Joel Diaz: Pacquiao Has Bradley's Number, He'd Win 10 Out of 10

By Miguel Rivera

Joel Diaz, former trainer of two-division world champion Timothy Bradley, believes Manny Pacquiao has the edge in the upcoming trilogy fight on April 9th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Diaz trained Bradley for nearly his entire career. They parted ways last September and then Bradley hired new trainer Teddy Atlas.

Bradley won a controversial twelve round split decision over Pacquoiao in 2012. Pacquiao reclaimed his WBO welterweight title with a twelve round unanimous decision in their 2014 rematch.

Bradley and Diaz did not have the friendliest of splits. Both sides took shots at each other, including some recent comments from Bradley where he claimed that he wasn't provided with a 'real' game plan to defeat Pacquiao in the first two meetings.

Bradley's first bout under Atlas took place last November, when he knocked out Brandon Rios - but Rios was in poor shape for the fight and actually retired afterwards (only to unretire not long after).

Diaz does not rule out the possibility of an upset, but he expects Pacquiao to once again come out on top. He feels Pacquiao has Bradley completely figured out and saw very little difference in Bradley's fighting style under Atlas.

"There are always possibilities [of an upset] with a top level fighter as disciplined as Tim Bradley. He is a top level fighter who leaves nothing out [in training camp] and prepares very strong," Diaz told ESPN Deportes.

"But the statistics of boxing and logic tells us that if Bradley fought Pacquiao ten times - he would not win. Pacquiao has already figured him out, he has his number."