FIVE-TIME world champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, who has a record of 33-1-1, with 13 knockouts, including a highly controversial and bitterly criticized win in his first fight against eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2 with 38 KOs), promised he won’t run from the Filipino and will “do what he wants” in the ring in their third fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 9.
Bradley told boxing writer Miguel Maravilla: “It’s no different in this fight. I will be ready for every single thing Manny Pacquiao does. This is about legacy.”
For Pacquiao, this will be his first fight back since dropping a decision at the hands of former pound-for-pound king and now retired Floyd Mayweather Jr., a fight that was billed as the “Fight of the Century,” but turned out to be a disappointment, although the Filipino continues to claim that his fans and others still believe that he won the fight.
Bradley himself took a subtle dig at Mayweather when he said: “I can tell you this. It won’t be like a Floyd fight. We’re not going to run or get spooked, that’s not our style.”
Bradley is coming off an impressive ninth-round TKO over former world champion Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios last November in his first fight under his new trainer Teddy Atlas, who came out of retirement to help him.
There are many, though, including Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach, who
claimed Rios didn’t train like he did when he faced the Filipino and was out of shape against Bradley.
The American fighter shrugged off the talk.
“When I got inside with Rios, I wasn’t affected by it. I didn’t change my game plan. It doesn’t matter to me if Rios was out of shape. He was ready. That’s what he said. It wouldn’t had made a difference what Rios showed up,” said Bradley, who praised Atlas. “Teddy is a guru of boxing, that is all he knows–45 years in the game, he’s in total control. He has his way and I’m going to follow his way because I experienced it against Rios. You saw the results.”
Bradley and Atlas plan an eight-week training camp in Bradley’s hometown of Palm Springs.
“We have already had a mini-camp, Teddy and I. It was a two-day camp. We looked at film and went over strategy and we worked on the strategy. I’ll start my camp Feb. 15. Teddy will get me ready. My team will get me ready for everything we will be seeing April 9. He won’t change, he’ll be the same.”