Tim Bradley deserves more respect for his talent

Got this idea from Hatman Strikes Back (Youtube boxing commentator, very good). He did an excellent video breaking this down and I thought it was worth some discussion here.

In my humble, Bradley is a vastly underappreciated as a boxing talent and here's why

Excellent at neutralizing his opponenets weapons.
Has dealt with several top names in convincing fashion including - Vasquez, Witter, Abregu (who dropped and stopped Dulorme), Peterson he dominated, and IMO he was very comeptitive with Pac Man in the second half of the fight. Despite the outcry
He has an excellent engine
He has grit, as shown in Pac fight and against Holt where he was dropped VERY heavily in opening round
Measures distance really well and can counter well


I honestly feel like Bradley is an excellent p4p top ten fighter, and he deserves more respect. He is an intelligent, skillful fighter who doesn’t get the respect he deserves. Not saying he is the best, but is anybody telling me is less deserving of a Mayweather fight than the likes of Guerrero

i think hes excellent. he may not get the credit he deserves on here, especially as a lot of people were way to quick to jump on the khan being avoided bandwagon. but he has a lot respect in the boxing community. hes one of only a couple of young hungry fighters who have managed to secure a fight with pacman or mayweather the past few years. he needs to start boxing more regularly now his contract problems seem behind him though

I think he's a slightly better than ordinary fighter who's around at the right time...

His style and personality obviously don't help either.....

Guys like Broner, Mayweather, Pacman and DelaHoya and even Khan seem to have traits to admire......but this guy just doesn't seem to be outstanding at anything...

However he does find a way to win even if it's by rip off and so with his record deserves a spot in the top 10.....But being honest I'd pick....

Honeyghan, Curry, Starling, Breland, Brown to all beat him as well as the guys above...

Still he is underrated I'll give you that....But his timing is impeccable..

He also deserves to have his name spelt correctly in the title of an article which concerns him, Sean!

Joking aside, I've never warmed to his style of fighting but I have to concede he is better than I first gave him credit for and has taken an unneccesarily hard rap over the Pacquiao fight. No matter how many times I see that I can never see this highway robbery which basically everyone else talks of, although I'll concede that a draw is the very, very least that Pacquiao deserved. Take away the controversy of the decision and there was actually a fair amount to applaud in Bradley's display.

I still don't think he's got the speed or power to become a pound for pound candidate but he's a good fighter nonetheless who will be there or thereabouts at Welter for a few years yet.

Big mistake ducking Khan if he's looking for credibility

Needs to grow a pair....

88Chris05 wrote:He also deserves to have his name spelt correctly in the title of an article which concerns him, Sean!

Joking aside, I've never warmed to his style of fighting but I have to concede he is better than I first gave him credit for and has taken an unneccesarily hard rap over the Pacquiao fight. No matter how many times I see that I can never see this highway robbery which basically everyone else talks of, although I'll concede that a draw is the very, very least that Pacquiao deserved. Take away the controversy of the decision and there was actually a fair amount to applaud in Bradley's display.

I still don't think he's got the speed or power to become a pound for pound candidate but he's a good fighter nonetheless who will be there or thereabouts at Welter for a few years yet.

Dilutes my argument for him a little bit, doesn't it. Ha. I rate him. He is the defiinition of an all rounder in my book. Truss is right in that it helps this is a weak era, but I rate him

Probably is a little underrated & appreciated & is as deserving as Guerro for a shot at Floyd. For me & probably a lot of others he doesn't set the world alight. As Chris said doesn't have the speed or the power to be an atg & like Truss said has come at a good time. A decent fighter who does most things well & will generally be in reasonble fight but probably won't be remembered in the history books.

Agree with both of you (Truss and Sean) when you mention that he's basically a solid allrounder, not great in any one area but pretty proficient across all areas. He'll need to start jabbing with a bit more authority, mind you, particularly if he contines at 147 lb rather than 140, as he doesn't hit hard enough to keep the pressure fighters or bigger guys off him.

Problem is, much of his game is based on making the other guy look bad and, as such, nobody will ever be in a rush to watch him. Appreciate that after a $5 million pay day and official 'win' on the record against Pacquiao he probably thinks that he can get the big guns (Mayweather, Pacquiao II, maybe even Broner) in there, but it's looking as though he'll have to make do and take on a belt holder of the lower rank soon.

Seanusarrilius wrote:

88Chris05 wrote:He also deserves to have his name spelt correctly in the title of an article which concerns him, Sean!

Joking aside, I've never warmed to his style of fighting but I have to concede he is better than I first gave him credit for and has taken an unneccesarily hard rap over the Pacquiao fight. No matter how many times I see that I can never see this highway robbery which basically everyone else talks of, although I'll concede that a draw is the very, very least that Pacquiao deserved. Take away the controversy of the decision and there was actually a fair amount to applaud in Bradley's display.

I still don't think he's got the speed or power to become a pound for pound candidate but he's a good fighter nonetheless who will be there or thereabouts at Welter for a few years yet.

Dilutes my argument for him a little bit, doesn't it. Ha. I rate him. He is the defiinition of an all rounder in my book. Truss is right in that it helps this is a weak era, but I rate him

Jack of all trades, master of **** all then. 'Grit' and 'engine' are attributes, not talent, in my opinion. Using your massive cannonball head as your primary weapon is neither.

id agree with those who say he should be rated high.
he has a will to win unrivalled by most.

plus i think he come across really well on 24/7. his family man personality and his relationship with his dad are plus points in my book.

Seanusarrilius wrote:Got this idea from Hatman Strikes Back (Youtube boxing commentator, very good). He did an excellent video breaking this down and I thought it was worth some discussion here.

In my humble, Bradley is a vastly underappreciated as a boxing talent and here's why

Excellent at neutralizing his opponenets weapons.
Has dealt with several top names in convincing fashion including - Vasquez, Witter, Abregu (who dropped and stopped Dulorme), Peterson he dominated, and IMO he was very comeptitive with Pac Man in the second half of the fight. Despite the outcry
He has an excellent engine
He has grit, as shown in Pac fight and against Holt where he was dropped VERY heavily in opening round
Measures distance really well and can counter well


I honestly feel like Bradley is an excellent p4p top ten fighter, and he deserves more respect. He is an intelligent, skillful fighter who doesn’t get the respect he deserves. Not saying he is the best, but is anybody telling me is less deserving of a Mayweather fight than the likes of Guerrero

He reminds me of Hopkins. Very good boxer but tends to stink places out. He lacks Hopkins "charisma" so will always be consigned to "who needs him" status.

i agree, he has gone from a come forward brawler, into more of a thinking fighter. i actually thought his fight with peterson was very entertaining, but the snoozefest against alexander (which was alexanders fault just as much) has got him a bit of a reputation as a dull fighter.

I would like to see Bradley v Broner in the near future. Thats a fight that could put him back in the limelight. Seems to have gone on the boil recently which is a surprise after his 'win' against Manny.

i think he was waiting around for the rematch that never came, he has been mentioned with a few names since them, gamboa, brook and a few others. he's now scheduled to fight in may i think.

i think bradley vs khan is a good fight, and bradley was accused of ducking him at LWW

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:I think he's a slightly better than ordinary fighter who's around at the right time...

His style and personality obviously don't help either.....

Guys like Broner, Mayweather, Pacman and DelaHoya and even Khan seem to have traits to admire......but this guy just doesn't seem to be outstanding at anything...

However he does find a way to win even if it's by rip off and so with his record deserves a spot in the top 10.....But being honest I'd pick....

Honeyghan, Curry, Starling, Breland, Brown to all beat him as well as the guys above...

Still he is underrated I'll give you that....But his timing is impeccable..

hmmmm did Pacman beat Bradley?

Officially yes but realistically no.

Bradleys very careful with who he fights. The only big fights he has taken are against Alexander and Pacquiao. He definatly didnt beat Manny and as for the Alexander fight I'm gonna be controversial here. I think Alexander was schooling Timmy in the last couple rounds before the butt. If Timmy stops using his head as a weapon, fights big names and fights more reguarly he can finally garner the respect he deserves

the alexander fight was a mis match of styles, and the heads kept coming together because neither fighter changed what they were doing. alexander quit, because bradley was getting to him more and more.

and also manny was a dangerous fight that nobody gave bradley a chance in.

also peterson and abregu were both undeafted when they face bradley and holt, witter and vazques are very good wins also

Manny won by four rounds for me...so people were right to give him no chance..

I'll respect as long as don't have to watch him fight.

Think you're giving him a bit too much credit for the Vasquez win, in hindsight it looks better than it was but it would be another 3 years until Miguel stepped up to world level.

Timmy has skills and you have to respect what he has done so far. Hes quick and he has overcome his natural height disadvantage well. However, he should have fought much better opposition more consistently after the Alexander fight. Look at his run post Witter:

Cherry, Holt, Campbell, Peterson, Abregu and Alexander. A good run. Since then its been Casamayor, Pacqiuao and Prodnikov. Look at the fights he could have had: Khan, Garcia, Maidana, Morales, Ortiz. He aint fought them. I blame Bob and Gary for this.

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Think you're giving him a bit too much credit for the Vasquez win, in hindsight it looks better than it was but it would be another 3 years until Miguel stepped up to world level.

on the flip side though ghosty bradley was also only about 22, himself not faced anyone at world level, and only 5 months before was fighting for a youth's title.

It's a win that in hindsight looks better than it actually was, the fact they have both gone to become world champions would not have been something many would have predicted especially in the case of Vasquez.

maybe, but it does show bradley has always been willing to take tough fights, even at that time they will have known vazquez was no push over.

I've never understood this whole "He has a boring personality and style"

I think he's got a pretty good style, comes forward, very aggressive, very physically powerful especially given his size, perhaps isn't a massive puncher but has great volume and works extremely hard and always leaves everything in the ring. A powerful bully type style

As for his personality, I think he is a really awesome character, has such an incredible mental strength, a determined focus, and comes across as a really good family guy. (Not Peter Griffin) Always came across as a guy with a pretty good sense of humour and in the 24/7's he was A HELL OF A LOT MORe entertaining than Manny who just wanted to sit around and play with his guitar and sing "Kumbaya my lord" and his relationship with his dad was fantastic.