Manny Pacquiao was already screwed over by the judges in his first fight with Timothy Bradley, so he’s not about to let that happen the second time around.
Pacquiao lost a controversial split decision to Bradley in June 2012. Two judges scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Bradley and the third had it 115-113 in favor of Pacquiao. But most people — including us — felt like Pacquiao won the fight with no dispute.
Whether you believe he will be able to do it or not, Pacquiao says he won’t leave their rematch in the judges’ hands.
“I know what I need to do to win this time round,” Pacquiao said this week.
“Bradley has said that I only fight for money and have lost my hunger but he’s very wrong if he truly believes that. This fight you’re going to see a very aggressive and exciting Manny Pacquiao because I don’t want to leave it to the judges’ scorecards. If I can get the knockout then that’s what I’m going for because I’m going to show the world that the best is yet to come from me.”
That is definitely some weak trash talk from Bradley. Manny hasn’t lost hunger, though he definitely is fighting for money. He looked very good in his November fight with Brandon Rios and did exactly what we would have expected.
I don’t anticipate Pacquiao knocking out Bradley just because that’s difficult to do, so the question again becomes what will the judges do with their decision? That part none of us can answer. You never really know what the plan is.
Pacquiao also sent a tweet along the same lines prior to the fight, which really let’s you know that the plan is to end the fight without leaving it in the judges’ hands:
This time I will finish my business inside the ring with @TimBradleyJr and my journey will continue. Tonight, live on PPV #PacBradley
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) April 13, 2014
