MANILA, Philippines – Freddie Roach dismissed the notion that Manny Pacquiao will be facing a brand new and rejuvenated fighter in Timothy Bradley.
Roach insisted that not even the renowned Teddy Atlas can make a difference on Bradley, who many boxing observers believe lost twice to Pacquiao before.
Bradley escaped with a controversial decision in a 2012 fight which many thought Pacquiao won. The Filipino then got the decision in their rematch in 2014.
The two fighters now have the chance to settle the score on April 9 (April 10 Manila time) in what’s expected to be Pacquiao’s last professional fight.
The 32-year-old Bradley, meanwhile, had an impressive outing against Brandon Rios – another former Pacquiao foe – in November last year, scoring a ninth-round technical knockout to retain the WBO welterweight title.
Atlas, who has trained several former world champions such as Michael Moorer, Barry McGuigan and Alexander Povetkin, recently took over as Bradley’s cornerman, replacing Joel Diaz.
With Atlas in his corner, Bradley pulled off the dominant win over Rios, leading many to believe that the respected trainer had a huge impact in Bradley’s resurgence.
But Roach disagrees.
“Nope [Bradley won't be any different with Atlas], same guy,” the bespectacled trainer recently told boxingscene.com.
Roach even downplayed the Bradley rubber match as a simple comeback fight for Pacquiao, who has recently recovered from a shoulder injury he suffered while training for Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year.
“It's just a good fight to come off the injury with, to come back with...that's all,” said Pacquiao’s longtime cornerman.