Kostya Tszyu Believes Manny Pacquiao Lost Hunger, But Will Regain Old Form In Rematch With Timothy Bradley

Former boxing champion Kostya Tszyu echoed the statement of Timothy Bradley, saying that Manny Pacquiao really lost his hunger based on his previous fights.

In an interview with On The Ropes Boxing Radio, Tszyu boldly said that Pacquiao is not the same fighter as he was before, saying that a fighter cannot be on top of his game if he has no hunger.

“I agree with what Timothy said, that Manny Pacquiao is not hungry anymore,” Tszyu said. “You can’t be on top of your game if you’re not hungry anymore. I lost my hunger in the last couple of weeks of my fights because when you achieve everything in sports, it’s so hard to push yourself over and over the limit.”

Tszyu added that Pacquiao can also regain his old form in his rematch with Timothy Bradley on April 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The Boxing Hall of Fame inductee said that Pacquiao’s loss in his first showdown with Bradley could lit the fire inside him again. Bradley escaped with a controversial split decision win over Pacquiao in their WBO welterweight title showdown in June 2012 – a decision that was highly scrutinized by boxing experts.

“Manny did tremendous, became a legend in the ring, but he lost a bit of hunger. Maybe the loss against Timothy may help him to find his hunger, maybe, you never know. Timothy is still a young fighter and still got lots of goals ahead of him and for Manny there’s just one thing, to prove that he’s the best, only one,” Tszyu added.

And when asked about his thoughts about the upcoming Pacquiao-Bradley rematch, Tszyu said that it could go either way, depending on who can handle the pressure better.

Tszyu pointed out, though, that Pacquiao will have a walk in the park if he can forget about his previous knockout loss to rival Juan Manuel Marquez, and if Bradley commits mistake in their rematch.

“I still think if Timothy can make some mistakes, like he did against Provodnikov — try to brawl against the fighter that can brawl — he can lose. For Manny, he has to take a very good game plan and should forget the knockout he had and then he can be successful again,” Tszyu stressed.