HOT SHOTS from Top Rank – As he sat down right next to his wife , Monica, with their about a year old baby girl, by the far right table in the famous celestial-themed ballroom of Beverly Hills Hotel last Tuesday during the Pacquiao-Bradley Press Conference, light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley rather insists he is “going to be the new face of boxing come June 9.”
Bradley, undefeated of 28 professional fights, will be challeging boxing superstar and WBO Welterweight Champion Manny Pacquiao for a title fight at 147 pounds full welterweight at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Asked if he can hurt Pacquiao, Bradley says: “Yeah, man, I can definitely hurt Pacquiao. I put dudes on the canvas. I put Junior Witter on the canvas, I put (Lamont) Peterson on the canvas. I put, who else? I put Edner Cherry on the canvas. I put a lot of guys on the canvas.”
Bradley’s record adds firmness to a keen boxing observer’s believing. Bradley only scores 41.38% knockouts in his professional boxing career. This Pacquiao fight is one of full welterweight. But, his record tells of two big knockdowns he survived from the left and right hooks of Kendall Holt in their 2009 light welterweight unification championship in which he won by unanimous decision. Bradley outpointed Holt by his style and good works inside. The same observer’s mind would wonder if Bradley would ever survive taking heavy shots from Pacquiao’s heavy hands.
Less favorable to him, Bradley’s aggressive style may just significantly fit Pacquiao’s tempo which is a bit technically inclined and surgically vicious at close range, though Pacquiao is still bent on reckless aggression.
Speed and power, these two, Pacquiao has the edge. It looks like Bradley’s intimation might just be one of mere excitement out of a deceitful surprise of what he would get by fighting Pacquiao, the $ 5 million deal. In fact, he confessed he was surprised by Top Rank’s choice of him as Pacquiao’s next opponent. Sure, Top Rank does not need a paradigm shift to repackage Pacquiao by having him defeat the undefeated from the light welterweight division, especially after Pacquiao’s controvertial victory over Marquez. Pacquiao will surely rebuild his plummeting image, if not just a bit stronger this time.
But, what’s best about this fight is that both fighters have the capacity to make it a full-packed action fight. If this is going to be the case, speed and power will prevail, viz-to-mark, just over Bradley’s likelihood to isolate a fighter by his good defense he develops since Holt’s fiery hooks. He would just be too busy mounting less effective defenses, shot after shot. And boxing fans should not be surprised to see Bradley retreating and possibly submitting to Pacquiao’s stormy hands within 3 rounds.
