What are Timothy Bradley’s Strengths?
While Timothy Bradley is now considered to be at the top of the junior welterweight division, that wasn’t always the case. For a long stretch of his career, Bradley (25-0, 11 KOs) was considered to be an underdog in the sport, especially when he took on top opponents like Junior Witter, Kendall Holt and Nate Campbell. However, Bradley has been able to defy the odds and become the top-ranked fighter in the division along with holding the WBO junior welterweight title.
A top amateur
It’s surprising that Bradley was not tabbed for stardom based on his exceptional amateur background. He had an excellent record against top opposition before turning professional in August 2004. The highlight of his career was a silver medal at the 2003 National Golden Gloves, where he lost in the finals to current WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto. While Bradley’s amateur ability might not have pegged him for superstardom, it did help provide him with the baseline skills which have helped propel him in his career.
One of Bradley’s main strengths is his exceptionally quick hands. This allows him to look for openings to attack his opponents and take advantage of open targets. Along with being quick, Bradley is also accurate and willing to attack the head or body with both hands. This is a result of his excellent technique learned in years of amateur boxing. Points are scored in amateur boxing for the tally of landing of clean punches, making hand speed and accuracy paramount to a fighter’s success.
Underrated power
It’s tough to say that Bradley is a power puncher - having knocked out just 42 per cent of his opposition is proof that he’ll never been known as a knockout artist. However, he does have more power in his right hand than many opponents give him credit for. He uses this as a weapon of surprise and to discourage opponents from walking through his punches as much as anything else. But he has hurt opponents in the past - he dropped Lamont Peterson on the way to a unanimous decision victory in his last bout and he also dropped Witter when he won the world title for the first time in May 2008.
Stamina, footwork
Bradley is always in excellent physical shape, which is rare for someone with a physique as muscular as his. This has translated to having excellent stamina, which has been apparent as he has a habit of taking control of bouts late in fights. Because he doesn’t have true knockout power, he needs to prepare to go the distance in any fight he has. His stamina also works to his benefit because it allows him to continue to be active later in fights. Bradley’s offensive style relies on him throwing “punches in bunches” and he needs outstanding stamina in order to keep doing this in the later rounds of fights.
Bradley also possesses outstanding lateral movement, which allows him to attack his opponent from different angles. Instead of giving his opponent a stationary target to defend against, Bradley is continually moving and looking for different ways to get in punches. This helps to keep his opponents off-balance and unable to connect. It’s important for Bradley to have a strong defence; his chin has come into question in the past as he’s been hurt by several fighters in the past and was even dropped twice in his victory over the light-hitting Holt.
But more than anything else, Bradley is a very smart fighter and an excellent tactician inside the ring. His hundreds of rounds of amateur boxing have taught him how to control fights and turn the action to his advantage. Anyone looking to beat Bradley is going to have to out think him along with out-boxing him.
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