"I WANT TO GET BACK THAT BELT" - PACQUIAO
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 06 Feb 2014
One year and eight months, ago during the media day at the Wild Card Boxing Gym to hype the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight, the undefeated American came brandishing a placard proclaiming a Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley II.
That, of course, was a ploy to psyche the Filipino ring icon and serve notice to the boxing world that he would win their June 9, 2012 encounter and that the second serving was needed.
Bradley, known as "The Desert Storm," then only 28, got his wish, winning over the "Pacific" Storm" not on the strength of his ring savvy but because of what promoter Bob Arum termed "The Three Blind Mice," who awarded him a split decision victory.
The two parted ways after that shameful day with Pacquiao suffering one more loss, a sixth round KO to Mexican arch enemy Juan Manuel Marquez ending the year, while Bradley outpointed
Ruslan Provodnikov and Marquez himself to somewhat earn the recognition he failed to attain with that questionable triumph.
Pacquiao came back from what was the bleakest year of his career by demolishing former unbeaten American Brandon Rios three months ago in the gambling city of Macau and served notice that his life as a fighter is far from over. That paved the way for the Pacquiao-Bradley II the American had dreamed even before their first skirmish could materialize.
Yesterday, during the first of the fight's two-city media tour at the Crystral Ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel to promote their April 12 grudge fight that will see Bradley staking his 147-pound diadem, Pacquiao vowed not to again fall victim to what happened nearly two years ago.
"I want to get back that belt he won off of me," Pacquiao promised as he short of saying, he'll knock his big-mouthed opponent.
"Boxing has always been fun for me. This time, the fun is secondary. This is a mission to prove I am the best." he added.
Bradley, on the other hand, who appeared in the post-fight press conference that evening at the MGM Grand on a wheel chair as result of the punishment Pacquiao inflicted on him, maintained he won that 2012 showdown and that he will redeem himself by punching his way triumphantly anew.
"This is all about redemption," he pronounced. "I need Manny, he needs me.
I'm going to beat him again."
The 35-year-old Congressman of Sarangani Province cited his convincing and almost shutout win over Rios as his gauge that he can be still be the Manny Pacquiao of old who had forced his illustrious opponents into submission on the way to becoming the only man on earth to crown himself titleholder in eight different divisions.
"In my fight against Rios, I proved I can still fight at the high level everyone expects from me," he said. I showed I can still control a fight as well as I ever have."
"The only way Bradley can beat me this time is to knock me out," he said, adding that won't happen because "he cannot outbox me. I will be the aggressor. I will throw a lot of punches at him - more than I threw against Rios - and I will land them. Last time I was too nice (on him). This time, I will finish what I (would have) started."
Pacquiao, who, along with wife, Sarangani Vice Gov. Jinkee, is expecting their fifth child, admitted though he underrated Bradley the first time around.
"To be honest, I wasn't as motivated when I was training for our first fight. I guess I didn't take him seriously enough", but added he won't be this time around. "For training camp, I intend to spend the first four weeks at my gym in General Santos City and the last four weeks at Wild Card in Hollywood," Pacquiao disclosed.
"I'm excited to be back in Las Vegas fighting. Las Vegas attracts great boxing fans and I have great memories of fighting there," Pacquiao said.
Bradley acknowledged Pacquiao's greatness as a fighter, but said, "He is also mortal. I'm not intimidated by him or his legacy."
"Manny didn't look the same against Rios. He didn't have his usual killer instinct. That's the first thing I noticed in the Rios fight," he said by way of assessing the Filipino's present state of mind.
"I don't think he has the hunger anymore. Every time he backed Rios into a corner, Manny stepped back instead of going for it. He didn't even try to put Rios away. That spoke volumes to me," Bradley observed.
Photo: Superstar Manny Pacquiao (R) talks with Maggie Gray (L), host of "SI Now" during a taping at the Sports Illustrated offices in New York City Wednesday. Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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