Things are starting to heat up between Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao as the two fighters continue to trade barbs against each other a week after finalizing their rematch.
Bradley, who is aching to prove that his first win over Pacquiao was no fluke, mocked the former pound-for-pound king anew, saying that he is confident about his chances in their rematch because his opponent is too predictable.
The undefeated American is coming off a split-decision win over Juan Manuel Marquez, who happens to be the nemesis of Pacquiao. When asked to compare Pacquiao and Marquez, Bradley insisted that the Mexican is more difficult to handle than the Filipino boxing icon.
"I think Marquez would probably be more difficult," Bradley said in a Fighthype interview. "Pacquiao has a lot of speed and power in both hands, but he's very predictable. Marquez is not and that's the reason why Marquez was able to give Pacquiao fits all the time was because he made Pacquiao think. You know, Marquez was more cerebral than Pacquiao."
The 30-year old American, who holds an unblemished 31-0 record, then labeled Pacquiao as a one-dimensional fighter, saying that former eight-division champion only looks great if his opponent is coming straight at him.
Bradley stressed that it was the reason why Pacquiao opted to fight Brandon Rios in November instead of arranging a rematch with him. And the same reason why Pacquiao's camp considered Ruslan Provodnikov, a known brawler, for the April 12 bout before deciding to finalize the Pacquiao-Bradley rematch.
"I call it like I see it. He only fights one way. Pacquiao only fights one way and the way that Pacquiao fights is effective when you have a guy that comes straight at him. It's not effective when you have a guy that doesn't come straight at him," Bradley said.
The reigning WBO welterweight champion's statement is expected to add more color in their upcoming rematch wherein Pacquiao will look to avenge his controversial defeat to Bradley in their first showdown.
Pacquiao, who was previously unbeaten for seven years before the Bradley bout, looked dominant against the "Desert Storm" in their welterweight title showdown in June 2012, but the judges saw it otherwise, awarding an unpopular split-decision victory to the American slugger.
After losing to Bradley, Pacquiao suffered another stinging loss when he was knocked out cold by Marquez in the sixth round of their showdown in December 2012 before making a triumphant return via a dominating win over Rios in November last year.
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