Bradley’s Claim
That’s the optimistic read on Errol Spence Jr. as he prepares for a return bout reportedly targeted for June in Australia against Tim Tszyu at 154 pounds. The harder question is whether that version ever truly left.
Spence did not look like himself in the two fights after the 2019 crash. Against Danny Garcia, he won clearly, but moved like a heavier man and relied more on accumulation than snap. Against Yordenis Ugas, he absorbed right hands that the earlier Spence often smothered or rolled away from.
The pressure remained, but the sharpness didn’t. By the time he met Terence Crawford, the erosion felt complete. Crawford rehydrated bigger, controlled distance, and punished him in exchanges that once belonged to Spence.
Bradley doesn’t dwell on that stretch. He focuses on restoration.
“When you training since you was a little boy… having that time off, I’m pretty sure it done wonders,” he said.
In theory, the science is sound. Decades of grueling camps create a deep, structural inflammation that a standard six-week break can’t touch. The sparring rounds pile up like debt, and the brutal weight cuts eventually take a toll on a fighter’s organs.
A three-year hiatus is an eternity in this game, but it offers something rare: a total system reset. It allows the nervous system to finally go quiet and gives a man the chance to actually train for a fight instead of just surviving the damage of the preparation. If the wear and tear wasn’t permanent, a layoff this long is how a fighter finally gets his body back.
Bradley also believes the matchup favors Spence. “Earl going to stop his ass,” he said of Tszyu.
His reasoning flips the wear discussion, because Tszyu has absorbed serious punishment in recent years, from the bloody defeat to Sebastian Fundora to hard rounds against Terrell Gausha and Tony Harrison, and then the stoppage loss to Bakhram Murtazaliev. Bradley sees Tszyu as the fighter whose body may be closer to its edge.
That may be the only lane where this comeback works, because three quiet years at 35 do not automatically create improvement. Time away can heal small injuries, but it can also dull timing and urgency. While Spence has earned the right to live well, comfort does not always sharpen a fighter.
The Jab Will Tell
It also creates uncertainty when the lights come back on in a new division, in a hostile arena, against a pressure fighter fighting at home.
We won’t need five rounds to find the answer. The truth will show up the moment the bell rings. If that jab snaps with authority and his legs look sturdy as he steps into the fire, the layoff worked. But if the punches float and the reactions lag even a split second, we will know the rest didn’t actually restore him. It just paused the inevitable.
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