"I think it's going to be a Marquez/Pacquiao 4 because nobody wants to see a Bradley/Pacquiao 2. This fight is not going to do a million pay-per-view buys and I would be surprised if it does. They weren't sold out, they didn't really promote it, and everybody thinks he won, so why would you do it again? It doesn't make any sense, but a Pacquiao/Marquez 4 makes more senseÂ… maybe the judges fell asleep waiting on Manny to come out of the locker room; maybe that's what it was (laughing). It was past their bedtime before they got started," stated world-class trainer, who shared his thoughts on the controversial Pacquiao vs. Bradley bout, the future plans of both fighters, and much more. Check it out!
PC: What did you think of the Pacquiao/Bradley fight, and of course the decision that followed? Did the fight go as you thought it would?
RF: The fight pretty much went as I expected. I think Bradley was chosen for a reason. Despite the fact that he looks like a physical specimen and he's a good fighter, he doesn't carry that great power, and they knew that going in, so Manny can take a few more chances than he has in recent fights and look a little bit better. So the fight kind of played out like I thought it would. If Tim could take Manny's power early, and I thought he did withstand it, then it would be kind of a grind out affair, which is what it was. There were a lot of rounds that were close because Manny didn't do a whole lot. He walked forward with his hands up for 2 minutes of the round, but that's not necessarily being affectively aggressive. He didn't do anything and then he would fight the last minute and steal the round and he did that in more than 1 round. So while I thought Manny won the fight, I thought because there were some ugly rounds and some grimy rounds to score, you got the decision that you got. Here in Vegas, people are losing their mind. Bob Arum thinks this is the death nail for boxing. It's funny how when Marquez, who I thought beat Pacquiao in there last fight 8 rounds to 4, and even Manny, if you look at his body language after that fight, his head was dropped and he was surprised he wonÂ…boxing was fine with that bad decision, but when Manny loses a bad decision, the world is coming to an end. We've seen recently Lara/Williams, Abril/Rios and Campillo/Cloud, and many others with far more egregious errors in judgment, but then all of a sudden, for this fight, because it's Manny Pacquiao, the boxing world is on its head.
PC: I'll be honest, I didn't score one of these 11 to 1 cards or 10 rounds to 2 or anything like that. For the casual fan watching, do you think they were persuaded by Jim Lampley's commentary of acting like everything thrown was landed, and also Harold Lederman's scorecard, which didn't give Bradley a round until the 10th round?
RF: I think it plays a lot on people's psyche when you listen to the commentators because these are guys you trust, so if they are telling you that one guy lost 11 rounds and only won 1, then you're going to kind of believe it. You fall into that trap because you got Harold Lederman's scorecard up there and he's also commenting on the judges who are judging the fight and saying whether they are good or bad judges. He could be wrong, but it doesn't really matter because people respect what he says because he is saying this judge is not that good or this judge just had a terrible outing in his last fight he judged. Well, if they are that bad, I'm going to go with what Harold has to say. So a lot of times, you have to watch these fights with the sound down to really get a true indication of who won the fight. And also, when you're in a room watching it on pay-per-vew and you're talking to your friends and you're not really paying attention to the fight, and your sole attention is not on the fight like the judges are, and you have the benefit of replay, so you can see things they don't.
PC: For them not to give Bradley a round until the 10th, I just didn't see that.
RF: Yeah, I was like, what happened to the first two rounds, because I gave Timmy the first round for sure, and maybe the second round, and after four rounds, I had it 2-2. I didn't know how they had it 4-0, and then after 6, in the commentary, I believe it was the 7th or 8th round, they said, "Manny is kind of taking this round off." Well, if he's taking the round off, it's easy to see how they gave the other guy that round. And then on the judges actual scorecards, they pretty much were in unison for the last 3 rounds and they gave them to Timothy Bradley, so you know, I thought Manny won, but Manny could have done a lot more to prove his point.
PC: Do you see that animal that Manny Pacquiao used to be diminishing a little bit? Personally, I thought it was one of his better technical performances, but I see a lot of people thinking he's missing something. Do you see that?
RF: You know what? I don't know if he's lost his fire, but you know what? You gotta realize when he was this animal, they were handpicking his opponents. Oscar De La Hoya hadn't fought at the weight in 7 or 8 years. And even Oscar said recently that, "His punches wasn't hurting me. I just couldn't get out of the way of them." And then he had Ricky Hatton, who was made to order, and then a dehydrated Miguel Cotto. I think now it starts adding credence to those arguments. I don't know if he lost anything or if he's just fighting guys at a comfortable weight and they can handle his power because they're not fighting under adverse circumstances.
PC: Would you be more interested in a Bradley/Pacquiao 2 or a Pacquiao/Marquez 4?
RF: I think it's going to be a Marquez/Pacquiao 4 because nobody wants to see a Bradley/Pacquiao 2. This fight is not going to do a million pay-per-view buys and I would be surprised if it does. They weren't sold out, they didn't really promote it, and everybody thinks he won, so why would you do it again? It doesn't make any sense, but a Pacquiao/Marquez 4 makes more sense.
PC: The delay before the fight was something I had never ever seen before in my life. What were you thinking when it came out that Manny had disappeared from the locker room and they didn't know where he was at, and then come to find out he was stretching. What were you thinking during that entire time?
RF: I thought they were making excuses. I thought they had built-in excuses just in case Manny didn't perform the way they wanted him to; that he was tight and things like that. I thought it was like, man, you are stretching this on and on and on. Get to it already. If it was Floyd Mayweather who had done that, that's all they would be talking about. They wouldn't even be talking about the fight; they would be talking about the delay. You know, maybe the judges fell asleep waiting on Manny to come out of the locker room; maybe that's what it was (laughing). It was past their bedtime before they got started.
PC: We haven't had a chance to discuss it, but give me some thoughts on the unfortunate Paul Williams situation.
RF: Man, it's a tough situation. You never want to tell a grown man how to live their life. It's a tragic, tragic situation. Although I thought Paul's boxing ability was slipping, I thought he was a good guy and you never want to see anybody go out like that. He didn't deserve that accident to happen to him, but you know what? It can happen anywhere. I'm never the one to tell people that they should limit themselves and that they shouldn't do this or that. You have enough of that going on in society, but you gotta be careful when you are a high-priced athlete. I've ridden bikes when I was younger, but it's a tough situation because you have to balance between having fun and maybe having that injury that ends your career.
PC: Before I let you go, I wanted to get your take on something Dana White recently came out and said. Of course there have been a slew of injuries to UFC fighters, forcing them to do a lot of scrambling to keep these cards going. Dana came out and said that these guys gotta start taking it easy while training. When I was out in Vegas visiting you one time, I was asking you about how hard those guys were going and you said they have to simulate the fight as much as they can. Is Dana asking for more problems telling these guys to back off in training?
RF: He's going to be asking for guys not being prepared for fights. It's just not going to happen. You can't really take it easy. You gotta simulate the fight as close as you possibly can. They are not trying to hurt each other or intentionally doing it; it's just the nature of the beast. I know they have a rash of injuries right now, but go to a MMA gym and watch them spar and then go to a boxing gym and watch them spar and you tell me where the intensity level is at at the different gyms.
PC: I apologize it's been so long. Everything has been a little crazy around here, but it's always great to have you on and get your honesty. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
RF: It's always my pleasure to be on FightHype and I understand life gets crazy busy sometimes, but I'm always here when you need me.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]