“I think he is a good opponent in this fight for Pacquiao, and he is a creditable opponent. I think he’s got a certain swagger about him. There is a refusal to give up,” said Hall of Fame broadcaster and Showtime analyst Al Bernstein when asked about Pacquiao’s next fight coming up on June 9 against Timothy Bradley. Check out what else he had to say about the fight and other interesting topics regarding the sport of boxing.

JH: Did you get a chance to see the fights this past weekend between Chavez Jr. and Rubio and Donaire vs. Vasquez Jr., and if so, what did you think of the two match ups?

AB: Well, it’s interesting you know. I thought Donaire fought very well, and he clearly had an injury to his hand. It makes his performance in a way even more remarkable. I mean, except for Ruben Garcia’s scorecard, which was absurd and by the way, I have a commentary on the boxing channel that people can see at boxingchannel.tv. I have a commentary on how ridiculous Ruben Garcia’s card was but other than that scorecard that had Vasquez winning, everybody else had Donaire winning nine rounds. I thought he won maybe eight but even so, given the hand issues that Donaire had, given the fact the Vasquez Jr. fought pretty well in that fight, actually very well. He landed more punches against Donaire than anyone has in Donaire’s career. Given that and given the hand injury, it was actually a pretty remarkable performance by Donaire. I think now the problem Nonito Donaire is facing is the expectations of him are so high that when he doesn’t just dominate and completely destroy somebody, people may think there’s some issue, I mean, Vasquez Jr. is a very good fighter. He had been at 122 pounds. First fight ever for Donaire at that weight against a former champion, and I thought he performed pretty well. I think the hand thing is a pesky issue because he’s had some hand issues before, and we don’t know about his power at 122 because he did hurt Vasquez Jr. and knocked him down, but we don’t know with an injured left hand and especially the left hand. That’s his money punch now. That is the money punch. We don’t know how he will do power wise unless we see him with a healthy hand. As far as Chavez Jr., I think taking on Rubio was definitely the right move for him. He did fight someone who was a good fighter, but I think not to beat a dead horse here, but Chavez Jr. was the much bigger fighter. He has clearly almost out grown the 160 pound division and came in twenty one pounds over the limit for the fight and was obviously a lot stronger than Rubio, but still I don’t want to do revision is history. We said and it remains true that he took on a tough guy, so you have to give him credit for that, and he won very convincingly.

JH: We always hear people talk about Pacquaio and Mayweather, but another match up that a lot of people want to see is Andre Ward vs. Lucian Bute. Do you feel that, that’s a fight that has to happen in order to determine who the best super middleweight in the world is?

AB: Well I’d like to see it. Yeah, I would certainly like too. I understand totally Andre Ward saying after the Super Six that he’d like to weigh his options. He had all his fights mandated for him. Everybody wants to kind of control their own destiny, so I understand that they might not rush to fight Bute just because Showtime wants them to. I’d like to see that fight, and I think we will see it, but I don’t think that Ward wants to make it his next fight. Bute holds some of the cards because he’s such a draw in Canada, but Ward’s view point is: It’s not quite fair to him for Bute to stay out of the tournament, although he wasn’t invited in, so it wasn’t his fault but to be out of the tournament fighting whoever he wants and then Ward automatically has to go fight him. However that having been said, certainly Andre Ward and Bute is a fight that we’d like to see. I think its one of the two or three most interesting fights in boxing.

JH: There’s a lot of talk about how boxing badly needs an American heavyweight champion, but back in the eighties we had guys like Hagler, Hearns, Duran, and Leonard who basically carried the sport sort of like how Mayweather, Pacquiao, and Cotto are doing today? In you’re opinion, how important is it to have an American heavyweight champion in boxing?

AB: I don’t think it’s that big a deal. I think it’s nice to have a heavyweight division that’s competitive and interesting and it hasn’t been quite that. That’s an understatement. I guess it depends on how geolinguistic you are if you’re an American. If you have somebody in Europe, their going to tell you it’s not important at all. In AmericaI don’t know if it’s important. I don’t really think it is. I think that’s more of a media creation. I actually think boxing fans only think about that when they are told about it. At the end of the day, it would probably be fun to have a heavyweight that interests them, and I think Lennox Lewis became that heavyweight even though he wasn’t an American, toward the end of his run, but I just don’t see that as a big impediment, and the time you mentioned you know the Hagler, Hearns, Leonard era and all of those things. There have been many times when fighters in the divisions below heavyweight carried the sport.

JH: We have two big matchups coming up in the Spring with Mayweather taking on Cotto and Pacquiao going up against Bradley. Which fight do you think is more intriguing?

AB: Well that’s a good question. They’re both about equal in my mind because in both cases, the other man if you will, Cotto against Mayweather and Bradley against Pacquiao, they need to fight their best. They have to bring their total “A” game. The reason for Bradley having to bring his total “A” game is even if Manny Pacquiao, even if we see his performance against Marquez as a little slippage, it was the first fight in which he hasn’t given a lot of lateral movement, hasn’t thrown combinations, and done the things he’s been doing so spectacularly that has made him a much better fighter than when he fought Marquez the first time. Against Marquez that was important. Against Bradley I don’t know if it’s as important Bradley is going to press the action. He’s going to be there for Pacquaio in the pocket to throw those punches. I don’t think Manny Pacquaio wants to get caught on the inside where heads can bang away and where Bradley can use his double left hooks to the body and all that stuff, but I think Bradley still has to fight his best fight. With Cotto the same is true. He’s going to have to really perform very, very well and can’t afford any lapses in the fight against Mayweather, so I think it’s about the same. I think both men have a chance to do well in the fight, and I did a commentary on the boxing channel today about Bradley and why I think he is a good opponent in this fight for Pacquiao, and he is a creditable opponent. I think he’s got a certain swagger about him. There is a refusal to give up. You alluded to the fact that he’s improved steadily. He’s had some layoffs due to the contractual, managerial issues, and promotional issues, and he hasn’t fought as much as he’d like. The last fight was against Casamayor, who was not at the top of his game, but I think Tim Bradley can’t be overlooked in that fight.

JH: I believe last year you said that you favored Pacquiao over Mayweather if they were to fight. After watching Pacquiao’s last fight against Marquez, have changed your opinion at all about that fight?

AB: I did, I did say that. Yes I have. The reason I have is the way he fought Marquez. It’s not just that Marquez could have easily been given the decision. Manny Pacquiao didn’t do the things that made me believe he was the favorite against Mayweather. The reason I thought of him as the favorite against Mayweather or to beat Mayweather is that he threw combinations and had just enough lateral movement, and his volume of punches was very impressive, and if you’re a volume puncher, and you can be a volume puncher against Floyd Mayweather Jr., you have a great chance to win because he doesn’t throw a lot of punches, but Marquez turned Pacquiao into not a volume puncher, and Pacquiao really turned himself into it, and what worried me was the lack of mental discipline shown by Manny Pacquiao in that fight. He moved the wrong way and didn’t do the right things. He looked like a fighter that had not even been prepared mentally or physically or strategically for that fight, and we know that’s not Manny Pacquiao and that’s not Freddie Roach. I would worry that for sure then that, that may be an issue against Mayweather, and if he didn’t fight Mayweather the right way, I think he would lose and also Marquez’ ability to land the right hand, which is the punch that Floyd Mayweather would use against him, was really dramatic, so yeah I have to say that I changed my mind.

Joe Habeeb