Pacquiao up against ‘better’ Bradley, swears trainer Atlas

AP Photo/Isaac Brekken

MANNY Pacquiao will be fighting a “better version” of Timothy Bradley when they dispute the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown on April 9 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

That’s what Teddy Atlas, Bradley’s new trainer, vowed to show the world when the American champion and the Filipino icon clash for the third time.

Though Pacquiao beat Bradley by a convincing unanimous decision in their 2014 rematch—after being deprived of a victory in their first duel in 2012, Atlas believes he has the right formula to turn Bradley into a legitimate winner this time.

“We’d correct the mistakes from the first two fights, use his experience from the past,” Atlas told The Ring’s Michael Woods.

“A lot worked well in those first two fights, and then we’ll learn from our past. It’s what winners do, what smart people are supposed to do.”

Atlas, the 1994 Trainer of the Year, and Bradley clicked right in their first ring partnership last November.

In that fight, Bradley became the first man to knock out Brandon Rios with body shots in the ninth round.

Pacquiao dominated Rios over 12 rounds in their showdown in November 2013 in Macau but he failed to bring down the tough brawler.

According to Atlas, a longtime fight analyst for ESPN, Bradley is also in the right frame of mind and physical condition to spoil the result of what Pacquiao says will be his last fight.

Bradley himself said he has learned a lot from Atlas, the same trainer who steered the underdog Michael Moorer to the world heavyweight title over Evander Holyfield in 1994.

After all, they spent only seven weeks together in his annihilation of Rios. Roy Luarca