When the promotional tour for the June 9th Pacquiao vs. Bradley welterweight showdown kicked off, fans were shocked to see just how big Timothy Bradley actually looked when images of him posing for a commercial shoot first appeared. After all, it had only been 3 months since the undefeated 140-pound champion was in the ring battering Joel Casamayor from pillar to post. During the two-city, coast-to-coast media tour, Bradley would reveal just how big he actually was, telling reporters, "I'm walking around right now 165 pounds right now." While it's not unusual for a fighter to gain weight between fights, it was somewhat of a surprise to learn that Bradley, who's known for being a gym rat and maintaining a vegan diet while training, was a full 25 pounds heavier than his last weigh-in. Was the weight gain normal for Bradley or was it by design, anticipating his next bout taking place at welterweight? More importantly, will his increase in size mean more attention will be focused on losing weight than actual strategy during training camp?
Although Bradley has already started training camp early, beginning a full 10 weeks before the fight, he maintains that making weight will not be an issues despite his perceived increase in size. "There is no weight issues here, man. I'm actually coming down right now from 160-something pounds. My natural body structure, man, I'm massive. If you see my daddy, he is 250 pounds and 5'8". I'm massive like that," Bradley explained in a recent interview. "My bone density, I'm thick and I bulk up really quickly in between fights; all I gotta do is eat. I can put on pounds. I'm not as little as everybody thinks I am. I'm a pretty solid welterweight; I'm just short. That's it, I'm just short (laughing)."
As far as Bradley is concerned, although he is naturally "massive", he's actually the same size as Pacquiao, which seems odd to say considering that Pacquiao has to consume extra calories whereas Bradley has to go on a strict vegan diet to make the 147-pound weight limit. That being said, Bradley maintains this will be the first time in a long time that Pacquiao has had to deal with someone the same size as him. "Manny is not tall. He is a little guy too and I think that's going to be a fight in itself because Manny's never faced a guy his size in a long time, and I haven't faced a guy Manny's size in a long time. It's kind of like looking yourself in the mirror because we are eye to eye," Bradley continued. While there's no doubt that both fighters will tip the scales close to the same weight when it comes time for the weigh-in, given that Bradley can "bulk up" so quickly, contrary to what he says, I fully expect him to be the bigger man on fight night.