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Joel Diaz: Timothy Bradley has to win decisively, or the judges will lean toward Pacquiao

Joel Diaz, the trainer of Timothy Bradley, spoke with Marcos Villegas recently about their strategy, Bradley's recent history, and the idea that Manny Pacquiao will get the benefit of the doubt on the scorecards in the rematch.

On preparing a second time for Pacquiao

"It's easier. It's a lot easier because they shared a ring together before, so we already know what Manny Pacquiao has. Plus, following Manny Pacquiao's career, I'm a big fan of Manny. As a trainer and a fan, you pick up a lot of things. It makes it easier after the first time. We know what to expect. Due to the controversy, there's a lot of common sense subjects for this fight that make sense. I put them together and I'm well-prepared. I'm well-prepared with my team to fight Manny Pacquiao any way he wants to fight."

On Bradley being mentally affected against Provodnikov

"There's a lot to it. After the Manny Pacquiao fight, we were affected really bad up until now due to the controversy, which we had nothing to do with. In boxing, it's common sense. If Manny Pacquiao is a cash cow of the business, why did they give Tim Bradley the decision if people didn't think he won it? We had nothing to do with it. We don't know the judges, never met them, never talked to them. We felt like people were pointing at us like we stole something valuable from the world

"That being said, it really affected us. Going back after that, Timothy was emotionally hurt with the Ruslan fight. There's no way to have fun in a fight like that. He was angry. He was angry at the sport of boxing. There's no time to have fun. He was mad. He wanted to prove to the people that he was a true fighter, and he got into trouble. He learned his lesson.

"Going into the Marquez fight, still didn't get no credit. Timothy's always been a fighter that gets no credit regardless what he does for the people. Even though besides a fighter, he's an entertainer. Going into the fight, going to Vegas, I noticed every single person in the room, in the arena, in the conference, they were on Marquez's side. Everybody. Even though they look you in the eye, and say, 'Hey, good luck, you're gonna do good,' regardless, they knew. They had a feeling that Timothy was gonna lose that night. So coming into the dressing room that night, I go out there and see how people are attacking Bradley, insulting him, booing him. Everybody's Marquez, of course. The boxing world saw the knockout with Marquez of Manny, so they thought, OK, Marquez is gonna knock out Bradley, too. It's not gonna happen.

"Walking out of that dressing room, I grabbed Tim by the head, I go, 'Come here. See everybody out there right now? Nobody's on your side. Everybody thinks you're gonna lose. The only people who think you're gonna win this fight is just your team and your family. That's it.' I said, 'So do me a favor. Go in there and have fun. I don't want you to please anybody. Please yourself.' And he looks at me and he goes, 'Alright, coach. I'll do that.' I go, 'I don't want you to please anybody out there.' I said, 'Screw every fan out there! Just have fun, yourself.' And that's what he did. He goes, 'OK, coach, I promise you, I'm not going to do anything that you don't tell me to do.' That's what he did. I could have released him. I held him back. I could have released him, but I didn't want to take that risk of him getting caught with a punch. I just told him have fun in there, and win. Just winning is a point tonight. Don't prove anything to anybody. Because nobody gives you credit regardless of how you walk out of this fight."

On whether this fight has greater stakes

"There's more at stake. We can't just go in there and have fun with Manny Pacquiao. There will be points that I'm going to be watching, points in the fight, and I'm gonna make adjustments. It depends on what Manny brings. If I see Manny being aggressive, I'm gonna have Timothy in one mode. If I see him being defensive, I'm gonna have Timothy in another mode. That's when I make the adjustments. At the same time, we're gonna try to make this fight not go the distance. If it goes the distance, if Timothy's on top by a small margin, we're not gonna win. We're gonna have to win decisively. Timothy's gonna have to put in the extra work due to the controversy of the first one. But at the end of the day, if Timothy clearly beats Manny, and they give Manny the decision, at least hopefully, the people can give us the respect."

On whether or not he sees a potential third fight

"Never thought about it up until now. I never thought about it, but like I said, we're ready for anything. I don't believe in jinxing, I don't believe in none of that stuff. We are well-prepared. When you prepare yourself 100 percent in the gym, you leave nothing behind when you go to the fight, there shouldn't be a doubt that you're gonna do good. That's the way we are. We have a few more days until we close camp. God willing, everything goes well, as it's been going until now. We have no doubts in our mind. We are very confident. We are very sure about our performance. When you've got great preparation, good nutrition, a healthy fighter, you shouldn't worry. That's where we are right now. ... When he's on weight, eating three or four times a day, there's no way Manny Pacquiao will hurt him."

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