TRAINER Freddie Roach predicted that the presence of coach Teddy Atlas won’t make any difference to World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley’s chances when he faces eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 9.
ABS-CBN Sports Consultant Peter Musngi told The Standard/boxingmirror.com that Yang, who lost ion his bid to win the vacant International Boxing Federation title against Argentina’s Cesar Rene Cuenca on July 18, 2015, will also be seeing action on the undercard of WBO super bantamweight Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, who makes the first defense of the newly won title at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on April 23.
The 30-year-old Yang has a record of 19-1, with 14 knockouts.
Pacquiao is taking no chances in his third fight against Bradley after losing the first in a bitterly criticized split decision and coming back to win a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision in a rematch and has begun training in his hometown of General Santos City.
He will be joined by trainer Freddie Roach on Feb. 3.
The Pacquiao-Bradley showdown will mark the first time former “Trainers of the Year” Roach and Teddy Atlas, who steered Bradley to an impressive ninth-round knockout of Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, will face each other.
Pacquiao, who has a record of 57-6-2 with 38 knockouts, is a two-term congressman from the lone district of Sarangani Province and is vying for a Senate seat in the May elections and is expected to win, finishing inn the Top 10 in all pre-election surveys.
Pacquiao, who was named “Fighter of the Year” three times by the Boxing Writers Association of America and was also honored as “Fighter of the Decade,” is aiming for a spectacular peformance in what he has announced will be his farewell fight, while Roach has predicted his prized possession will win by a ninth-round knockout.