Timothy Bradley believes he has a good chance of pulling off an upset against Manny Pacquiao in their upcoming fight on April 9 at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Bradley told Los Angeles Times that he is more prepared that their first two fights after watching the fights of Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather, Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales.
Mayweather used his vaunted defense and disciplined approach to score a unanimous decision win against Pacquiao in May last year, while Morales also slowed down the Filipino boxing icon during their first fight in March 2005, where the Mexican ran away with a unanimous decision win.
On the other hand, Marquez faced Pacquiao four times, which were all closed bouts, except for the fourth fight, where the former pound-for-pound was knocked out cold in the sixth round. Most analysts are convinced that Marquez gave Pacquiao the toughest fights of his career.
Bradley said that he watched those fights and saw techniques to slow Pacquiao down. While he admitted that he cannot imitate Mayweather, Bradley still thinks his fight plan will work in his third showdown with Pacquiao.
"Floyd is Floyd, but there's things that certain guys who've beaten Manny Pacquiao did. I saw a certain style, certain things they did to isolate Manny Pacquiao," Bradley said. "I just need to be strong myself. I don't need to think about him being any weaker. Being mechanically better will better my chances."
Bradley, who owns a 31-1-1 record with his lone loss coming at the hands of Pacquiao, escaped with a controversial split decision victory in their fight in June 2012. Pacquiao then avenged the defeat with a convincing unanimous decision win in April 2014.
Two years since their second fight and with a new trainer beside him in Teddy Atlas, Bradley is convinced that he is now a better fighter, which makes him confident that he can silence his critics, especially those who were not impressed with his win against Brandon Rios in November last year.
"This time around is going to be different because I'm fundamentally a better fighter," Bradley said. "You can say what you want about the Rios fight, him being fat, overweight, whatever, but check out my mechanics, how tight my punches were, how precise they were. I was in tight."
