Pacquiao sees electrifying fight with a much more aggressive Bradley

BEVERLY HILLS, California – American boxer Timothy Bradley seemed to have morphed into a better fighter, world eight-division boxing champion and Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao, whom Bradley defeated in 2011, said that because of this, he was expecting his third ring encounter with Bradley to be electrifying and action-packed.

Pacquiao described Bradley, the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) Welterweight champion, as a more aggressive fighter today compared to the one he had fought in 2011 and 2014 – based on videos of the American boxer’s fight, which were shown to him.

Bradley won in the judges’ scorecards during their first meeting in 2011 but Pacquiao won in their 2014 rematch.

“Bradley has changed a lot. Under his new trainer, Teddy Atlas, he has metamorphosed from being a boxer to an aggressive prizefighter,” he said.

Pacquiao said his upcoming fight with Bradley would be challenging for him.

“Given his new fighting style, I believe our third ring collision would be action-packed,” he said, as he urged boxing fans not to miss it.

Pacquiao, however, declined to make any prediction on the outcome of the fight on April 9.

“I can’t say that there would be a knockout. What I can assure you is I would train and work hard for this fight. We will study his latest video and try to make some adjustments to be able to neutralize his new fighting style,” Pacquiao said.

He also repeated his earlier statement that his fight with Bradley would be the last one.

“It hurts to bid goodbye to a sport, which brought me to where I am today. But I’ve been in boxing for more than 20 years and no one can keep on fighting all his life,” he said.

Pacquiao is vying for a Senate seat under the United National Alliance (UNA) in the coming May 2016 elections.

“When I embraced the sport of boxing, my dream was to help my mother provide food for our family. I didn’t expect to become an eight-division world champion. Now, I am ending my boxer career to take on a bigger responsibility – to serve my country and the Filipino people,” he said.

Pacquiao and his 12-man entourage arrived here early Monday evening and billeted at the famous Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard.  SFM