We’ve heard so much lately about Manny Pacquiao going back to the old Pacquiao and regaining the killer instinct that he supposedly once had. Truth is in my opinion Pacquaio is still the same fighter that he has always been. Through age and wear and tear he may have lost a step or two but in terms of his style and approach in the ring, I believe nothing has changed.
Although I do give credit to Pacquiao for being a superb athlete who is very gifted with natural talent, I have always been a skeptic in regards to the technical aspects of his game. It has been hard for me not to notice his weaknesses. I have observed many times how frequently he walks right into rights hands throughout the course of a fight. He also leans in face first and reaches in when he throws his left hand. His attack is somewhat repetitive and predictable. Defensive wise he is not the hardest guy in the world to hit because he often squares up and puts himself off balance at times.
You could say that Pacquaio is like that pitcher that throws strictly fastballs. Although he has a very good fastball, that’s pretty much all that he has and if you are able to time his fastball then you pretty much have solved the Pacquaio puzzle.
Tim Bradley on the other hand is like that pitcher that throws curve balls, change ups, and sliders. You could call him that “junk” pitcher that keeps you guessing on what type of pitch is coming next. We’ve seen Bradley fight in so many different ways against a variety of top notch opponents. He has managed to show us so many different looks throughout his career. We’ve seen him slug it out with Ruslan Provodnikov and then box a very intelligent fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.
In my opinion Bradley can do it all. I feel that he has more tools in the tool box than Pacquiao and that will be the difference when the two men square off this Saturday night.
I’ve seen Pacquaio run out of ideas in some of his fights where as I’ve seen Bradley constantly adapting in his fights and making the necessary adjustments. For that very reason I’m going to go with Tim Bradley by clear cut unanimous decision over Manny Pacquiao. I strongly agree with Bradley when he said, “Manny if you don’t knock me out then you’re not going to win.” I feel the same exact way about this fight.
