"I'm excited about this fight. Diego Chaves, another tough guy. I don't shy away from hard fights. I believe in fighting the best. I believe in going after the best and being the best. Diego Chaves, he's one of those guys that's low on the radar, but all the boxing fans know he can really fight. It's another one of those Provodnikov-type fights, tough, so I'm looking forward to it...I'm prepared for his dirty ass. If he's gonna get dirty, I'm prepared. I got a plan for everything he likes to do, so he needs to just recognize and just fight a good fight and don't be dirty in there, man, because you don't want me to get dirty," stated two-division former world champion Timothy Bradley, who spoke in-depth about his upcoming clash this Saturday with Diego Chaves. Check out what else he had to say!
BT: Tim, what's good? How did training camp go?
TB: Fantastic. Man, just working on new things. It's been great, man. I've had a tremendous camp already and I'm just improving, man. Just getting better and getting back to me; getting back to what got me on top and that's my IQ for the sport, my boxing ability, and getting back on it.
BT: You're definitely looking like a beast.
TB: It's just hard work, man. Hard work and dedicating myself, man, and just getting ready. That's what the hard work does, man; just shredding me, man. I'm excited, man. I'm excited about this fight. Diego Chaves, another tough guy. I don't shy away from hard fights. I believe in fighting the best. I believe in going after the best and being the best. Diego Chaves, he's one of those guys that's low on the radar, but all the boxing fans know he can really fight. It's another one of those Provodnikov-type fights, tough, so I'm looking forward to it, man.
BT: Definitely another Provodnikov-type opponent, but I'm sure you're probably planning on making it a different kind of fight than that one.
TB: That's exactly what I mean. They're just on the brink of becoming an A-class fighter. Diego Chaves showed that when he fought Keith Thurman, he did really well until Keith Thurman found that key and opened him up. He was doing well against Rios too, but he just got dirty, man. He's a dirty fighter and got DQ'd for that, but I know he's going to be ready for me. When you fight against the best, you get amped up, and I'm one of the best fightes in the world, so I know he's amped up to try and unseat me.
BT: I can't recall how bad he was with Thurman, but he was definitely dirty with Rios. Are you expecting him to be dirty like that with you as well?
TB: Aw man, I looked at his track record. On the inside, he's real dirty, man. He likes to scrape you with the gloves on your eyes. He tries to rake your face. He tries to push your head down. He does a lot of little dirty things, especially when you start hitting him to the body; he becomes really dirty and starts holding and doing things that'll make you very uncomfortable in the ring, so yeah, he's a dirty fighter, man. I looked at his track record. I thought it was just that fight, but nah, he's dirty, man. We're definitely going to make the ref aware of it. You know, he was trying to poke Rios' eyes out, man. He was trying to scratch his eyeballs out. It was crazy.
BT: That's called veteran tactics (laughing).
TB: That's called dirty tactics (laughing). Veteran tactics my ass. Those are dirty tactics. I'm prepared for his dirty ass. If he's gonna get dirty, I'm prepared. I got a plan for everything he likes to do, so he needs to just recognize and just fight a good fight and don't be dirty in there, man, because you don't want me to get dirty.
BT: When you're preparing for a guy that you know is dirty, do you have to make changes to your own game plan in order to compensate for that?
TB: You gotta prepare for those tactics. You gotta prepare yourself for those tactics, so you just gotta be ready, be on your P's and Q's and know that it's coming. You gotta be able to stay poised and stay relaxed and don't buy into it, man. You gotta let the ref do his job. Stay relaxed in there, but just be aware and protect yourself at the same time.
BT: Often times, fighters say they don't watch any film on their opponent, letting their trainers handle that duty instead. I think you answered this before in one of our past interviews, but you actually do watch film on your opponents, right?
TB: Man, any guy that don't watch film is crazy, man. You gotta watch film on your opponent. That's like evidence, man. In any sport, you gotta watch your opponents weaknesses. You gotta look for weaknesses, you gotta look for strengths, you gotta look for strategy; I mean, there's a lot of different things that you can look for in a boxing match while watching film, dude, and be aware of it. You definitely wanna know what you're going into. If you're going into battle, you want to know what you're up against. If you're not going to watch the tape, you're crazy. That makes no sense. It's like if you're going to race a car, man, you want to know the course. You don't not want to know the course; you don't want no surprises.
BT: You've been in with some big names already. I know you're not overlooking Chaves, but is it difficult to get up for a fight with a lesser known name like that after you've already been in with guys like Pacquiao and Marquez?
TB: No. I mean, different opponents definitely get you fired up. Fighting against Manny Pacquiao or Marquez, that'll get anybody fired up, but I look at opponents differently. I look at Diego as one of those threats as a top fighter because he can really fight. A lot of fans might not really know who he is, but this guy can really fight, man. He lets his hands go, he throws great combinations, double up shots, triple up shots, he has power in both hands; this guy can really, truly fight, dude. He ain't no slouch in the ring. When I take an opponent on that's tough like this, I'm really serious and really focused. The focus is there. If I was fighting against Manny Pacquiao, it's the same type of training. That's what I'm doing right now. I'm training hard, man, getting ready for this big event. I ain't taking him lightly at all, dude.
CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THIS IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH TWO-DIVISION FORMER WORLD CHAMPION TIMOTHY BRADLEY
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