Roach is hopeful that since Manny cleaned up his act and turned to God that he can return to the form which led many boxing observers to refer to him as “The Pacific Storm”. Bradley on the other hand has stated on more than one occasion that he can do whatever WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) does better than “El Dinamita” does. Timothy undoubtedly brings up the name of Marquez because it is the perception of many boxing fans that Pacquiao, although receiving the decision, lost his battle with Juan last November. Bradley reasons, rightly or wrongly, that at 28 years old he can do everything better than the ageing Marquez. It will be interesting however to see how Bradley handles the intense pressure of not only fighting Pacquiao, but the huge media pressure as well which accompanies every Pacquiao fight. Bradley has never experienced anything remotely close to the media coverage he will endure from now until fight night.