Manny Pacquiao: Why Lessons Learned from Marquez Fight Will Lead to Victory

Manny Pacquiao barely eked out a controversial victory of Juan Manuel Marquez back in November, but he'll use the lessons he learned in that fight to beat Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley on June 9 at the MGM Grand.

One of the main things that Pacquiao has learned from his most recent bout with Marquez is to not underestimate his opponent. He recently said that he underestimated Marquez in their third fight, but trainer Freddie Roach said that won't be the case in his fight against Bradley.

According to this conference call transcript on worldboxingnews.net, Pacquiao had some family issues before the Marquez fight and wasn't able to stay focused because of that. Roach said that PacMan has maintained his focus leading up to the Bradley fight, as he never comes in tired to train because "he has no nightlife whatsoever, besides the bible study."

Say what you want about Pacquiao's comments regarding same-sex marriage, of which Roach and Pacquiao elaborated on during the conference call, but if PacMan can use his religion to help him stay focused, then let him believe what he wants. 

Marquez's technical brilliance has always been a cause for concern for Pacquiao. During their third meeting, Marquez frequently used the feint and bait technique on Pacquiao, which baited Pacquiao into swinging at Marquez from a distance, and allowing Marquez to see how PacMan would attack for the duration of the match.

Bradley isn't as technically sound as Marquez, but he'd be crazy not to have used film from the Pacquiao-Marquez fight as a blueprint for taking the Filipino legend down. He will likely try to use the same technique that Marquez chose to use. Marquez constantly feinted punches against Pacquiao, which led to Pacquiao letting his guard down later in the match because he didn't think Marquez would be throwing punches thanks to the previous feinting.

Bradley isn't going to be the only one watching the tape of that bout, and I'm sure Pacquiao has watched the fight numerous times since November. He's an extremely intelligent fighter and he'll make sure not to let his guard down against Bradley, even if he feints for the entire fight.

Pacquiao wasn't patient enough during his fight against Marquez, and was beaten at the waiting game. "Desert Storm" has a tendency to turn fights into brawls, but if he chooses to sit back and be patient, thanks to Marquez, Pacquiao has learned that he needs to be patient too.

Bradley loves to get close to his opponents and lean in with his head, which should bode well for Pacquiao, as his main problem in the Marquez fight was the distance that Marquez put in between the two. PacMan overextended himself too frequently throughout the fight but Roach has surely fixed that by now.

Pacquiao didn't have a huge speed advantage against Marquez, but he certainly does against Bradley. He also has the help of experience on his side. Roach knows it too and said this:

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"Experience, speed and power.  Experience is hard to deal with.  Power will knock you out.  Experience will make it a little easier for you."

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Pacquiao will take the lessons learned from the Marquez fight and incorporate his knowledge directly into his strategy going into his clash against Bradley. He's too good, too intelligent and too passionate of a fighter to fall to Bradley on June 9, and barring a miracle, it won't happen.