By Luis Sandoval
Manny Pacquiao is no stranger to rematches but none may be as important as the one he will be partaking in April 12th where he faces Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. Despite the majority of people thinking Pacquiao beat Bradley in their first meeting, two of the three judges saw the fight in Bradley’s favor as Pacquiao was handed his first loss in seven years.
In order to make sure he gets a clear victory over Bradley this second time around, Pacquiao has vowed to return to his whirlwind aggressive style that first garnered him his popularity.
“I’m really thankful to God that I have another chance to fight with aggressiveness and to have the strength back in the last fight with [Brandon] Rios. So I assure that the Manny Pacquiao, the aggressiveness and the young Manny Pacquiao [is who] you will see on April 12th,” said Manny.
Being more aggressive was also Manny’s plan going into his fourth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez but it proved to be detrimental as he was knocked out cold when he was caught with a hard right hand.
Given what happened when Pacquiao chose to be aggressive with Marquez, he was asked if it was in his best interest to take that approach again.
“Yes, aggressiveness if very important for this fight. Aggressiveness but not careless” Pacquiao would tell BoxingScene.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is also on board with his fighter fighting in an aggressive manner as he feels that’s exactly what it will take to defeat Bradley who they feel will try to box.
“No, no, aggressive is good in this fight. We have to cut the ring off and he’s going to be moving trying to outbox us so we have to cut the ring off and make it a little smaller and force him to fight a little bit more. I think he’ll box a little bit more but once he gets hit he’ll fight back and he’ll become his old self,” said Roach.
While Bradley has always been known for being a boxer and mover, he also showed he can brawl as he went to war with hard hitting Ruslan Provodnikov in 2013’s Fight of the Year. With Pacquiao looking to bring the fight to Bradley, it will be interesting to see if he can bring the aggressiveness out of Bradley once again to provide fireworks for the fans.
You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter & Instagram @Truewest007.
