Judges least of Manny’s worries in rematch

MANILA, Philippines - Manny Pacquiao said he has nothing to worry about with his coming fight with undefeated Timothy Bradley.

In a conference call with the media yesterday, the 35-year-old Pacquiao said he can’t worry about the judges who will work the fight.

In June 2012, Pacquiao fought Bradley at the MGM Grand. He put up a good fight but in the eyes of two of the three judges, Bradley fought better.

Bradley took the WBO welterweight title from the Filipino. And on April 12, at the same venue in Las Vegas, he will try to keep it.

“I’m not angry after the decision. I understand that with the officials, nobody’s perfect in this world. I have to understand that it’s part of boxing. I wasn’t bothered after that fight,” Pacquiao said.

“I went home and the reaction of the people was not negative, it was positive, so, they understood that I won the fight,” he added.

The decision was highly contested, and the WBO had a new set of judges review the fight. They were unanimous in saying that Pacquiao deserved the win, but had no intention of reversing the outcome.

Pacquiao said he’s working hard to make sure the aggressiveness is there, adding that he’d be happy if he could knock Bradley out.

Bradley has said repeatedly that Pacquiao has lost the aggressiveness and the killer instinct.

Pacquiao disagrees.

“We’re not focusing on a knockout. Our focus is to put more discipline into it and to throw a lot of punches. If the knockout comes, then it comes. I just want to prove that I still have the hunger and the killer instinct,” he said. 

Pacquiao’s loss to Bradley was followed by another defeat in the hands of Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez, a horrific knockout that raised questions if it was time for the Filipino boxer to retire.

But Pacquiao bounced back with an impressive win over Brandon Rios in Macau last November, and said his time is not yet up.

Pacquiao needed to move on after the bitter losses to Bradley and Marquez.

“There’s nothing to get mad over. It’s part of life, winning and losing, and revenge is great, and that’s what we have a chance to do here. We have a shot at reversing that bad decision and to get the win this time, and hopefully, if everything goes well and we fight the right fight, then we’ll knock this guy out,” said his trainer, Freddie Roach.

“We need to fight three minutes of every round. I think that if we’re able to fight at a fast pace like that, then we’ll be able to shock Bradley along the way,” Roach added.