Sheridan: Pacquiao is using Bradley fight in April for ‘exposure and publicity’ for his senate run in the Philippine elections

Respected boxing expert and broadcaster Bob Sheridan shared in a recent interview his thoughts on the third meeting between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley that's scheduled on the latter part of the year.

The veteran commentator stated that part of the reason Pacquiao is fighting in April 2016 is because of the Philippine elections a month later, where the Filipino fighter is aiming for a senatorial seat.

“We also talked about Manny Pacquiao and the possibility that his head maybe isn’t totally in it, and is looking for one last payday. He’s got the election coming up in The Philippines which I believe is in May, he has that distraction, using the fight in April as a big thing in The Philippines for him to get the exposure and publicity,” Sheridan shared to ontheropesboxing.com.

In a separate interview, Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said that he has no problem with Pacquiao’s activities outside the ring, as he believes the Filipino is still focused on his training and winning the fight. Pacquiao is currently an elected congressman in his home country and is running for the senate in the Philippine elections in May.

Sheridan also mentioned that with Bradley having new trainer Teddy Atlas in his corner, the American looked “different” in his fight against Brandon Rios last November. Bradley defeated Rios via a ninth round knockout to defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) world welterweight title.

“He looked terrific in that fight, showed the influences of Teddy. This time there’s still the fight that he did win against Pacquiao, there’s a cloud hanging over that in the mind of Timothy Bradley and he would like to make that definitive,” Sheridan added.

Sheridan stated that Pacquiao might not have been ready in facing an up-and-coming fighter like Terence Crawford, that’s why he chose Bradley, whom the Filipino defeated in their last meeting in 2014.

Along with Crawford, others considered and rumoured to be Pacquiao’s opponent in April were British boxer Amir Khan and American Adrien Broner.

Bradley won the first fight against Pacquiao in 2012 in a controversial 12-round split decision, while Pacquiao won the second fight two years ago via a 12-round unanimous decision.