With the official word coming that welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford has finally come to terms to face Shawn Porter, former world titleholder (and now boxing analyst) Timothy Bradley shares his thoughts on the impending battle. Talking to ESPN about the fight, Bradley predicts a spectacular night of highly competitive boxing knowing the characters in play.
To begin, Bradley acknowledges that Shawn Porter, despite his three losses, is a tough out for anybody in the game, bringing up the point that Porter is a fighter who’s difficult to look good against inside the ring. Bradley says that it’s going to be difficult for Porter to outbox Crawford in this fight, but that he has other characteristics to make things hard on Crawford and expects Porter to switch up his plans of attack to ambush Crawford in spots.
“It’s going to be a very difficult fight for both guys. Both have their advantages, Porter being a really busy guy and Crawford showing his impeccable timing. For me, Crawford is a once-in-a-generation talent. His skill set and his mindset is what makes him who he is, and it’s gonna be tough to beat him, but Porter brings the style that could do just that.”
Conversely Bradley mentions that Porter will have to deal with the stance-switching of Crawford, who probably does it better than anyone in the game right now. Because of that Bradley says Porter will need adequate sparring from both orthodox fights as well as southpaws in order to prepare himself for everything, but finding that kind of elite level sparring from both stances in one camp could prove difficult. Check out Bradley’s full breakdown of the fight in the link above.