Tim Bradley prior to his rematch with Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas (Photo: Naoki Fukuda)

By Chris Robinson

On April 12, Manny Pacquiao gained a sense of redemption with his rematch victory over Tim Bradley.

Inside of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the same place where Pacquiao lost a controversial split-decision to Bradley in June of 2012, the Filipino star was far sharper than Bradley down the second half of their second go round.

Veteran trainer Abel Sanchez wasn’t shocked to see Pacquiao return with such fire.

“Just like I predicted, he looked like the Manny who was on his way to knocking out [Juan Manuel] Marquez before he got stupid and got caught with a shot,” Sanchez stated recently. “But he was getting ready to knock Marquez and that’s the Manny that I saw that night.”

Elaborating on Pacquiao’s victory, Sanchez seemed surprised to see Bradley come out so aggressive.

“For some reason, Bradley decided to be a puncher and gave himself up,” Sanchez said. “He made it an easy fight for Manny.”

Having now absorbed his first professional defeat, Bradley will still surely have several options as he moves forward with his career.

Sanchez feels that a clear loss is actually a good thing for Bradley, who battled several personal demons following the backlash from the first Pacquiao fight.

“To tell you the truth, I think it’s a big weight off his shoulders,” said Sanchez. “I think that Tim has been battling within himself this win he had over Manny a while back. And I think the fact that this is over with, he can concentrate on just being Tim.”

Chris Robinson can be reached at Trimond@aol.com