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Timothy Bradley will be facing Manny Pacquiao tomorrow night in the biggest fight of his career on HBO pay-per-view, and told Miami's WQAM that he feels the time is right for him, and wrong for Manny:
"I feel ‘Manny Time' is up. His time is definitely up and I feel that it's my time. I've wanted 18 years but for four years I have been calling this guy out. Never got looked at, never got a shot and the fact that four years later I get this fight, it's my time.
"The fact that Manny Pacquiao hasn't been looking that great his last couple of fights, the fact that he hasn't faced a young guy with my type of skill and my type of speed and power so this is not another washed up opponent or fixed opponent. This fight, he had to take this fight. He had no other options. Is this the first fight that he wanted to have to fight? No. I wasn't the first pick but he was forced into this and now we're going to see what Manny Pacquiao is really made of."
Bradley (28-0, 12 KO) isn't exaggerating when he says this a fight signed because of necessity and not really by choice. Top Rank wanted Miguel Cotto for this fight, but Cotto didn't want to come down to 147 and signed instead to face Floyd Mayweather.
With no other viable options around, Bradley, who has campaigned at 140 pounds, was chosen to come up in weight, and immediately agreed to the fight. A bout with Pacquiao was the main reason Bradley signed with Top Rank last year, after leaving Gary Shaw and Thompson Boxing, but nobody expected it to come this quickly -- not even Top Rank.
Bradley also says he hopes that Manny is at his best, because that will up his own game:
"I’m expecting a tough, tough Manny Pacquiao, I’m expecting the best. I want the best because that is going to make me even better. The harder the competition, the harder you fight."
Right now, Pacquiao is favored at -450 across the board by four top online sportsbooks, and at last note on Friday, was -480 on the MGM sportsbook in Vegas.
More Pacquiao-Bradley Coverage From SBN
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