BEVERLY HILLS, Los Angeles?Forget about the first two fights, Timothy Bradley?s third showdown with Manny Pacquiao could be the best.
Bradley made this promise Monday night, shortly after checking in with his entourage at Beverly Hills Hotel.
?Don?t look at the other two (fights), this one?s going to be completely different,? said Bradley, noting that he?s evolved as a fighter since taking in Teddy Atlas as his new trainer.
?That?s the part everybody wants to see,? added Bradley. ?Will Teddy make a difference??
The answer will only be known on April 9, when Bradley and Pacquiao tangle anew for the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Their first two fights, though one went Bradley?s way in controversial fashion, were conclusive that Pacquiao was better than the 32-year-old American champion who holds a 31-1-1 card with 13 knockouts to show.
Under Atlas? stewardship, however, Bradley handed Brandon Rios his first knockout loss in the ninth round last November to merit the third confrontation and the guaranteed $6 million that goes with it.
Bob Arum, who handles the protagonists, was so impressed that he claimed it was the best Bradley he?d ever seen.
With Atlas at his corner, Bradley now believes that he can get even better.
?Remember that we trained together only seven weeks for the Rios fight,? Bradley told Filipino sportswriters. ?Imagine what we can do for eight weeks.?
Like Pacquiao, Bradley is giving himself exactly eight weeks to be ready for their trilogy projected to draw a full house crowd and over 800,000 pay-per-view buys.
?There?s no panic, no rush,? said Bradley. ?I?m more poised and wiser now.?
?I think, definitely that being given the opportunity to fight Pacquiao again is a great privilege. Most especially, if it is his last fight.?
Bradley bared that he?d abandoned his vegetarian diet, which he adhered to in his 2012 and 2014 bouts with Pacquiao, upon the advised of a nutritionist.
And in his succeeding fights, Bradley said he felt the difference as he got stronger.
Up to now, however, Bradley continues to refrain from eating pork.
?Simply because since I stop eating pork I made more money.?
Well, $6 million or more isn?t bad at all.
