SACRAMENTO, California—Timothy Bradley has turned up his decibel and confidence level in the buildup to his April 12 (April 13 in Manila) bout with Manny Pacquiao.
Bradley, a.k.a. Desert Storm, is kicking up dust on social media. He has found time away from blasting the bags to blog his brainwaves about his rematch with the fighting congressman at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
The coming fight will be replete with drama because Bradley’s split decision victory on June 9, 2012 over the Filipino ring icon has become one of the more controversial ring decisions of all time.
“Which is saying a lot, because everything in boxing is disputed,” says Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Dwyre.
In his initial blog, courtesy of HBO, Bradley talked about his postfights after his questionable triumph over Pacquiao.
Bradley (31-0, 12 knockouts) mentioned his near knockdown at the hands of Ruslan Provodnikov, the boxer from Cathedral City, California, he eventually defeated by a close decision.
He also blogged about his victory over future Hall of Famer Juan Manuel Marquez who scored that KO of the Year versus Pacquiao in December 2012.
The fight with the Mexican warrior “unlike the Provodnikov fight was a chess match and I believe I gave Marquez a boxing lesson,” said Bradley.
“In my two fights in 2013 I was able to show that I can do it all in the sport of boxing,” Bradley bragged.
“This next fight will be no different in helping me show the fans that I am [the] top pound-for-pound [boxer] in the world. I have a lot to prove and nothing can stop me on my way to being No. 1 in the world.”
Meantime, Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) is not taking Bradley’s bombast sitting down.
On Bradley’s assessment that he’s lost his killer instinct, Pacquiao said through his trainer Freddie Roach that he is dedicating his training camp to the pursuit of knocking out his opponent.
Pacquiao is deep in training at Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.
“Manny’s not the kind of guy who gets too [ticked] off…” Roach told Lance Pugmire of the LA Times.
But Roach said Pacquiao’s miffed because “instead of saying the first fight was close”
Timothy has come out often with the statement that Pacquiao has “lost that killer instinct and I’m going to beat you…”
“The first fight with Bradley was so easy for Manny that after six rounds he just took it easy on him. Not this time,” Roach told Pugmire. “Our mantra is ‘Close the show. No mercy.’”
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Amado R. Corpuz remains mayor of my birthplace, Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija, while his case is on appeal.
Corpuz has been meted two four-year jail terms by the Sandiganbayan for falsification of public documents for getting a proxy to solemnize two weddings in 2009.
“The mayor presides over a graft-ridden local government and gets away with it,” a resident of Cuyapo told me once.
“He is not called palos (eel) for nothing, he is slippery as heck.”
Corpuz escaped prosecution in 2008 for the shooting death of a political detractor allegedly with the help of a high-ranking jurist with connections.