NEW YORK (AP) — Manny Pacquiao is out to show Timothy Bradley that he still has a “killer instinct.”
Pacquiao was in New York on Wednesday as part of a media tour to promote his rematch with Bradley on April 12 in Las Vegas. Bradley beat Pacquiao in 2012 in a hotly disputed split decision.
At a news conference on Tuesday in southern California, Bradley said the 35-year-old Pacquiao still has skills, but the former welterweight champion’s “killer instinct is gone.”
In an interview with The Associated Press, Pacquiao said he takes that as a challenge.
“The aggressiveness and killer extinct, I have that, but sometimes I’m too nice with my opponent,” Pacquiao said. “But this fight he challenged me to do that. But this fight, he’ll get it.”
Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) was scheduled to attend the New York Knicks’ game at Madison Square Garden later in the day, and then appear on Keith Olbermann’s ESPN show.
Pacquiao, who is a congressman back home in the Philippines, lost to Bradley and was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez six months later in 2012. He didn’t fight again for almost a year before beating Brandon Rio in a decisive unanimous decision in November.
During that time he ran for re-election — unopposed — and he helped his wife run for office, too.
“I don’t lose my passion or my desire to fight,” Pacquiao said. “It’s part of boxing. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”
Pacquiao said at 35 years old he has changed his training routine to allow himself more time off, but his workouts are as intense as ever. Still, he said he plans to retire in two or three more years.
“I feel in my body I can still fight, by God’s grace,” he said.
That doesn’t leave much time for the match fight fans have longed for: Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather.
The two have never been able to come to an agreement and each fighter’s camp has blamed the other for it not getting done. Pacquiao said he suggested the two fight for charity.
“My line (open) is 24/7,” he said. “He can contact us to say, ‘Yes, I’d love to fight.”