Growing weary of the waiting game, WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley called out Manny Pacquiao on Wednesday.
Bradley, who is awaiting word on whether Pacquiao wants to fight him again, said the Filipino fighter is scared of a rematch he can’t win.
Last week, promoter Bob Arum traveled to meet with Pacquiao to decide who the Filipino congressman would fight Nov. 10 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. One of the leading options was against Bradley, who won a controversial split decision over Pacquiao in June.
As of Wednesday night, Bradley still doesn’t have an answer from Pacquiao.
“To be honest with you, I think a lot of people on that side are scared,” the Cathedral City fighter said in an exclusive interview with The Desert Sun. “He couldn’t knock me out with two peg legs. Me healthy, I’m going to beat him worse.
“If Manny wants to do it, let’s do it. It’s been a circus around here. I’ve been sitting around here waiting. I want the fight, but he hasn’t decided yet.”
During a rally to celebrate Timothy Bradley’s upset victory over Manny Pacquiao, Bradley’s team was sporting new shirts.
On the back, it read, “Haters are my motivators,” in response to the swirling controversy over Bradley’s WBO welterweight victory last weekend in Las Vegas.
But Bradley wasn’t drawing any motivation from the rally. It was all love instead as fans were chanting his name and singing his praises as a good role model to kids.
More than 400 fans gathered at Cathedral City’s Town Square on Saturday evening for the 45-minute long program to honor the Cathedral City High graduate.
Bradley received a key to the city, and certificates from Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack and California Assemblyman V. Manuel Perez.
When the tidal wave of criticism hit a fever pitch after Timothy Bradley’s controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao, long-time boxing expert Brian Kenny began to doubt himself.
Kenny, along with award-winning author Thomas Hauser, saw last Saturday’s WBO welterweight fight in Las Vegas as a Bradley victory. The pair is among the few experts who have stood out to defend the split-decision victory for the Cathedral City fighter.
And to stand up for the two judges who scored a victory for Bradley.
“I salute the judges for not giving the benefit of the doubt to Manny,” Kenny said in a telephone interview from New York. “They should be applauded.”
Many journalists had Pacquiao winning decisively. Promoter Bob Arum, who represents both fighters, scored it 10-2 Pacquiao and expressed how upset he was with the judges’ scores to the media.
Kenny had Bradley winning seven of the 12 rounds, which was in line with the judges’ scoring.