Pacquiao vs. Bradley: Manny's Distractions Will Lead to a Shocking Loss

Manny Pacquiao is no stranger to dealing with distractions, but this is finally going to catch up with him and result in a shocking upset loss. 

Pacquiao is a huge favorite to upset Timothy Bradley in their Welterweight championship bout on June 9th, but that is based as much on reputation as it is on the current course of events. 

Pacquiao has looked less than elite his last two times in the ring. Just ask his conditioning coach Alex Ariza. Here is Ariza, as quoted by Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register (coming to us via the Bellingham Herald). 

Conditioning coach Alex Ariza was upset when Pacquiao strayed from the program before Marquez.

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We have to focus on strength and conditioning. We can't rely on hard work in the gym and hoping that strength just piggybacks on that. We had two fights (Shane Mosley and Marquez) that shouldn't have been difficult but were. It's simple, not any big secret. Look at the fights before that, when he did the right kind of work.

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This drop off in conditioning was no doubt in direct correlation to the amount of success Pac-Man has enjoyed. Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum hinted at this, and was quoted by Whicker. 

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There comes a time when people become so big. I've seen it with Muhammad Ali. They become distracted and they don't perform like they did when they were younger and hungrier.

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These factors attributed to Pacquiao almost losing his last fight. And now he has thrown something else into the mix to consider. 

Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach touches on this in Whitlock's article. 

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Manny's very religious and he says God doesn't want him to hurt people. That's fine, but one punch can change a fight. So let's go ahead and knock him out. Bradley is not the type who will be your friend in there.

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What is this going to do to the edge that Pacquiao already seemed to be losing? There is enough reason to believe it will further dull it. And it won't take that big a drop off to leave the window open for the talented and undefeated Bradley to score the upset.