Tim Bradley says Terence Crawford’s year of inactivity won’t play a factor in his superfight against Canelo Alvarez on September 13th. The former ESPN commentator Bradley states that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) has stayed in the gym, building his body, and working out.
He maintains that he has kept Crawford, 37, sharp for his title challenge against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Bradley Defends Crawford’s Inactivity
“A lot of people are making a fuss about Crawford being out of the ring for over a year. I’m not putting too much stock in that,” said Tim Bradley on his YouTube channel, defending Terence Crawford for being out of the ring for 13 months going into his fight against Canelo Alvarez.
Sitting out of the ring for a year rather than staying busy fighting once or twice at 168 could prove to be a mistake for Crawford. Bradley fails to note that this wasn’t the first time that Crawford has been inactive. He’s routinely done this since 2020.
Crawford’s Inactivity since 2020
- Canelo Alvarez (September 13, 2025): 13 months
- Israil Madrimov (August 3, 2024): 12 months
- Errol Spence Jr. (July 29, 2023): 7 months
- David Avanesyan (December 10, 2022): 12 months
- Shawn Porter (November 20, 2021): 12 months
- Kell Brook (November 14, 2020)
“Honestly, I think the biggest issue facing Crawford right now is INACTIVITY,” said boxing writer and commenator Michael Monstero on X. “I think that could hurt him more than the weight discrepancy, but IMO [in my opinion], the biggest X factor here is Crawford’s inactivity – I think that could hurt him way more than the supposed ‘size difference’ that everybody seems to be fixated on.”
“Crawford took the time to build his body up the way he needed to build it up. He put a lot of the weight on his legs,” said Bradley. “That’s going to help with stability. That’s going to help with punching power. It’s going to help with his ability to take a shot, too.”
The Problem With Inactivity
The positive spin Bradley is putting on Crawford being out of the ring for a year fails to address the negative side of his being inactive. Being out of the ring for a year going into his clash against Canelo wasn’t the ideal way to prepare for the fight. Crawford could have stayed busy, fighting twice, and still bulked up. Crawford didn’t give a reason for why he chose to sit for a year, and Bradley presenting it in a way doesn’t change the negative side of being inactive.
“Canelo is brute strong, but I don’t think he’s a better athlete than Crawford,” said Bradley. “I think that’s where he has an advantage. He’s coming from the lower weight classes. So, he’s going to have his speed and some pop on his shots as well.”
The Flaw in Bradley’s Logic
Bradley sounds like he’s overthinking to reinforce his view of Crawford winning. It doesn’t matter if Terence is a better athlete in different sports. The only important thing is how he performs in the boxing ring. His credentials don’t match Canelo’s. That’s the reality.
Crawford lacks the elite-level wins that Canelo has on his record, and he’s too late in his career to be stepping up for the first time, in my opinion. Canelo doesn’t have to be a great wrestler, basketball player, or football player to win on September 13th.
“Crawford has the ability to catch him coming in and hurt him. Crawford is the better athlete. He can do a lot more besides boxing. I don’t know that Canelo can do that,” said Bradley.
Bud Crawford will have to have made big improvements in his power over what he displayed a year ago against Israil Madrimov for him to hurt Alvarez. Although Crawford put on a lot of weight for that fight, his punches didn’t have any effect on Madrimov and looked similar to how they were at 147. In other words, Terence put on size, but it didn’t translate to more sip on his shots.
