Timothy Bradley vowed to get the credit that he failed to receive when he won against Manny Pacquiao during their first meeting when they collide again in a rematch on April 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
And for Hall of Fame referee and current ESPN boxing contributor Joe Cortez, Bradley is bound to prove that his victory over Pacquiao in June 2012 was no fluke.
In an interview with On The Ropes Radio, Cortez said that Bradley's work ethic on top of the ring will be tough to handle for Pacquiao.
The respected former referee is expecting a great fight, but he is convinced that Bradley will retain his World Boxing Organization welterweight title.
"I hope Manny Pacquiao can withstand the pressure of Bradley, the boxing skills and the decent power punching that Bradley has. It should be a great night of boxing, but I predict Bradley is gonna win a unanimous decision," Cortez said.
Pacquiao is coming off an impressive performance during his unanimous decision win over Brandon Rios in November - a win that snapped the skid of the former pound-for-pound king.
But despite getting back on track in his previous fight, Cortez pointed out that Pacquiao has been regressing over the past several years as proven by his two-straight defeats to Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.
"I think that Manny Pacquiao has seen his better days, if he doesn't show up against Bradley in the rematch come April, I think it's gonna be a very difficult fight for Pacquiao. Pacquiao has to show that he's got those skills. That was a devastating knock out at the hands of Manuel Marquez, he has question marks about his future," Cortez said.
And if Pacquiao losses to Bradley again, Cortez insisted that the eight-division champion has no other choice but to hang up his gloves, and focus on his role as a politician in his home country.
"If Manny Pacquiao loses that fight, I think that he may hang up the gloves and go on his merry way. He's a nice young man, very charismatic, very intelligent and he has a political career in front of him and maybe he should go down and take care of business in his beautiful country of The Philippines," Cortez stressed.
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