Roach: Manny will win easily
TIMOTHY Bradley says he’s a whole lot better than Juan Manuel Marquez and that Manny Pacquiao could be in for a surprsing night when they clash in Las Vegas on June 9.
Freddie Roach isn’t biting.
“I think that Manny will beat Tim Bradley pretty easily,” Roach told RingTV.com recently.
The Hall of Fame trainer likened Bradley to Ricky Hatton, who Pacquiao crushed in a spectacular second-round KO in 2009.
“Bradley got mad when I said that he’s no better than Ricky Hatton, but he’s never impressed me,” said Roach.
Bradley, though, feels that he has what it takes to defeat the pound-for-pound icon.
“Sometimes I think that Freddie Roach is really naive about his fighter,” Bradley told RingTv.com. “Freddie has confidence in his fighter, and that’s great, but I don’t think that they realize what they’re getting into, to be honest with you.”
Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts) will battle Bradley (28-0, 12 KOs) at the MGM Grand looking to end a string of victories without a knockout.
Pacquiao defeated nemesis Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KOs) by majority decision, a controversial result that added fuel to the Pacquiao-Marquez rivalry instead of setting with finality the issue between both fighters.
Pacquiao and Roach have acknowledged that Marquez indeed poses a problem for Man-ny—and Bradley is picking up from that cue.
“They may think that Marquez just has Manny’s number, but whatever Marquez can do, I can do 10 times better. He’s great at counter-punching, and I’m devastating at counter-punching,” said Bradley.
“My counter-punching is unbelievable.”
“I’m really not worried,” said Roach. “It doesn’t matter what Bradley does. Whether he’s coming forward or moving backward, he can’t beat Manny Pacquiao.
“I’m not going to predict a knockout round. He’s a tough, durable guy. He gets in very good shape, but I don’t think that it’s going to go the distance. We’ll get him before it’s over.”
