Manny Pacquiao: Pac-Man Can't Afford to Overlook Undefeated Timothy Bradley

Manny Pacquiao will enter his bout with Timothy Bradley as a heavy favorite, but the star can't afford to overlook his unbeaten opponent.

Pacquiao comes off a lackluster performance against long-time rival Juan Manuel Marquez. Even though "Pac-Man" was able to earn his 15th straight victory, he didn't do it with his usual level of dominance. Instead, he was forced to battle for all 12 rounds.

Marquez used a defensive game plan to frustrate the eight-division champion, which ended up making the fight a lot closer than most people anticipated. If Pacquiao isn't careful, the same thing could end up happening on June 5.

Like Marquez, Bradley also relies on defense and counterattacking to have success. Furthermore, he's had plenty of it, as evidenced by his 28-0 career record. Only 12 of those victories have come by knockout, however, showing he knows what it takes to go the distance.

In his last bout, "Desert Storm" defeated Joel Casamayor in convincing fashion. It was the most important fight of his career to date, but he showed no signs of letting the pressure have an impact on him en route to an eighth-round TKO.

That win was enough to earn him a chance to fight one of the sport's biggest stars. Even though it's not the fight most boxing fans wanted to see—that honor goes to Pacquiao and Mayweather—it was a solid fallback option.

Bradley knows heading into the match that it will be the biggest one of his career. An upset would cause him to become a megastar almost immediately because he would have broken down the wall of invincibility surrounding Pacquiao lately.

That's a lot of motivation for somebody that already has the underdog card in his corner. It would take a perfect fight from him to have a chance, but it's not impossible.

For that reason, "Pac-Man" must treat the fight as if it was Mayweather or any other big-name star. If he takes Bradley lightly, things will likely get much more difficult than he hopes, just like they did against Marquez.

Being a veteran, Pacquiao should understand by now that every opponent is a threat no matter what. Anything less than an elite performance can even get him in trouble and Bradley will be waiting anxiously to capitalize.

Pacquiao needs to set the tone early with a couple of strong rounds to break Bradley's will. The would allow him to cruise from there. Otherwise, he will be setting himself up for an extended battle.