Boxing analyst and famed trainer Teddy Atlas sat down with the ESPN crew to give his thoughts and a prediction for tomorrow night's Manny Pacquiao vs Timothy Bradley rematch. If you're familiar with Teddy's fight picks, surprise! He's not picking Pacquiao. Here's the interview:
The Checklist
"Hand speed, Pacquiao. Really other than Mayweather, there's probably nobody faster in the game. He's got that hand speed. Power, he's the naturally better puncher, Pacquiao. Look at his record, he's scored the knockouts. Although he hasn't scored a knockout in five years, though, maybe there's a reason for that. Maybe it's attached to confidence. We'll see.
"Legs, look, Pacquiao has good legs, but mostly for offense. Sometimes he can get reckless with those legs, coming in a little too fast, a little bit out of control. Bradley showed in his last fight that he can use those legs on the outside, control distance and set up traps. Defense, well, I'm gonna go with Bradley. Pacquiao really depends on offense to a certain extent for defense. Bradley, not in the Provodnikov fight, he almost got knocked out there, but in his last fight where he found out who he is in the Marquez fight, he showed, again, he can use his legs, control gaps, stay on the outside, and he can really be a pretty good defensive fighter.
"Chin, hey, you gotta go with Bradley. He's never been beaten, never been knocked out, even though he's been on the floor. Pacquiao has been knocked out three times. Combination punching, well that's the 'Pac-Man.' He puts them together. Bradley, he gives you the illusion he puts them together. He really doesn't. One at a time, sometimes two at a time.
"Confidence may be the most important thing in this fight. The intangible. The man who has never learned how to lose. That confidence check and the most important check goes to Mr. Bradley."
The Prediction
"Yeah, (Bradley's) the winner. And listen, I don't know what the judges are doing. These judges in this business, they drive me crazy. I'm glad I'm not a drinking man, because they'd drive me to drink. They're either incompetent or they're corrupt. Somebody needs to get it right. You can never depend on the judges. You can depend on the fighters, on the gladiators in the ring. They usually get it right. Not always the judges. But in the ring, forget about the judging, I'm gonna say that Bradley right now is in a better place. He's in a better place mentally, emotionally, psychologically, physically, and technically. Pacquiao is only one fight removed from being knocked out cold, flat on his face against Marquez. Guess what? Sometimes you never, never, never recover from something like that. I'm not so sure that he's the same guy anymore. I'm not so sure that he knows who he is, or that he's the same guy in his mind anymore. I think Bradley's in a better place right now. Bradley wins that fight."
Getting rid of boxing's judges
"I would love to take them out of the equation. Let the fans tell you who won the fight. I mean, the fans are more honest than the judges. My God. Let you guys tell me who won the fight! You guys are more honest than the judges.