Even Bradley Was Surprised Pacquiao Wanted A Third Fight

By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Disgruntled fans and media weren’t the only ones surprised Manny Pacquiao wanted to fight Timothy Bradley a third time.

Bradley admitted Thursday that he, too, was “very surprised” when Top Rank president Todd duBoef called his wife/manager, Monica, late last month to inform her of Pacquiao’s interest in a rubber match. The 32-year-old Bradley assumed after he lost their April 2014 rematch by unanimous decision that a third Pacquiao opportunity wouldn’t present itself.

“Not even recently,” Bradley admitted before a press conference Thursday in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. “I didn’t even think [it would happen] after [winning] the Rios fight. I just got a phone call. They were like, ‘Pacquaio wants to fight you.’ And I was like, ‘Wow! OK.’ I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was like, ‘This guy doesn’t want to fight me. I don’t think he wants to fight me.’ But he did. I was very surprised.”

Top Rank founder Bob Arum, whose company promotes Pacquiao and Bradley, is selling the new partnership between trainer Teddy Atlas and Bradley as the reason this fight could be different than their first two 12-round bouts. Bradley won their first fight by split decision in June 2012, but his infamous win was widely criticized as one of the most undeserved victories in boxing history.

Now that their third welterweight title fight is scheduled for April 9 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC) is eager to capitalize on this unforeseen chance in what the 37-year-old Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) claims will be his last fight.

“I don’t know,” Bradley said regarding why he thinks Pacquiao wants a third fight. “I don’t know. But he’s in trouble, man. He’s gonna be in trouble. [I] just [have] a completely different mindset going into this third fight. I know him very well. He’s not gonna change. He’ll be the same Manny Pacquiao. Always coming forward, just trying to bully his opponent. I get it. But I’m just gonna be a smart monster – a smart monster, solid in every department.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.