Al Bernstein believes that even if Manny Pacquiao performs well against Timothy Bradley this April, boxing fans will still remain cold on the idea of a rematch between the Filipino and undefeated American Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Bernstein, one of the most respected boxing writers and commentators in the business, also stated that he’s surprised that Pacquiao picked Bradley over the likes of Amir Khan, Terence Crawford or Adrien Broner in his comeback fight. He said that politics in the sport played a role in Pacquiao’s decision to pick a third fight with Bradley.

“We don’t know where Manny Pacquiao has gone, has he slipped back a little further? I would have preferred him fighting Khan or Crawford, the fight I was really would have really been interested in seeing was Pacquiao and Broner,” Bernstein shared in an interview with the ontheropesboxing.com. “I thought that would have been fun, but obviously boxing politics made that difficult, but there was some talk.”

There is no confirmation of Mayweather returning to the ring, but the undefeated American unretired when he first quit the sport in 2008. Bernstein went on to state that he believes some quarters in boxing still “hold some strange hope” that a second fight with Mayweather will be a possibility for Pacquiao in the future.

“I can’t even imagine people being that interested in [Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch], even if Pacquiao is brilliant against Bradley,” Bernstein added.

In a recent interview, Pacquiao stated that he wants to please boxing fans in his last fight and will aim to win via a knockout over Bradley, whom the Filipino faced before in 2012, when Bradley won via split decision, and in 2014, when Pacquiao won via unanimous decision.

Bernstein also said that he sees Teddy Atlas as a trainer who is “no better than” Joel Diaz, the previous trainer for Bradley before Atlas took over for the Brandon Rios fight, which Bradley won via an impressive ninth round knockout.

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