“Dude, I’m a student, man. I watch all these cats, man. I’m looking at everybody. That’s all I do, man. Everybody that’s around my weight, I got a game plan, for you. I check out everybody, man. If you got a video on YouTube, I probably done seen you already because I go through those ranks; I gotta see who’s trying to creep up and take my spot. It’s not gonna happen…I’m here studying him all day. All day, man. Every time I get a free minute, I’m studying. Whether I’m on the toilet, whether I’m in the car, or wherever, I’m always looking at different things. I study everything,” stated undefeated WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, who made it crystal clear that he’s leaving no stone unturned as he continues preparations for his April 12 rematch with multi-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. Check it out!
BT: I know some fighters don’t really like to watch too much boxing during their free time; kind of like leaving work at the office when you’re home. Do you watch other boxing fights regularly?
TB: Yeah, I’m a fan. Dude, I’m a student, man. I watch all these cats, man. I’m looking at everybody. That’s all I do, man. Everybody that’s around my weight, I got a game plan, for you. I check out everybody, man. If you got a video on YouTube, I probably done seen you already because I go through those ranks; I gotta see who’s trying to creep up and take my spot. It’s not gonna happen. I knew Marcos Maidana before anybody knew Marcos Maidana because he had some stuff on YouTube. I checked the ranks out; I seen his record and I was like, let me see if this name got stuff on YouTube. So then I youtubed him and I was like, aw man, this dude’s a wrecking ball; this dude is just coming and he’s a straight brawler. And then I started bringing his name up and people was like, “Who?” I was like, “Marcos Maidana.” And they was like, “Who is that?” I was like, “You’ll see him real soon.” That’s when he fought Victor Ortiz and I was like, man, Ortiz gonna get his butt hurt (laughing). And he did too, man, because nobody knew who he was. Yeah, most guys don’t watch film; they too cocky with themselves. They say, “Aw, I don’t watch film. I leave it to my trainers.” Aw, you stupid; you dumb, man. How you think most of these athletes and teams get better? They watch film. They look at guys’ mistakes. They look at certain things, and breaking down film is like what I was taught to do. I was taught to do that when I was like 18 or 19. Al Mitchell taught me how to break down film, what to look for, and it just started clicking.
BT: So after already having the experience of being in the ring with Pacquiao, do you still study film on him?
TB: Man, I’m here studying him all day. All day, man. Every time I get a free minute, I’m studying. Whether I’m on the toilet, whether I’m in the car, or wherever, I’m always looking at different things. I study everything. I look at training; I look at different things these guys are doing, man, just so I know them.
BT: I ask simply because some trainers prefer for their fighters not to watch too much film on their opponent. For example, Robert Garcia told me that he doesn’t want Maidana to watch any film on Floyd Mayweather.
TB: I think that these guys, they know their fighters and they know how they react to certain things and they don’t think it’ll be good to expose them to watching it because every fighter is different. So that’s why, you know what I mean? They know their fighter, they know how they react, and if they watch Floyd and see how good he is, then it will discourage them, you know what I mean. It’s just like some fighters; like for instance, when we spar and stuff, and we bring in a guy and the guy is like getting the better of us that day, trainers will stop the sparring session because they don’t want to kill our confidence. My trainer is different. If I’m getting my butt whopped in sparring, he’s like, “That’s good. You’re getting your ass kicked in sparring right now because in the fight, that won’t happen. You need to get it handed to you because you ain’t doing what you’re supposed to do.” So he never stops the sparring session. It’s been many times where I felt like, “Man, I’m tired after 6 rounds,” and he’s like, “We’re going 8.” He’s just like, “We’re going 8 and you’re going to freakin’ suck it up right now because if you quit, I’m not going to have these guys running back saying, ‘Oh, I made the champ quit. He said 8 rounds, but he only did 6,’ and talking all this crap.” He was like, “No, you’re going to finish when I say you’re going to finish, so you know what? These two rounds, they need to be your best rounds.” And that’s when I come out and I just dominate those last two rounds and he’s like, “I told you.” And I’m like, “Yeah, you’re right, man,” so he’s always constantly pushing me and stuff. But I do all my film work, man. Me and my trainers, like my father, he has a game plan and he has different things he looks at. So when I work with my father, I work with him like that. And then Joel, you know, he watches film like crazy too, so when he comes to the gym, then we’re working on stuff that he saw. It’s better to have 4 eyes than just 2, and then I got my own input too because I’m the one in the ring and I know what I’m capable of doing. So I look at it too so I have my own way of what I see as well. And then what we do, we put it all together, man.
That’s why we’re undefeated, man. We put it all together and it works for us. If you look at Joel and myself, he knows me so well; he knows the way I’m feeling just by the way I come in the gym and everything. He knows me very well. The crazy part about it is that our communication is like no other, man. We communicate and a lot of trainers don’t really ask their fighters anything in the corner. They only tell them what to do. But me being a fighter and Joel being a fighter, Joel knows that certain things that he asks for, I can’t do. In the Marquez fight, he was just like, “Throw that right uppercut. Every time you throw the right hand, he’s ducking underneath.” I was like, “No, I’m not going to do that because he’s looking for that left hook.” He was like, “Okay, alright, well drop more feints and follow his body,” and so I was able to do that. After the first round of every fight, in between, he always asks me, “Hey, what do you see?” You could hear me say in the Marquez fight, “He’s solid.” What I meant by that, and Joel knows what I meant by that, is that, hey, he’s a very quality fighter and he’s difficult, you know what I mean, meaning he’s solid. He has solid skills and counterpunching ability; he’s the real deal. And then there’s some times I come back to the corner and he’s like, “What do you see?” And I’m like, “I got this.” (Laughing) Because I know, I just know I got this and this dude ain’t ready for me. Then when he hears that, he’s like, “Alright, cool. This is what I want you to do. Do this, do that!” And I’m like, “Alright, alright. I’ll do it.” Yeah, my trainer is off the chain, man.
BT: I take it the only time you two had a disagreement on what to do in the ring was when you fought Provodnikov (laughing).
TB: (Laughing) I learned. You know what I did? I fought with emotion. I had a lot of built up anger inside of me and that’s what happens. But at the same time, you know, we had a game plan. I just abandoned it and I just went on my own because I felt like I had a lot to prove.
BT: So there probably wouldn’t be a repeat performance if you too fought again.
TB: Nope! I’ma dance circles around him and then prop his ass up. That’s what I’ma do.
BT: No doubt. Well I don’t want to keep you, Tim, so I’ll let you get back to studying. You may want to check out YouTube; I hear there’s some new footage of Manny hitting the mitts. People are saying it looks like he’s got that killer instinct back, though I’m not sure how they can tell just by seeing him hit the mitts (laughing).
TB: That’s good. He’s gonna need it. Yeah, everybody is like, “Oh, Pacquiao says he’s going to be the Pacquiao of old.” Well shit, where has he been? Thank you. Great! Fantastic! You know, that shit don’t bother me, man. I don’t care what people say. You know, it’s going to be me and him in the ring fighting.
