Pacquiao vs. Bradley: Desert Storm's Overconfidence Will Have Him Seeing Stars

When Manny Pacquiao squares off with Timothy Bradley on June 9th for the WBO Welterweight title, the overconfidence that brought Desert Strom to 28-0 will betray him and leave him lying on his back.

All thanks to the quick hands and power of Pac-Man.

Bradley has said that he thinks this fight will be easy, which means he is not preparing for the same 12-round war that Pacquiao prepares for. While some say that Pac-Man doesn’t have the power to KO people, that’s not his game plan; he prepares to go 12 rounds and is trained to win on the cards.

All the talk from Bradley’s camp won’t shake Pacquiao or change his plan. While Bradley will come at the boxing star with everything he has, Pac-Man will withstand it and use his cardio and elusiveness to take it to Bradley throughout the fight.

Despite every possible disadvantage a fighter could have, Bradley’s unwavering confidence is stunning. Desert Storm told Boxing Scene about his perceived advantage coming into this fight:

"

I truly believe it’s going to be an easy fight. I’m not saying that Pacquiao is going to lay down or whatever, but I just think that what I bring to the ring, I think it’s going to make it extremely hard for him. I know what Pacquiao likes to do. I think everybody all knows what he likes to do. But I think with my style alone and my ability and my way to be able to adjust in the ring, I think that’s going to be a handful in itself. And then, on top of that, you’ve got my speed, you got my power, you got my determination on top of that. It’s going to be easy work for me. I’m younger, I have less miles on my body, I’m very smart, I’ve captured three world championships. Manny Pacquiao is human just like I am; he bleeds just like I do. I’m not going into the ring and I’m not going to brother-in-law this guy just because he’s Manny Pacquiao and he’s one of the hottest names in boxing. That doesn’t scare me at all.

"

It should.

Pacquiao isn’t just one of the biggest names in the sport because of his celebrity status, it’s because he walks into the ring and beats people up. He does it better than Bradley ever has or ever will.

You want your fighter to be confident, but to say that a fight with Manny Pacquiao will be easy is not true. Win, lose or draw, Bradley will be in for a war when he steps up to Pac-Man.

While the talk of outcomes is there, the swagger that Bradley carries will ultimately be his downfall. The confidence will have him pushing the tempo of the fight early, possibly even winning a few of the earlier rounds.

Once Pac-Man figures Bradley’s style out, he will begin to use the star’s aggressiveness to catch him with his hands out of place. If Desert Storm leaves too big of an opening, he will be looking up at the bright lights from his back in the middle of the ring.

A fighter has to be confident, even cocky, to be great; too much confidence will have Bradley underestimating Pac-Man and that’s how people get hurt.

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