Bradley says Pacquiao no longer hungry

MANILA, Philippines - Timothy Bradley is really trying hard to hypnotize Manny Pacquiao.

Before HBO resident boxing analyst Max Kellerman, the reigning WBO welterweight champion from Indio in California insisted that the Filipino can and will no longer be his old self.

Bradley looked straight into Pacquiao’s eyes, like he was trying to cast a spell on him, and said, “The hunger that he’s looking for, it’s no longer there.”

Bradley, who outpointed Pacquiao in their June 2012 encounter, said the latter has lost the killer instinct and the aggressiveness that made him perhaps the greatest boxer of this generation.

But Pacquiao said it’s still there, that he’s working hard on training to bring that aggressiveness back.

Bradley, undefeated inside the ring, said he closely watched Pacquiao’s win over Brandon Rios, and noticed that the hunger to fight is gone.

“It’s no longer there, and he can’t get it back. It’s gone. It’s gone. It is, Manny. It’s gone. Manny, you can’t even sit here and say certain things that you would like to say because of what you believe in.

“It’s not there anymore. I truly believe that. It’s not there...The killer instinct. That’s what I’m saying,” said Bradley during HBO’s Face Off with Max Kellerman, which was aired yesterday.

The Ring’s Lem Satterfield wrote a blow-by-blow account of the Face Off.

The 30-year-old American rubbed it in on Pacquiao.

“I don’t know how he lost it. Before, he was malicious. Before, he was blazing, like, ‘I’m going to knock you out, I don’t care.’ But now, he’s in a different place now. I’m telling you, he’s not the same. He’s not the same.

“I’m telling you. He’s a tremendous fighter, like I’ve told you. He’s a tremendous fighter. But I don’t see it. I do not see it,” Bradley went on.

Pacquiao threw counters the way he normally does these days.

“I pray that God can give me that fire. Another fire. I will pray for that.”

Bradley wouldn’t stop.

“Do you think that it’s gone? Do you think that it’s still there?” he asked Pacquiao face to face.

“I believe that...Absolutely. I can do that, in God’s grace. Nothing is impossible with God,” said Pacquiao.

He can’t be hypnotized.