Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) will be facing a big puncher this Saturday night in Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) on HBO in a 12 round bout at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Bradley was badly hurt last year when he faced the hard-hitting Russian slugger Ruslan Provodnikov and chose to slug with him instead of boxing him. However, Bradley has since gained confidence after going 12 hard rounds with Manny Pacquiao last April.
Bradley lost the fight by a 12 round decision, but he was able to take Pacquiao’s best shots without getting concussed like he was against Provodnikov. Bradley says he’s looking forward to facing Chaves this Saturday night, and that he won’t shy away from punching with him when the two of them start trading with big power shots.
Whether Bradley will slug with Chaves for any length of time is the important question. It’s one thing for Bradley to talk about wanting to fight Chaves’ fight but quite another thing for him to actually get in the gutter with him and stay there for the entire 12 round fight.
“Will he get dirty? I think so particularly when we get close to each other. I have no problem with whatever he brings. I like to brawl and actually look forward to doing it,” Bradley said. “He’s a tough guy yes, but not as mean as Ruslan Provodnikov. I am only thinking winning. That’s all that is on my mind – use my skills, beat Chaves, anyway I can.”
Chaves may not have to be as mean as Provodnikov in order to get the victory. If Bradley is going to slug with him at times then that may be all Chaves needs to pull off an upset. He only needs to hurt Bradley once to have a good chance of beating him.
The thing that Chaves has going against him in this fight is his lack of stamina. He doesn’t have the same stamina that Provodnikov has, and he’s not able to fight hard for the full three minutes of every round without holding on for frequent rest breaks.
The best thing Bradley can do is force Chaves to fight the full three minutes of every round. If Bradley chooses to use movement rather than fighting hard for the full three minutes then that may play into Chaves’ favor because it’ll give him a lot of rest breaks for him to catch his breath.