Pacquiao-Bradley 2 Staff Predictions: Bradley Gets The Thin Edge

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Victor Salazar
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Pacquiao-Bradley 2 is upon us. Check out the how our staff sees the fight going down.

Nestor Gibbs: Bradley

I’m picking Bradley based on the fact that Bradley has come into his own. He’s more confident. Also,  assuming he comes into this fight 100%, as we know in the first fight it’s known that Bradley had two bad ankles. It is also my belief that Pacquiao has more to prove in this fight than Bradley. Factor in the added stress of the general public not understanding his stance in deciding not to do Vada testing after it was correctly effective in his last fight vs Brandon Rios.

I think that the pressure on Pacquiao shoulders that he has to prove to Bradley and the world that he has his “killer instinct”. These are all added distractions when going up against arguably the best p4p fighter in the world no other fighter besides maybe Andre Ward has had more consistently opposition. Bradley could be this generations Floyd Mayweather.

Victor Salazar: Pacquiao

I’ve gone back and forth on this. These guys are 2 of the best fighters in the world, two of the three best welterweights in the world. This fight is the best fight on the schedule. I initially thought Bradley because the general logic is Pacquiao has declined and Bradley has ascended. But i see the first fight, Manny Pacquiao is quicker with the hands and quicker with the fight. Whenever Manny Pacquiao felt the need to attack, he landed and landed big.

I’m also picking Pacquiao because if he doesn’t win this fight, it may be the end of the road for one of the best fighters of this generation. I think Pacquiao will be determined and his tenacity and punch output will be there. Bradley may be the smarter and better defensive fighter, but Pacquiao has him in speed, power, and tenacity. Pacquiao also said he has learned from being careless and will be more careful as he was in the Rios fight.

Let’s not forget two fights ago, Bradley was rocked and concussed against Ruslan Provodnikov who is kind of in the same mold of tenacity as Pacquiao and is trained by Freddie Roach. i think we get a very close competitive fight that ends in late stoppage by Pacquiao.

Danny Gonzalez: Bradley

Pacquiao may have slowed a bit, but he is far from being a finished fighter. Even though speed could be comparable there is no denying that Pacquiao is still the more powerful puncher of the two. This is exactly why Bradley will have to avoid getting into the wild exchanges that he did against Provodnikov (and in some instances with Marquez), and go back to the calculated boxing approach that shot him through the junior welterweight ranks.
Having already earned some experience against Pacquiao and coming into the fight still harboring a massive chip on his shoulder, Bradley is all too aware of what winning this fight means to him and the building legacy. Barring another freak foot injury or wild exchange, Bradley is going to win based on his controlled aggression and technical approach. Expect a fight filled with tie-ups and headbutts, but Bradley will walk away with a razor-thin unanimous decision win.
Joe Habeeb: Bradley

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 attach 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 good fastball that’s pretty much all he has and if you are able to time his fastball then you have pretty much 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.
Mohamed Ali: Pacquiao
I’m taking Pacman to win this. I’m taking Pacquiao because Bradley is gonna fight rather than box, and Pacquiao has been training for that and taking training camp seriously. Also read some articles that their will be no random drug testing for this fight “could be rumors” but I believe it; I saw Pacman training the other day and he looked too fast, too good, and strong!
Julio Garcia: Pacquiao
Pacquiao by close decision. His punch output is tremendous and will be the key if not for that I’d call it a draw. If Bradley does not get injured like he did in the previous fight then Pacquiao will not he able to connect as much as he did the first time around. Bradley can take hard shots and should be able to counter well which will make it a more entertaining fight and a close one.
James Myhre: Bradley Decision
I thought the first showdown between these two was a lot closer than many are giving credit for. It’s undeniable that Manny Pacquaio delivered the harder and flashier punches but I also think that Bradley’s activity was keeping Pacquaio at bay for a lot of the rounds on two hurt ankles. Jump two years later; Manny took almost a full year off from boxing after being knocked out in one of the most brutal knockouts we have seen in some time. Than he was dominate but was missing that typical Manny offensive assault we are accustomed to in his comeback fight against Rios.

Bradley in the mean time discovered that he was able to brawl life and death with one of the  hardest punchers between 140-147lbs. Then he went on to outbox future Hall Of Famer and Pacquaio nemesis, Juan Manuel Marquez. I do believe that we will see a more aggressive Manny than we did in the Rios’ fight but I feel Manny is what he is. He’s going to come in fast and launch quickly back out. It’s Bradley’s ability to not only box but change up the way in which he does so that I think will have Manny struggling to get his offenses together for most of the night. It will be Bradley’s intangibles that will be the biggest difference in this fight.  For those reasons I am picking Timothy Bradley to win by an Unanimous Decision.

Jeff Ruffino: Bradley

I’d love to say that Pacquiao has his fire back and is ready to win this fight convincingly, but I just don’t see it happening.  I think Bradley is going to backpedal and elude Manny for 12 rounds en route to a decision.  Pacquiao has declined, and I think the Rios victory may have given him some false confidence.  Timothy Bradley is not a boxer that stands directly in front of you, and he showed awesome ring generalship against Marquez.  It looks like Bradley has found a happy balance between what some consider boring boxing and recklessness.

Gil Aviles: Pacquiao

I am picking Manny Pacquiao to turn back the clock this weekend and hand Timothy Baradley his first pro loss, via late stoppage or unanimous decision.  I think that Manny will find success in employing a more aggressive style, this time around.  He will negate Bradley’s exceptional upper body movement, by working the body with heavy shots early.  His right hook to the head and the left to the body will keep Bradley guessing.  He will start landing cleanly after round four or five and by the later rounds of the fight, he would have slowed Timmy down enough, to either stop him or take a clear unanimous decision.

Robert Ortiz: Bradley

I’m in the absolute minority of people who did not score the first fight for Manny Pacquiao. When watching the fight live, I thought, along with all the people at my party, that Tim Bradley had lost the fight. However, when I looked down at my scorecard, I had it a draw.

It was the type of fight, much like the Providnikov fight, where Bradley seemed to be losing the fight but did enough to possibly win the boxing match.

A week later on the rebroadcast, I scored it for Pacquiao. Two years later, I scored it again, and had a way for Bradley to win.

I’m picking Timothy bradley to win. I find that Manny Pacquiao wasnt connecting as much as people thought in the first fight, and that was against a Bradley with severely hurt feet, socks or not. I get the sense that by the end of the first fight, Bradley sort of figured Pacquiao out. Add to that what has transpired over the last two years, Pacquiao being put to sleep, and Bradley overcoming nearly being killed in the ring and giving a boxing lesson to a boxing legend, I feel the momentum has completely shifted. Its my belief that Bradley two years ago with two healthy feet wouldve beaten Pacquiao cleanly. My belief in present time is that Bradley will have a clean win by a close but clean decision with one judge giving Pacquiao an undeserved sympathy vote.

David Adams: Pacquiao

My official pick for the winner of Pacquiao vs Bradley 2 is Manny Pacquiao! I should be picking Bradley. He seemingly has the edge for a litany of reasons but chief among them being his performance during the last 3-4 rounds of the last fight. During those rounds, Bradley seemed to get the best of Manny and was able to control the action despite having two severe foot injuries. Bradley is smarter, more tenacious, injury free, full of confidence, in familiar territory, and at this point just fresher overall in his career. But he will still lose! And why? Because there won’t be PED testing. I believe that is the game changer for obvious reasons and even if Bradley wins on points it will still go to Manny if it’s close. So I expect Manny to win by points or TKO late in the fight

Lucas Ketelle: Bradley UD

My brain say Pacquiao, but my heart says Bradley due to the fact he has more than one style to prepare for. UD

Total: 7-5 Bradley.

 

 

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