Pacquiao's Adviser: Manny Must Knock Tim Bradley Out!

by Ronnie Nathanielsz
 
“Fighter of the  Decade” Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz believes Pacquiao needs a knockout in his April 12 rematch with undefeated WBO welterweight champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley to re-establish himself as an elite fighter.

Koncz told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard that he was glad Bradley told Pacquiao straight to his face that he is a great person, a great fighter “but you’ve lost it. You’ve lost your power and you lost your killer instinct.

Koncz believes Bradley’s comments “put a fire under Manny” and said they spoke about it  and Manny knows this is a very important fight.”

The adviser said “a twelve round decision is not going to do anything for Manny and his career. If it’s a twelve round decision it may be time to sit down and discuss what Manny wants to do in boxing” emphasizing that Pacquiao “needs a knockout in this fight.”

Koncz conceded that even before the fight against Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios he said it was probably the most important fight in Pacquiao’s career and at that point in time, it was.

He pointed out that Pacquiao “proved to the world that he’s back” and noted the lateral movements, volume of punches but added “what I didn’t see was the desire to knock somebody out” which disappointed him.

Koncz recalled that in the Rios fight, the former world lightweight champion got only one round by his reckoning and that Pacquiao “ fought Rios the same way he fought Oscar De La Hoya – very sophisticated. Before Oscar could hit him, he was gone. He fought Rios the same way. He was gone before Rios could hit him.”
 
But the adviser who has served Pacquiao for some nine years stressed “I still believe we need to put an exclamation mark and show the world that if Manny puts his mind to it he has all the tools he had 5 years ago. Yes he’s getting older, he’s getting smarter, fighting a much more intelligent fight and not wasting energy. But I still against Bradley a knockout is in order.”