Tim Bradley uses heavyweight great Jack Dempsey’s win over the much larger Jess Willard 106 years ago to support his argument that the smaller Terence Crawford will defeat the larger Canelo Alvarez by knockout on September 13.
A Century-Old Upset Provides Clues
24-year-old Dempsey knocked out the 6’6″, 245-lb Jess Willard in the third round to win the World heavyweight championship on July 4, 2019. Bradley states that because Dempsey knocked out the 37-year-old Willard, Crawford will overcome his size disadvantage to stop the bigger undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs).
“They said that Jack Dempsey couldn’t beat Jess Willard. 6’6″, Jess Willard, at 250+ lbs, but little old Jack Dempsey knocked him out,” said Tim Bradley on his channel.
It’s a much different situation for the Canelo-Crawford fight than the Dempsey-Williard World Heavyweight Championship match. Crawford is not 24 like Dempsey was. He’s pushing 38 and isn’t a brawler or a fierce puncher like the late Jack.
“They say Terence Crawford can’t beat Canelo Alvarez. I beg to defer. He’s going to smash Canelo Alvarez. This is not going to be a fair fight because as soon as he gets acclimated to that punching power, it’s going to be over for Canelo,” said Bradley.
It could prove to be a mistake for Crawford to exchange with Canelo. When Terence was fighting at 147, he wasn’t a huge puncher. His knockouts came in the later rounds from landing an accumulation of shots. If Crawford fights like that against Canelo, he’ll be leaving himself open to getting caught with a big shot.
“Crawford has trained for this for an entire year. He’s been thinking about that one man all day, watching videos and studying film,” said Tim.
That training would have been put to better use if Bud had fought some of the top contenders at super middleweight instead of sitting on the sidelines. Fans don’t understand why Crawford chose not to fight in the division first because he had plenty of time. His last fight was on May 3, 2024, and he could have taken on Christian Mbilli, Diego Pacheco or Osley Iglesias to get his feet wet back facing Alvarez.
Bradley Claims Canelo Is Soft
“Crawford got a little lazy. He’s lazy. I know he’s been fighting, collecting them checks. He stayed away from Benavidez because he didn’t want that pain. That tells me about Canelo is he’s soft,” said Bradley.
Interestingly, Crawford mentions the word “lazy,” using it to describe Canelo. It’s a label that some people have given to Crawford due to his decision not to take one or two tune-ups at 168 in the last 13 months to get acclimated to the division before challenging Canelo for his undisputed super middleweight championship. Why didn’t Crawford fight?
You can’t blame Canelo for not fighting David Benavidez. The size difference between the two was huge when Benavidez was campaigning at 168. Many fans felt that Benavidez was a weight bully and should have been campaigning at 175 or 200. ‘The Mexican Monster’ looked massive when rehydrating for his fights at super middleweight.
Last Updated on 09/04/2025
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