Since the Terence Crawford-Saul “Canelo” Alvarez superfight began to take shape, a small camp of boxing experts has believed Crawford, the smaller man and logical underdog, would win. Should Crawford enter Alvarez’s super middleweight lair on September 13 and emerge with the crown, it is that minority who will get the most credit for their insights.
Even among those few, Timothy Bradley Jnr’s perspective is distinct. He has something the others do not: in-ring experience with Crawford, not to mention a close personal friendship with the four-division titlist who will soon join him in the Boxing Hall of Fame.
The story has been told before, but it bears repeating. Ahead of his 2011 fight with Devon Alexander, Bradley was in need of a sparring partner.
“Camp was going really well,” Bradley told BoxingScene. “I was ahead of schedule. Dropping people, stopping people in camp. I told Cameron [Dunkin, manager], ‘Cameron, you gotta get better sparring partners, this is not working!’ Cameron was like, ‘I’m gonna send you this kid, his name is Crawford. He’s from Omaha, Nebraska. If you don’t like him, send him home, but he should be able to handle it.’”
Bradley wanted to find out right away. “My brother-in-law picks him up from the airport,” Bradley recalled. “We go straight to the gym and we spar. You ain’t checking into your hotel, or your apartment. No. You’re going straight to the gym, bro, because if you don’t have the goods, we’re gonna send you right back home that same day.”
Context here is crucial: at this point in their respective careers, Bradley was a longtime 140lbs champion. Crawford had never fought beyond six rounds as a professional. Ahead of their sparring session, Crawford shadowboxed lightly in the corner, alone. Bradley, in contrast, had his entire team in his corner.
The scene proved deceptive.
“We start to spar,” Bradley said. “I’m like, ah, I’m gonna take it easy on him, see what he knows. He hits me with the jab. Boom! I’m like, shit, okay! Boy got some pop on him. I step in, try to shoot a combination. Boom boom! He hits me with the counter. I’m like, okay, let me raise the intensity. Usually, when you have sparring partners, they bow down to the champion. They’ll give in and allow you to hit them a little bit. Not Crawford. The more intensity I brought, the harder he fought. I’m throwing combinations and trying to really put it to him, and he’s like, mm-mm. He’s in complete control. He’s calm under the pressure. And he’s taking shots well, no problem, and coming back with offense. Sneaky, precise shots up the middle; straight right hands, left hooks, digging downstairs.”
After four rounds, Bradley’s coach called the sparring to a halt. “He was definitely laying into me,” Bradley admitted. “You don’t want to destroy the champ’s confidence, right? This is a new sparring partner coming in, and he was pretty dominant the first time we sparred. So my coach is like, ‘that’s enough, that’s enough, that’s enough.’”
Bradley and Crawford’s interaction after those four rounds proved prescient. “I look at him, like, ‘what the fuck? What’s your name, bruh?’ ‘Terence Crawford.’ ‘Where you from, man?’ ‘Omaha, Nebraska.’ I was like, ‘bruh, you ain’t no sparring partner.’ He said, ‘then what am I?’ I go, ‘you a world champion.’ He go, ‘really?’ I said, ‘I’ve sparred so many different people in my life. Former champions, existing champions.’ I’m like, ‘you’re different, man.’”
The relationship between fighter and sparring partner is typically more transactional than congenial. “I’m paying you weekly, I don’t care to have any kind of relationship with you. You’re there to do your job. I’m not going to pamper you, I’m not going to bring you around my family. But Crawford, this kid just needed a bit of mentorship,” Bradley said. They grew close. Bradley introduced Crawford to his family, they took drives together, and they exchanged notes after sparring. Bradley told Dunkin that Crawford could one day be the best fighter in the world. Ahead of Crawford’s 2023 superfight with Errol Spence, a pick ‘em going in, Bradley confidently predicted a Crawford stoppage win. He proved right about that, too.
“The thing that impressed me the most was that he was a different fighter every single sparring session,” Bradley said. “The fact that he was able to take it all in, digest it, and then come back and be different – having no trainer, no nothing – I was like, ‘this kid is special.’”
Bradley took the praise even further. “I’ve been in there with multiple world champions, man, and no one as good and as talented as he is. Or was, back then. He’s better now.”
The natural follow-up: even Manny Pacquiao, the legendary eight-division champion with whom Bradley shared a trilogy and from whom Bradley took the only two losses of his career?
“He’s right up there with Pacquiao,” Bradley said of Crawford. “He’s a little bit more on the cerebral side. Pacquiao – his athleticism, his speed, his punching power, and his tenacity, his hunger – that’s hard to deal with. He fights at a very high pace. Pacquiao constantly makes you think. You’re burning at both ends. Mentally and physically, he’s draining you. He closes the distance so fast. Crawford, when you think you’re getting the best of him, he’s just setting a trap. And then he’s gonna make you pay for your aggressiveness. Crawford was able to set traps off his back foot – catch me with uppercuts, check hooks, pull counters, and make me run into shots. And if I sit back, he will come to me. I think both of them are very talented. I would say Crawford is a little bit more gifted – I think he has more tools.
“Manny was tougher than anybody,” Bradley said of Pacquiao. “If they would’ve fought back then, I would definitely put my money on Crawford, but it would definitely be a tough fight.”
Canelo is an entirely different challenge – Crawford last fought at 154lbs, but hardly looked acclimated to that weight class when he decisioned Israil Madrimov last August. Now the fighter who looked his best at welterweight is to ascend to super middle to meet Canelo, who is every bit as accomplished as Crawford and has dominated that division – with the notable exception of David Benavidez – since 2021?
Yet Bradley thinks Crawford will conquer this challenge too, and given his experience, his words carry weight. “Crawford’s gonna win this fight with his mind,” he declared.
Given his bond with Crawford, Bradley is also nervous. “I’m excited. I’m full of anxiety about the fight itself. I’ve been dreaming about the fight at night and thinking about it all day, the different ways of how Crawford can beat Canelo. Obviously size is a big factor in this. Size doesn’t equate to strength – you can be small and be strong as hell. But when it comes to the brute bulk of Canelo…he’s like a damn bulldozer with skills. He can absorb a whole lot. So when you look at it from that standpoint, and understanding what he’s up against, it’s a dangerous fight. I don’t care how you look at it. Especially when you’re coming up multiple weight classes.
“But that’s why I like it,” Bradley said, beginning to sound like the enthusiastic fan as well as the analyst and former fighter he is. “If Crawford can pull off this victory, man…I know the odds are damn near even, but according to what we all say, ‘there’s weight classes for a reason. A great big man beats a great small man.’ All of that’s being put to the test. I feel that if any person can accomplish this feat, it’s Crawford. Not only does he have skill, he has guts, he has heart, and he has the mentality to be able to pull this off. This isn’t anything new for him. Crawford has been doubted his entire career. He’s been doubted his entire life. From day one. This is a guy that always has a chip on his shoulder. This is a guy that still fights like he has two dollars in his fucking bank account. Every time out, he’s giving you everything that he has. He’s a killer. That’s what he is. And he has that mentality going into this fight as well. It’s all or nothing for him.”
By the end of the call, Bradley sounded like he couldn’t wait for the fight. He isn’t the only one. “Canelo’s supposed to win this fight,” he said. “He’s supposed to win this fight on paper! With the laws of boxing, the physics of boxing, and what we all know, he’s supposed to win this fight.
“But if Crawford miraculously wins this fucking fight like I think he will, that’s where greatness is built, man. It’s built on the risk you take! People need to understand that. It’s on the risk you take. There’s a lot of risk for both fighters here.”
