Tim Bradley blames Bruce Carrington’s listless performance last Saturday night against Mateus Heita on him being “bored inside the ring” because it was too easy for him. It didn’t appear to be boredom.
Bradley’s Protective Spin
The fans saw fear in Carrington’s eyes, as he was being stalked by a relentless, hungry predator, Mateus Heita (14-1, 9 KOs), who was not going to give up. Bradley sounds like a classic example of a person putting a spin on a fighter’s failure. Shu Shu looked terrible, but Bradley is blaming it on boredom. Fans aren’t buying Tim’s excuses for Carrington.
Carrington won the fight by a 12-round unanimous decision, but he did not look good. He ran too much, and showed no dog in him, to the point where he was willing to fight Heita toe-to-toe. He’d been forced to move throughout the contest to keep from being knocked out by the superior puncher, Heita. The scores were 119-109. 119-109 and 120-108.
After the fight, Carrington sounded ridiculous, saying, I see [WBO featherweight champion Rafael] Espinoza in the crowd. I want to fight him.”
Top Rank is not going to put Carrington in with Espinoza (27-0, 23 KOs) and watch him mess up his career the way he did two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez.
“As far as the performance tonight, I wanted to see more,” said Tim Bradley to Fight Hub TV, reacting to Bruce Carrington’s lackluster win over Mateus Heita last Saturday night in New York City. “If you’re hitting a guy like that at will, if it’s that easy to land those types of punches on him, you can do a little bit more to try and get the referee to step in.”
Carrington couldn’t do more because he would have been knocked out. Heita had too much power for him to try to go for a knockout. When Bruce did try to step it up to unload, Heita was catching him with huge uppercuts that were snapping his head back.
Carrington’s Skill Limitations
Bradley hasn’t looked closely enough at Carrington’s fight last year against featherweight contender Sulaiman Segawa to know that he’s a limited fighter. Carrington is not one of the best at 126. Segawa clearly beat him, but was given the short end of the stick with the judges siding with the A-side fighter, who had the hype behind him.
Besides Heita, Segawa is the only other contender that Carrington has faced during his four-year pro career. The thing is, those were both fringe contenders, not highly ranked fighters, and they still cause Carrington to struggle.
“It’s all geared to push Shu Shu in that direction, the direction he wants to be. He wants to be known as one of the best fighters to come out of Brownsville [New York]. I’m not setting no limitations on his skills. Everybody else can set limitations. No, I think you’re better than what you showed,” said Bradley.
Bruce is showing all kinds of limitations in his skills. He revealed last night that he can’t stand in the pocket against a slugger, moves too much, and resorts to using stiff arms. He’s also limited in terms of power. His promoters did a good job of hyping him to be a big puncher, but he showed last night that he wasn’t on the level of Heita in the power department.
Carrington will soon turn 29 years old. He’s NOT going to be “one of the best fighters to come out of Brownsville. If he had that kind of talent, he’d have shown it by now, and wouldn’t have struggled against the only two contenders Top Rank has matched him against, Heita and Segawa.
Bradley’s Boredom Excuse
“Fulton? I think it would be a hell of a match. I think he’s got the opportunity to beat [WBC featherweight champion] Stephen Fulton. Absolutely. When you get a guy that gets bored inside the ring like that [Carrington], it was too easy, but he couldn’t get the knockout. It doesn’t push him,” said Tim.
Heita’s Pressure Impact
Boredom wasn’t the reason why Carrington looked poor against Heita. Who is Bradley trying to kid? The reason he was running around the ring, clinching, and not standing his ground was fear. Carrington was worried because he was dealing with GGG-like pressure from Heita, who never stopped coming, stalking him around the ring, and hitting hard whenever he trapped him.
Heita was like a hunter inside the ring, and Carrington had a look of fear. He tried to bluff at times, but his movements showed that he was scared for his well-being. Bradley isn’t seeing the reality of what took place last night.
“If you compromise him and you put him in with a guy that is on the same level as him, IQ-wise, and he has to dig and try and go get it, I think we see a different Shu Shu. I really do.
“Tonight, he [Carrington] was supposed to shine tonight. I thought he had the perfect opponent, a hand-picked opponent in front of him [Mateus Heita]. I’m being honest. It might rub him the wrong way, but that’s it. I’m just keeping it 100 because I’m going to tell you. The fans at home they’re seeing it, and they’re going to say it, too. That’s just it,” said Bradley about Carrington.
Bradley sounded like he was holding back from roasting Carrington last night during the ESPN broadcast of his fight against Heita. What Tim failed to see was that Shu Shu was maxed out, fighting the best he could, but he lacked the power and talent to dominate Heita.
Carrington wasn’t comfortable with the hard shots that Heita was hitting him with. The guy may have looked slow, but he had that Foreman-esque power on his heavy shots.
You could hear the sound of Heita’s blows. It was a thudding sound, and Carrington was not willing to stand in the pocket for any length of time to endure that punishment. The uppercuts and looping right hands that Heita was hitting Shu Shu with made him antsy, unwilling to stay in the pocket.
Carrington turned rabbit early, choosing to move constantly and hold. That wasn’t by accident. It was self-preservation kicking in. He was trying to save his hide because he’d met his match power-wise.
Last Updated on 07/27/2025
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