‘Search and destroy’ selling hot, but…

On April 12 in Las Vegas, there’ll be none of the  soft-pedaling, reluctant knockout artist who allowed big Brandon Rios to escape and survive in Macau last November.

Unbeaten Tim Bradley has been told he would be meeting the original Manny Pacquiao with the fierce stormy might that has “stopped Oscar de la Hoya, Eric Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Ricky Hatton.”

That sharp threat was not mouthed by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, who has been hard-selling a Pacquiao KO win over Bradley for their forthcoming rematch.

It came from 8-division world boxing title winner Pacquiao, who has vowed to also “be a lot better.”

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You see, the urgency of a stoppage has been growing more acute by the day, so that the singular order  (for Pacquiao) has also started to thin out like a predictable sales ploy.

Roach, for the record, has been drumming hard for a knockout win since Day One at the Team Pacquiao camp.

Roach has told Pacquiao and the international media that everybody has been salivating for a severe stoppage.

This claim, by the way, also caused Pacquiao’s forthcoming fight to be cast as a search-and-destroy mission.

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Truth is Pacquiao, short of demolishing Bradley, was cheated of victory by dishonest judges in their first encounter in June 2012.

Maybe that was one of the reasons:  Roach didn’t like fight judges to again have anything to do with the final outcome.

Stated Pacquiao: “Freddie loves knockouts and I would like to make Freddie happy.”

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That, indeed, was great motivation for both the famous trainer and his legendary fighter.

However, Roach should also be reminded that the whole boxing world is not totally sold on his claim that only a knockout win could please everybody.

In fact, there are enough fans and self-styled experts who believe that a sustained and masterful dominance could be more relevant than a knockout by any form.

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Of course, those who reject  Roach’s vehemence know for a fact that Pacquiao, more often than not, goes wild and drops what little he has in defensive competence each time he would jump in for a frantic knockout.

Simply put, if Roach still has the time and ability to teach Pacquiao how to go on a killer blitz, and stay competently defensive at the same time, by all means shoot for the jackpot.

If not, Roach should also consider what Pacquiao stated at the Wild Card Gym last week and was carried by the Inquirer.

“I want to win convincingly,” Pacquiao said. “The knockout will come. I don’t want to be careless.”

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Maybe it was not the first time Pacquiao had mouthed that intention, which was definitely nowhere before his disastrous KO defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez.

Fighting with equal competence and caution. These words, by the way, were spoken by Pacquiao the day after the legendary country singer Bob Dylan paid him a sit-in visit at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood  last week.

Anyway, it could not be readily determined whether the two legends talked boxing, or if Dylan, a serious student of the Sweet Science, had offered some tips.

But Pacquiao, in stressing he would get into the ring against Bradley with careful  ferocity, had obviously heard the answer blowing in the wind.