TOP Rank promoter Bob Arum predicted that the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley third encounter at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 9 will be an action-packed battle, even as trainer Freddie Roach conceded that the Filipino ring icon “is slowing down.”
“It’s going to be a shootout. They are going after each other,” Arum told The Standard.
Although nobody has seen Bradley spar and even Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels was not allowed to watch, Arum said “he (Bradley) is going to come out picking his spots but bombing away. It’s going to be a different kind of Bradley from the one we’ve seen before and a good example his style and what it will be can be based on his last fight with Brandon Rios.”
Bradley battered Rios, before being declared the winner by a ninth-round TKO last Nov.7, 2015.
After a visit to the Wild Card Gym of celebrated trainer Roach on Monday in Los Angeles, Arum said while Pacquiao didn’t spar, “he looked fine. Very, very good.”
“The power is much better because he has, since before the Floyd Mayweather Jr fight last May 2, been struggling with his right hand due to a tear on his right shoulder rotator cuff. Now, it’s fully operational and he’s much, much better,” said Arum.
The astute Top Rank promoter said that when the eight-division world champion “hits Freddie’s mitts with the right hand, the sound is probably even bigger than the sound when he hits with his left.”
Roach himself conceded that the 37-year-old Pacquiao has slowed down a bit compared to the fighter, who scored a devastating knockout at 2:59 of the second round against Britain’s IBO super lightweight champion Ricky Hatton on May 2, 2009.
Roach told Boxing Scene: “It’s pretty much the same, but he has slowed down a little bit. I will honestly say that. He’s not the same guy who fought Ricky Hatton right now. Of course, he’s getting older but he’s still very capable.”
Arum disclosed that ticket sales are going well.
“It would be close to a sellout if not a sellout,” said Arum of the tickets, 80 percent of which were already gone.