LAS VEGAS ? If great opportunities come once in a lifetime then it may never come again for Timothy Bradley who?s taking on boxing?s biggest star, Manny Pacquiao.
For Saturday?s WBO title fight at the MGM, Bradley is guaranteed $5 million, an amount he?d never earn again in a single fight, the rest of his life.
Unless he beats Pacquiao.
But that won?t happen, according to Pacquiao?s chief trainer, Freddie Roach.
?This is a big opportunity but I think it?s too soon for him,? said the boxing guru who will be enshrined into boxing?s Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Roach knows Bradley, who has yet to taste defeat after 28 professional fights, as a good fighter and one who really works and trains harder than the others.
But being good and working hard doesn?t mean you?re ready for an elite fighter like Pacquiao, winner of his last 15 fights, some of them the biggest in boxing history.
?I don?t think he?s ready for Manny Pacquiao yet,? he said.
Yet, Roach said Bradley may be a good opponent for Pacquiao, just because he?s not the type that runs away.
Roach said he was told by a boxing expert that they ?picked the wrong guy? in Bradley if what they wanted was someone who can make Pacquiao look good.
?I said we picked this guy because he will come to fight,? said Roach.
Back to Bradley, he said there?s a big gap between him and Pacquiao.
?He?s not on that level yet. And Manny will prove that,? said Roach.
