THE trainer, who steered Manny Pacquiao to his first world title – the World Boxing Council flyweight championship when he knocked out Thailand’s Chatchai Sasakul in the 8th round on Dec. 3, 1998 — doesn’t believe the Pacman’s third fight with Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley will be an easy fight.
The showdown is set for the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 9, some 11 months after Pacquiao dropped a unanimous 12-round decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the “Fight of the Century” on May 2, 2015.
“Manny will have to work for 12 rounds and the long layoff plus all the political stuff in running for a Senate seat is bound to make it difficult.” Rick Staheli said.
In fact, Staheli believes the fight will be “a toss up and I won’t be surprised if it ends in a draw.”
He also noted that that while “this is a big moment in Manny’s life, you’ve got to consider the age factor,” pointing out that Pacquiao is 37 years old while Bradley is 32.
Staheli hoped Pacquiao would pick “somebody different” but indicated that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum “wants to keep it in-house.”
He said: “They mentioned the name of Adrien Broner and that would have been an interesting fight.”
“Bradley is the same old guy. He will box to be effective but he can’t go in there and bang with people,” Staheli said.
While there’s been a lot of talk about Bradley’s stoppage of Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, trainer Staheli noted that Rios “was not the same Rios who fought Pacquiao and lost a lopsided decision.”
He recalled that Rios trained really hard for the Pacquiao fight, but Manny dominated him. He was not as prepared against Bradley and it was no surprise that he got stopped after being hurt early with body shots.