By Rick Reeno
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is tired of hearing about Timothy Bradley's injured feet in the first fight with Manny Pacquiao, which took place in June of 2012. Bradley won a controversial twelve round split decision.
According to Bradley, both of his feet were injured and blistered because he didn't wear any socks in the ring - something that Bradley believed former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson used to do.
The rematch takes place on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Roach wants Bradley to stop the "injured feet" excuse to explain the issues he was having in their first fight. In the build-up to the rematch, Pacquiao's team sent Bradley a pack of socks.
"Who cares about the feet. That has nothing to do with the decision or anything in the world. Who gives a f*** about the feet? Just because you have a f***ing blister on your foot. You're a fighter. Come on. These are professional fighters. Blisters on feet should be no f***ing issue whatsoever," Roach said.
However, Pacquiao himself has used the blister excuse for his performance against Juan Manuel Marquez in fight one.
"Toward the latter rounds, because I was wearing socks that were very thin, I had developed blisters on my feet - making it very difficult for me to move as effectively as I had during the earlier rounds. I had to fight more flatfooted than we had trained. After the fight, when I took my boots off, my socks were worn through and they were very bloody."
