Manny Pacquiao: Fight Against Timothy Bradley Won't Go the Distance

Manny Pacquiao is going to use his dynamic southpaw style to relentlessly pepper Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley and stop their June 9 fight before the final bell rings.

People have been giving Bradley more of a chance against PacMan than he actually has. Pacquiao is more experienced, more fundamentally sound, faster and most importantly, more powerful than the man he will be facing at the MGM Grand this Saturday.

It's not so much that the boxing world has been praising Bradley's ability as a boxer as they have been denouncing Pacquiao's. For the better part of the last month, boxing pundits have been making it seem like this fight will be much closer than it actually will be when the two go toe-to-toe. It's for a good reason—to sell more Pay-Per-View subscriptions as well as to spark the general interest in the fight.

The media does this in any sport when a great athlete seems to have tailed off a little bit. In reality, though, Pacquiao has met some of the best fighters in the world over his last 10 fights and has won every single won of them.

He took Oscar De La Hoya behind the woodshed and effectively put an end to his career, he scored a TKO over Miguel Cotto in Round 12 and he won unanimous decisions over Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley. 

Many people have pointed to Pacquiao's third fight against Juan Manuel Marquez as the sign of the decline of his boxing career. In reality, that's not true. Marquez is just the one fighter that has Pacquiao's number in the ring. He knows what PacMan is going to do before he does it, and he knows how to counter what Pacquiao is going to do. No other boxer in the world gives Pacquiao fits like Marquez does.

Let's key in on Pacquiao's May 2009 fight against Ricky Hatton. Hatton displayed similar tendencies that Bradley figures to against Pacquiao. He tried to apply pressure on Pacquiao, while being extremely careful not to get caught by Pacquiao's faster punches, but he was unable to do so because Manny was just too quick.

Pacquiao landed just five fewer punches than Hatton threw in that fight (78 to 73). He was able to hit Hatton as he came forward with a variety of different punches. Hooks and straights from both sides felled Hatton at the end of Round 2 for the third and final time in the fight. Hatton landed 18 punches the entire fight, and was completely dominated by Pacquiao's blazing hand speed.

For those who don't know, Hatton has lost two fights in his illustrious career. One to Pacquiao, the other to Floyd Mayweather. Bradley has never lost, but Hatton's resume is just as impressive.

Bradley has a tendency to turn his fights into brawls and get up close with his opponents. Hatton tried to reach the middle ground of that strategy, but Pacquiao constantly took advantage of the small distance between the two fighters, bobbing his head to make Hatton miss, and countering with numerous duck-under hooks. "Desert Storm" is going to get too close to Pacquiao, and PacMan is going to unleash a flurry of furious punches on him.

Don't listen to the media when they tell you that this could be the demise of Manny Pacquiao. Watch the tapes and learn for yourself that he isn't going to suffer a loss to Timothy Bradley. Look deeper into it, and you'll realize that Pacquiao isn't going to let this fight go the distance.