Manny Pacquiao vs Timothy Bradley Update: 'Pacman' Expecting a Tough Fight Against WBO Champ
Manny Pacquiao is aware that he will be facing a “different” Timothy Bradley Jr. this coming April at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but the Filipino boxer is ready for anything.
The April 9 fight will allegedly be Pacquiao’s last hurrah in the boxing ring before he focuses on politics. Pacquiao will be running for a possible senate seat and he is favoured to book one of the 12 slots available when the Philippines holds its national elections this May.
Despite criticism on Pacquiao’s choice of opponent, Bradley has been constantly justified since he was the one who carried better financial results. Terence Crawford and Amir Khan were the other names considered but promoter Bob Arum and Michael Koncz explained that the numbers really pointed towards Bradley’s favour.
Other than that, Pacquiao believes that Bradley has improved immensely.
“We know Bradley. He’s improved a lot since our last fight. He’s improved a lot this time,” he says via Boxing News.
Pacquiao arrived last Monday in Los Angeles, where he will begin the press tour for his upcoming fight with “Desert Storm”. It will be his first fight since May when he lost via unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The fight will also put his recently repaired shoulder to the test. Pacquiao complained about his shoulder after the Mayweather fight, which eventually required surgery.
MRI results in the latter part of 2015 revealed that the shoulder has fully healed though the eight-time division champion will have to undergo the standard medical checkup first before he will be allowed to return to the ring this April.
Pacquiao plans to immediately buckle down to training after the press tour from Los Angeles to New York.
“He told me that when he gets back from the press tour, he will begin training, and I think that he will be going to the gym before the end of this month,” said Koncz via Tempo Sports.
Pacquiao is expected to hold camp over at General Santos City. His camp prefers to hold it there rather than in Manila or Baguio City since they will be able to take better control of people who may be on hand.
“I’m excited to get to this training camp because I’ve been resting almost one year, eight months,” he says via Top Rank TV.
Unofficially, most feel that Pacquiao should be up 2-0 over Bradley. Pacquiao lost the first encounter back in 2012 via controversial split decision. He returned in 2014 and won by unanimous decision.
However, as Pacquiao pointed out, there have been a lot of changes since then. Teddy Atlas is now handling Bradley, and then there is the question of how Pacquiao’s shoulder holds up.
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