Despite being on the corner of Timothy Bradley when the boxer defeated Manny Pacquiao during their first ring encounter in 2012, trainer Joel Diaz believes Desert Storm will not be able to win again in April. According to him, Pacquiao already knows how Bradley moves which will make it very hard for the American boxer to dominate the Pacman again.
Diaz is credited as the trainer who guided Bradley secure three championship titles. However, he departed the boxer's camp in September las year following Bradley's loss to Pacquiao during their second match in 2014.
However, even though he's very familiar with the power of Bradley, he thinks that he will lose the next time he goes toe-to-toe with Pacquaio inside the ring.
"The statistics of boxing and logic tells us that if Bradley fought Pacquiao ten times - he would not win," Diaz said in an interview with ESPN according to Spin. "Pacquiao has already figured him out, he has his numbers."
However, like in any sports competition, Diaz also believes that an upset could still happen in the upcoming fight. Given Bradley's status as a top level fighter, the trainer said that he could still pull out the right stuff and replicate his win from 2012.
Another factor that could help Bradley emerge victorious is Pacquiao's slowing condition. As noted by Ecumenical News, the Pacman that the world knows today is very different from the one who knocked out British fighter Ricky Hatton in 2009.
Since that fight, Pacquiao has slowed down gradually. He even experienced his first knock out as an international boxer at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012. After that, it can be argued that his fights were not as exciting as before when he was still younger.
Even his camp admitted that Pacquiao has slowed down as a boxer. And, based on his recent fights, some even say that he has lost his knock out power.
However, for the upcoming fight against Bradley, coach Freddie Roach stressed that even though his fighter is no longer as lightning-fast as he was before, he still has the killer instincts to beat Bradley.
The third match between the two, which Pacquiao says will be his last professional fight, will happen on April 9 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.