Manny Pacquiao: 'Distracted' Pac-Man Could Be Doomed Against Undefeated Bradley

Everyone's talking about whether Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will decide to retire before he has a chance to fight Manny Pacquiao, but the real story is that Pacquiao must get through his fight against Timothy Bradley without deciding to call it quits himself.

And that, it seems, is no sure thing. 

According to Pacquaio's promoter, Bob Arum, the boxer has displayed a concerning new demeanor since beating Juan Manuel Marquez in November and as Arum told ESPN.com, he's become a "totally different person." Whether that person is better or worse off against Bradley remains to be seen. 

All of this could spell doom for Pacquiao as he tries to maintain his stretch of dominance against the younger, undefeated Bradley.

Bradley is 29 years old and has 29 victories and 12 knock-outs. While Bradley has the young legs, Pacquiao, at 54-3-2, has experience—but experience will only get him so far if he can't focus.

According to ESPN.com, Arum told HBO: 

"

Bradley is a terrific fighter.He's undefeated. He poses a tremendous challenge for Manny Pacquiao. And my problem is: What Pacquiao are we going to see? You have to understand, since the last fight in November, he has become a totally different person. He's super religious. He does bible study every night. I get the impression that I'm promoting Rick Santorum, not Manny Pacquiao. But be that as it may, who knows what effect it will have on his ring ability on June 9? 

"

Arum's concerns were sparked when Pacquiao said in March that God came to him in a dream and told him to retire. And all Pacquiao needs to be doing before a fight against a younger, undefeated opponent is talk about retiring. His mental focus is nowhere near as sharp as it needs to be leading up to this fight, which spells good news for Bradley.

Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, told the Los Angeles Times' Lance Pugmire that since narrowly defeating Marquez, his charge has made a concerted effort to return to a more "normal" life and abandon the distractions that seemed to be destroying him—he saved his marriage, sold his cockfighting farm and his casino, gave up basketball.

So, why does it seem like eliminating those distractions is hurting Pacquiao rather than helping him?  

Is PacMan having a mental breakdown? Probably not. Is his behavior peculiar, even worrisome? Yes.

And this new, cleaned-up personality could hinder him against Bradley, one of his toughest opponents to date. All the more reason why Arum and Roach must quell the Mayweather talk and focus exclusively on getting Pacquiao's mental affairs in order before what could become a surprising and crushing loss.