Julaton: Pacquiao will KO Bradley in a war

MANILA, Philippines – With the Pacquiao-Bradley rematch taking place this weekend, Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton offers us her take on the fight and why Pacquiao hasn’t knocked out anyone as of late.

“I thought Manny took the win over Bradley the first time,” she said.

Rappler recently caught up with the former women’s boxing world champion before her mixed martial arts debut on May 2, 2014.

Julaton will compete professionally in the cage for the first time, debuting on One Fighting Championship’s “Rise of Heroes” card at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Philippines.

Like many others, Julaton feels Pacquiao won the first fight, but the outcome will be very different in the rematch. READ: Bradley takes down Pacquiao

“This time around, if Bradley tries to box with Pacquiao, I think Bradley won’t be able to keep up with Pacquiao’s footwork,” she added. READ: Who really won Pacquiao-Bradley I?

Pacquiao ran circles around Bradley the last time they fought. It comes as no surprise that Julaton, a veteran in women’s boxing, picked that up quickly. She also iterates Pacquiao has enough in the tank to score his first KO victory since stopping Miguel Cotto back in 2009.

“If Bradley trades punches with Pacquiao, Pacquiao knocks him out. Pacquiao’s speed, athleticism, and experience are enough to defeat whatever Bradley brings in the ring,” said the Filipina-American pugilist. 

“Boxing is like playing chess in the ring and a knockout has to be set up at the highest levels. And size, will also determine how much power a boxer carries in the ring,” explained Julaton, on how hard it is to score knockout wins at the elite level.

“I started my amateur boxing career at 126 lbs., around the same time Pacquiao fought Juan Manuel Marquez for the first time, which was also at 126 lbs. Today, ten years later, Paquiao fights for titles at welterweight (147lbs) and I fight for titles at super bantamweight (122lbs),” she puts things in perspective.

“To ask a boxer to jump up multiple weight classes to fight other world class fighters is a tall order to fill.”

To win like Pacquiao has over the years, more or less decimating all opponents that have come across his path, is no walk in the park.

Julaton feels a fighter has to have power in order to tally convincing victories, be it by knockout or by decision.

“For example in my 18 professional boxing matches I only have 2 KO’s so it’s easy for people who have never followed my career to assume I have no power right?” Julaton sets up a rhetorical.

“Well consider that I won the world title in my 2nd year as a pro boxer and have fought top ten contenders from my pro debut to my last fight, Perla Hernandez, who was #10 ranked for the IBF 126 lb. division (a weight class above mine). I dare you to ask any one of my opponents whether or not I was hurting them? In my pro debut I knocked down my opponent twice!” she exclaimed.

“When I defended the title in front of 40,000 Argentinians, their hometown champion had never been dropped by any other fighter in her undefeated 25-fight career. I knocked her down with a left hook in the 2nd round, still wondering why she doesn’t want a rematch?” added Julaton.

Julaton thinks people forget Manny Pacquiao started his career out as a flyweight, and too much emphasis is placed on whether he will knock his opponent out or not. READ: Getting Pacquiao to enjoy beating people up again

“As far as Pacquiao, in my opinion when you have accomplished as much as Manny Pacquiao has in his career, it’s easy to forget how incredible it’s been for him to accomplish so much coming from such a low weight class to begin with,” she said.

“Keep in mind none of the fighters he’s fought from Cotto on has been the same size as him except for Marquez. They’ve all been bigger!” Julaton added.

“Manny is still a small welterweight and what he has done at 147 lbs. is nothing less than amazing.

Just because he’s not knocking them out doesn’t mean he isn’t hurting them. Pacquiao’s game is speed and when his opponents don’t want to engage (i.e. Clottey, Rios, Bradley, Marquez) the impetus is always on Manny to initiate,” Julaton explained.

Pacquiao has made a career of out-speeding opponents and Freddie Roach has often told his most prized pupil that he’s faster than all of his foes, and that they can’t handle his speed.

Like the majority of boxing fans around the world this Saturday (Sunday morning Philippine time), Julaton hopes to see a war.

“If you want to see a KO Saturday, then dare Bradley to fight Manny the same way he fought Ruslan [Provodnikov] and I’ll guarantee you get the results you want! – Rappler.com