Juan Manuel Marquez gave his take on the upcoming rematch between his former opponents Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley on April 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Marquez, who openly campaigned for a rematch with Bradley after absorbing split decision loss in their showdown last October, believes that Pacquiao has the upper hand in the upcoming fight.
The Mexican boxing icon is convinced that Pacquiao won in their controversial first showdown. Marquez said that the second showdown will be an interesting fight between two great fighters, but the 40-year-old Mexican said that Bradley should change his style to have a chance to win.
"First I want to say that it is an important, interesting fight, because of what happened in the first. In that fight the decision was different from what happened in the ring, and I think Bradley should change his strategy because it did not work from the first fight," Marquez said in a BoxingScene interview.
And while the undefeated American needs to make major adjustments for their second fight, Marquez said that Pacquiao could just fight the same way he fought Bradley in June 2012.
And if the judge will score the bout accurately, he is expecting a convincing win for Pacquiao to reclaim the WBO welterweight title that was "stolen" from him during their first encounter.
"Pacquiao could fight the same, but it is Bradley who needs to make adjustments. If judges do what needs to be done, Pacquiao should win. If Bradley makes the adjustments, it's going to be a very good fight," Marquez said.
Marquez's assessment is a complete opposite of the prediction made by respected boxing analyst Larry Merchant, who said that it will not be enough for Pacquiao to outbox Bradley. The former HBO analyst insisted that Pacquiao should outfight the "Desert Storm" and try to score a knockout.
Reigning WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov also gave his take on the upcoming showdown, saying that it will be hard for Pacquiao to win on the scorecards so the former pound-for-pound king should go for the kill.
"I think that the Pacquiao versus Bradley rematch will be interesting but it might be very similar to their first fight. Unless Manny decides to be more aggressive and take risks, it will be hard for him to defeat Tim Bradley on the scorecards," Provodnikov said.
