Trainer Robert Garcia sees Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley trilogy, says American has shot of upset win over Filipino
World-renowned trainer Robert Garcia believes a "motivated" Timothy Bradley can beat Manny Pacquiao, who has yet to announce his next opponent in his comeback fight next year.
“I'd say he's fighting Timothy Bradley for a third time. That's just my guess. I think [Terence] Crawford is just too risky to end his career with maybe a loss - even though Bradley has a shot this time of beating him for real,” Garcia told Ryan Burton of boxingscene.com.
"We all saw the first two fights and thought Pacquiao won, but this time with Teddy Atlas... Bradley looked different, Bradley looked motivated. He might have that extra push to pull it off. And Pacquiao might not be the same anymore, so this time Bradley has a better chance to pull it off.”
Garcia is referring to the couple of Pacquiao vs Bradley fights in recent years. In 2012, Bradley defeated Pacquiao in a controversial 12-round split decision win for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title. Judges scored the bout, 115-113, 115-113 and 113-115 for Bradley. In 2014, Pacquiao defeated Bradley convincingly to steal the WBO welterweight belt from Bradley with judges scoring the bout 116-112, 118-110 and 116-112 for Pacquiao, who got the 12-round unanimous decision win.
Aside from Bradley, who is from the United States, others reportedly in the running for a fight against Pacquiao in 2016 are Americans Terence Crawford and Adrien Broner and British boxer Amir Khan.
In a separate report, Mike Koncz, the adviser for Pacquiao, confirmed that their camp already told Bob Arum, the Top Rank Promotions chief, that they are “definitely” fighting April 9, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada but are in “no rush” to make their announcement for Pacquiao’s choice in his next fight.
Pacquiao is running for senator in his home country, the Philippines in the elections held in May 2016. Pacquiao is reportedly retiring from the sport after his April fight to concentrate in his political career.
Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au, or let us know what you think below.