Manny Pacquiao: What Pac-Man Must Do to Avoid Upset Against Timothy Bradley

When Manny Pacquiao takes on Timothy Bradley on June 9, he's going to have to be very careful to avoid the upset.

Desert Storm is young, hungry and ready to shock the world. Pac-Man, however, hasn't looked like his normal self in his last few fights and could very well be distracted going into this one.

This is setting up perfectly for Bradley to shock the world, but let's take a look at what Pac-Man needs to do to avoid that situation.

Don't Get too Aggressive

Recently, Bradley was pretty clear about how he was going to go about this fight (via ESPN): 

"

They may think that Marquez just has Manny's number, but whatever Marquez can do, I can do 10 times better. He's great at counter-punching, and I'm devastating at counter-punching. My counter-punching ability is unbelievable. I beat most of my guys on counter-punching. It's effective aggressiveness with counter-punching.

"

Desert Storm may be loud, but he's right in the fact that he is a very good defender and equally effective counter-puncher. 

If Pac-Man comes out too aggressive, he's going to leave himself open, and Bradley is going to burn him for it. 

Use His Power

While he shouldn't be aggressive and throw too many unnecessary punches early, Pacquiao must take advantage of the ones he does throw.

Pac-Man has a distinct power advantage over Bradley, and when he swings, he needs to go for the knockout. 

Additionally, remember that Desert Storm is five years younger than Pacquiao and has 30 less professional fights under his belt. No matter what shape Pac-Man is in, he won't be in the type of shape Bradley is in.

Bradley has a good chance of winning the later rounds, even if Pacquiao is a better strategic fighter and has him figured out by then. 

Due to this, Pacquiao needs to look to land some knockdowns, which isn't the norm against Bradley. 

Stick to His Own Game Plan

Essentially what I mean by this is for Pacquiao to not let Bradley or anyone else get in his head. 

You know Desert Storm is going to be talking up a "storm" in the weeks leading up to the fight, but Pacquiao has plenty of other distractions.

Whatever those distractions might be—God telling him to retire, Floyd Mayweather, politics or other recent controversial remarks—Pac-Man has a lot on his current plate. 

If he starts concentrating on any of those things, or anything other than Timothy Bradley, he will lose. 

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