Bradley, who is coming off a unanimous decision win over former Pacquiao foe Brandon Rios in November 2013, has been quoted as saying he will be a different fighter when he faces Pacquiao on fight night, courtesy of his newly hired trainer Teddy Atlas.
“Our approach this time (against Pacquiao) is going to be way different,” said Bradley in a conference call last Wednesday. “We have a big game plan going into this fight and I am looking closely at Pacquiao and his weaknesses.
Obviously Atlas is just preparing a game plan for Bradley based on what he saw in the last two fights but to say that he is changing Bradley’s style overnight would be difficult to achieve given the time constraints.
Bradley has praised Atlas for guiding him since the Rios fight, “I’ve learned a lot of things … but the hardest thing for me is to trust the game plan at all times in the ring, in training.
“We have a game plan, I just have to go out there and execute it, just like I did against Rios,” said Bradley. “I trust everything that Teddy is telling me and teaching me. I’ve just got to do my job.”
Bradley insists he will be a different fighter when he squares of with Pacquiao on April 9.
“Manny Pacquiao pretty much does the same things, he’s going to bring the intensity, he’s going to come forward, he’s going to be the Manny Pacquiao that we have always seen. He knows me but I think I’m going to be a little different now,” Bradley said.
Pacquiao’s longtime trainer Freddie Roach knows that fighters who are used to certain fighting styles in the early stages of their careers, find it difficult to revert to their usual style once they try to make the changes to address the style of a particular opponent.
“Fighters try to improve and change, but when they get hit, they revert to what they normally do best, so we’ll see in this fight. Bradley has been a good opponent for two fights. He’s there, he’s steady, but he’s facing a very tough guy,” said Roach, who claimed Bradley would still be the fighter that he is when he squares of with Pacquiao for the third time.
Roach isn’t convinced that Bradley has improved under Atlas saying Bradley’s victory over Rios happened because the guy was out of shape.
“I don’t think there’s a new and improved Tim Bradley,” Roach said “I thought his last opponent [stunk]. The guy was out of shape. I don’t think [Bradley] looked any better than he ever has.”
Atlas has yet to comment on Roach statement about the “new and improved Bradley” but most likely he would fine tune his game plan and won’t waste his time changing Bradley’s fighting style overnight.
