Pacquiao’s foe Bradley: Ready to be No. 1

LOS ANGELES—For Timothy Bradley facing Manny Pacquiao is not only an “opportunity of a lifetime” but it’s also a way for him to achieve his goal of becoming the world’s top boxer.

“I’ve been waiting for this my whole career,” said Bradley to the Asian Journal. “I’ve watched the rankings and coming up the ranks, I felt that one day I’m going to be in that No. 1 spot. I became No.1 in the 140 pounds division and now I look up on the pound-for-pound No. 1 list and that’s where I want to be. I want to be the best in the world. Period. Hands down.”

In order to do that he’s going to have unseat and beat, Pacquiao, arguably the world’s No. 1 boxer pound-for-pound.

Pacquiao (54-3-2 38KOs) and Bradley (28-0 12KOs) will be facing off on June 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

For Bradley, it’ll be the biggest fight in his career, on the biggest stage.

The 28-year-old light welterweight titlist from Palm Springs has come a long way in his career.

Like many fighters, he’s climbed the boxing ladder earning his dues in ballrooms, fairgrounds and athletic centers before graduating to Indian casinos.

Last year, he finally made his way to Las Vegas in the undercard of the Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight. He defeated Joel Casamayor that night and little did he know that a few months after that day, he’d be signing to fight Pacquiao.

“I was a little surprised that it came this soon,” said Bradley, who signed with Top Rank last year. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure when it was going to go down. I didn’t think it was going to be this soon.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m ready for this. This is what I’ve been waiting on my whole career.”

For casual boxing fans and Filipinos, not much is known about Bradley despite his undefeated record and two championship belts. He’s not a knockout artist. He’s not flashy and doesn’t create attention to himself inside or outside the ring.

Bradley is a worker — the kind of guy that would pick up a lunch pail and a hard hat and get to work, if he didn’t choose boxing as a profession. Inside the ring, he’s a tactician. He knows he doesn’t have excellent speed or fast hands like Pacquiao but what he does have he says is “an all around game” and “a will to fight.”

“I come to win. Seek and destroy. I feel confident in my abilities and my craft,” he said. “I’ve had 28 fights. I’ve won all of them. I’ve dominated all of my fights and either won by knockout or decision.

“I can fight inside. I can fight outside. I’m a smart fighter and a great counterpuncher. When you look at my style, people say I don’t look spectacular or have that one thing I can do really well. But I’m just there to work. I’m a very well rounded guy in that ring. I can mix it up anytime.”

Some of his opponents have accused him of being a dirty fighter, who often leads with his head — causing headbutts.

Bradley hates this label and says people misconstrue his style.

“I’m not a dirty fighter,” he said. ÒI don’t go in the ring to headbutt or any of that. I’m a clean fighter. What fighter’s misconstrue is that I’m rough. I’m trying to hit you any chance I get. If I get a hand free I’m going to bang you against your face. This is boxing.

“Accidental headbutts occur because I’m always pressing forward. If you looked at my last fight against Casamayor, a southpaw, everyone though we would clash heads but there were [no] headbutts in that fight.”

Most boxing pundits and even Bradley acknowledge that he’s an underdog, coming into this match against Pacquiao. He accepts that label and actually relishes it.

“I’m an underdog in most of my fights and that’s okay, I like it,” he said. “Look at what happened in the NFL. The New York Giants were 9-7, people [were] writing them off but they won. They won the Super Bowl. Not the Green Bay Packers who dominated the season. It was the Giants. The underdogs.”

Bradley said he and his team will begin training camp sometime in April. Despite the magnitude of the match and the implications, he’s not going to do anything out of the norm in his routine.

Though mostly unknown and unheralded, Bradley the WBO and WBC light welterweight champion, said come June 9, he will be known around the world.

“I’m a young, hungry dog, ready to eat,” he said.

“[A win] would just put the icing on the cake in my career. That would be the biggest moment and biggest upset victory in boxing. It’s going to be a tough fight. Manny Pacquiao is a dog himself. He’s defeated a lot of fighters. I give respect to him. He’s a great fighter. But I feel that I can pull off this win and be No. 1.”