Pacquiao is coming off a 12 round beat down of always tough Brandon Rios who acted as a human punching bag for 12 rounds, really doing nothing for Pacquiao other than giving him a bit of a workout. Even in that I seen things that told me that Pacquiao is not the same man he was, still a destructive force, but more on the downside, past the bell curve so to speak. His footwork did not look nearly as sharp has before, and his footwork was amazing and enabled him to hit you 10 times and get out of the way before you threw a single punch. His hand speed is still there and his punching power hasn't likely faded, but his legs have and it seems that his killer instinct died with it.
Bradley on the other hand is coming off a decisive and very impressing one sided win over the great Juan Manuel Marquez, the man who knocked out Pacquiao so brutally. Here is the thing, if you can box Marquez and make him look ordinary, you are a damn good fighter and that is what Bradley did. By contrast his fight before that was against the Siberian Rocky Ruslan Provodnikov, and it was an all out war. Bradley got knocked down a couple times and at times looked completely out on his feet. I still have no idea how he was able to weather that storm and come back to win, but he did. The man is tough as nails and as his last fight proved, he is coming into his prime if he isn't already there. It should be interesting.
What should happen?
I think everyone is expecting Pacquiao to win and this time win decisively. He is not going to casually box this time but likely go in there more aggressive than he did last time. Pac should be on his 'A' game and beat up Bradley and eventually stop him late. Bradley cannot be in many more wars so in this instance Pac stops him late.
Result: Pacquiao late KO
What could happen?
Pacquiao could get over aggressive and get caught with a counter. The difference between getting caught by Marquez and Bradley is huge, Marquez can punch and Bradley can't. So he might knock Pacquiao down but likely not out, unless he walks him into a counter. Bradley could also school Pacquiao and if he boxes like he did against Marquez, this certainly could happen, he could embarrass Pacquiao.
Result: Bradley UD12
What I think will happen?
Bradley comes in smart like he did against Marquez and looks to counter as an on rushing Pacquiao tries to knock him out. Bradley counters Pacquiao for as long as Pacquiao is willing to take it, he out points Pacquiao in every aspect, keeping calm and not getting drawn into a war, Bradley is going to silence his critics on April 12th and I would not be surprised if he walks Pac down and stops him late, all but ending Pac's career.
Result: Bradley Late KO or UD12, a clear decision this time.
Excellent prediction WTF!
ReplyDeleteYep, I have to eat my words on this one. Pacquiao is not as done as I thought he was. I also was not expecting Bradley to come out looking for the KO, what a stupid gameplan that was. But yep, I was wrong on every aspect.
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