DESPITE criticisms that Manny Pacquiao has slowed down, judging from his close win against Juan Manuel Marquez last November, fellow Filipino world champion Donnie Nietes believes that Pacquiao is still the best in the world and will show it this Sunday in his WBO welterweight belt against American challenger Timothy Bradley.
?I think he can beat Bradley,? Nietes, the reigning WBO light flyweight champion, told Sun.Star Cebu. Although the 33-year-old Pacquiao hasn?t stopped a foe in almost two years, he feels that the knockout drought will finally end this Sunday.
?I think Pacquiao will knock out Bradley in eight or nine rounds,? he said.
Nietes said that the reason why Pacquiao hasn?t scored a knockout in years was that his opponents were bigger than him. Three out of the last four boxers whom Pacquiao didn?t knock out were bigger ? Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey. The other was Marquez, a boxer that has been chronicled to have given Pacquiao difficulty in previous meetings.
Pacquiao?s last knockout win was against Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14, 2009 for the WBO welterweight title, which he will defend against Bradely.
If the fight goes the distance, Nietes still believes that Pacquiao will win because his skills are far more superior to Bradley?s.
?Even if it goes to a decision, Paquiao will still win,? said the two-division world champion.
Nietes is fresh from a unanimous decision victory over Mexican Felipe Salguero in his first title defense last June 2. The former janitor-turned-world champion is having a well-deserved rest and will be returning to the famed ALA gym in a month to prepare for his next world title defense.
WBO and IBF super bantamwegiht champion Nonito Donaire Jr., who will be facing Jeffrey Mathebula on July 7, told Aksyon TV that even at just 80 percent, Pacquiao will beat Bradely, whom he says is a childhood friend.
