LOS ANGELES ? Can you picture Manny Pacquiao needing all 12 rounds to beat Tim Bradley next week in Las Vegas? Looks unimaginable and surreal even.
Told about the possibility of such taking place at the MGM Grand, Pacquiao?s long-time training assistant assumed a quizzical look, paused for a moment and gave a detailed account of what?s likely to happen should the fight go that far.
“I can?t imagine how this fight will go 12 rounds,” said Buboy Fernandez after presiding over Pacquiao?s workout at the Wild Card Boxing Club in the absence of chief trainer Freddie Roach.
“If ever this fight goes 12 (rounds), I am sure Bradley will be just like (Miguel) Cotto and this fight won?t even be close,” said Fernandez, taking a cue from Pacquiao?s dominating performance against the Puerto Rican star in Nov. 2009.
Cotto almost went the distance with Pacquiao and his face looked like a misshapen lump of flesh when the referee stepped in with less than a minute to go in the 12th and final round.
Fernandez, subbing for Roach, who is fulfilling a previous commitment and will be back in the gym Saturday ? a sparring day ? said Pacquiao will be too much for Bradley to handle.
“Bradley hasn?t fought a fighter of Pacquiao?s caliber and he will be surprised to see how an elite fighter like Manny does in the ring.”
“Still, we are not taking him lightly,” said Fernandez, who has been a part of Team Pacquiao since the late-1990s.
As Pacquiao was tapering off, a Hollywood celebrity dropped by to say hi and hello to the pound-for-pound king.
Jeremy Renner, the star of Bourne Legacy, and who spent a couple of weeks in Manila to shoot some scenes a few months ago, spent some quality time and even posed for pictures with Pacquiao.
“I love him (Pacquiao),” said Renner.
Renner will be at ringside next week to root for Pacquiao.
