Bob Sheridan: “Tim Bradley is an improved fighter and he’s certainly closer to his peak than Manny Pacquiao is.”

Bob Sheridan is one of the greatest voices in the sport of boxing and has worked as a broadcaster for over forty years. He has called some of the sport’s biggest fights, such as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ between Ali & Foreman, ‘The Thrilla in Manila’ which saw Ali take on Joe Frazier for a third time and also many of the international telecasts featuring Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield’s bouts.

In part 1 of my interview with Bob Sheridan, I discuss with him the 2015 year and get his thoughts on the fights that happened and where the sport is heading in 2016. Bob also gives his thoughts on a potential Canelo-Golovkin fight and his views on who wins it if that bout happens this year. Additionally, Sheridan discusses the recent Pacquiao-Bradley 3 announcement and gives his thoughts on who might have the edge going into a third bout. Here is what Bob Sheridan had to say.

Robert Brown: Now that 2015 has ended, what are your thoughts on the year that passed?

Bob Sheridan: I think it was a terrific year in boxing. We saw Sergey Kovalev become a great champion, the continuing great fights that Gennady Golovkin put on, Canelo Alvarez winning fighter of the year. All those things were very positive.

At the end of the year we saw an upset in the heavyweight division with Tyson Fury winning the heavyweight championship over a wonderful champion that has lasted for many years in Wladimir Klitschko. Now maybe there’s going to be a new reign and certainly more interest in the heavyweight division and I see some young fighters coming along like Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker. Terence Crawford and Timothy Bradley both had terrific years, it’s gonna be a very interesting 2016.

Robert Brown: It looks like we are going to get the super fight between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. Does Alvarez have the best chance of pushing Golovkin? What are your thoughts on that match?

Bob Sheridan: Yeah I think it will be a terrific fight. I think Golovkin is really the big star of the future and as far as all of Latin America and the Spanish speaking areas in the United States, Canelo Alvarez is a superstar already. When you have that, it’s like a Super Bowl fight which somehow or another seems to happen three or four times a year.

Certainly that fight will be the highlight of the year if it happens this year. We’ll have to wait and see if they’re gonna push it or if they’re gonna milk it a little bit more before they get together for the undisputed middleweight championship.

Robert Brown: At this stage, who would you be favoring in that match?

Bob Sheridan: I don’t know, that’s a tough one Robert. I don’t know which way I would go. Golovkin has been so sensational and I’ve see the big tremendous knockout that Canelo was able to deliver to James Kirkland, the big punching fighter. The contrasting styles of the two fighters I think will make for a wonderful fight. At this stage right now I would be leaning towards Gennady Golovkin, just leaning a bit towards him.

Robert Brown: It’s been announced that Manny Pacquiao will be fighting Timothy Bradley for a third time. What do you think Tim can do differently in this bout to make it a different fight?

Bob Sheridan: Well there’s a couple of things that Timothy Bradley can do. We talked about a month ago about his new trainer, Teddy Atlas, and he certainly performed very well, it was a different Tim Bradley the last time out. He looked terrific in that fight, showed the influences of Teddy. This time there’s still the fight that he did win against Pacquiao, there’s a cloud hanging over that in the mind of Timothy Bradley and he would like to make that definitive.

We also talked about Manny Pacquiao and the possibility that his head maybe isn’t totally in it, and is looking for one last payday. He’s got the election coming up in The Philippines which i believe is in May, he has that distraction, using the fight in April as a big thing in The Philippines for him to get the exposure and publicity.

I think in Manny Pacquiao’s eyes, he can beat Timothy Bradley, he’s done it twice in his eyes. Bradley has all the motivation of winning, and of course he’s highly motivated by the money and he did a great job in selling this fight to Top Rank Boxing who promotes both of the fighters. I thought they might be pushing Terence Crawford but I don’t know if Pacquiao is ready to take on Terence Crawford and he probably thinks he can handle Bradley in his eyes.

Robert Brown: Bradley looked spectacular against Brandon Rios. How much was that an improvement on Bradley and how much was it Rios coming off of a long layoff?

Bob Sheridan: All you can do is evaluate the guy on how he performed. Rios was a guy who was up and Rios has had a problem with weight his entire career. He announced his retirement after the fight, so you don’t know how much his heart was in it. He has since withdrawn that retirement.

Timothy Bradley did everything that he could do in that fight, showing the discipline of not going crazy when he got the guy in trouble and being patient until he eventually got the victory the way he did. It was a great improvement in Timothy Bradley. Timothy Bradley is if not at his peak, he’s just slightly past his peak but the influx of Teddy Atlas and his influence on the head of Tim Bradley is a big influence on him.

I never realized how emotionally involved in the fight Teddy Atlas was, I’ve know Teddy for about thirty years and he’s a very emotional guy and a very different sort of guy. I think Tim is an improved fighter and he’s certainly closer to his peak than Pacquiao is.