Bradley On Sparring Matthysse: He Hits Like A Monster But I Still Favor Garcia

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As it was first reported on ThaBoxingVoice.com  last Wednesday after a conversation with trainer Cuty Barrera (http://thaboxingvoice.cogito24.com/trainer-matthysse-to-spar-with-tim-bradley-and-juan-diaz-in-final-preparation-for-danny-garcia-in-the-us/17692), Lucas Matthysse was headed to Indio, California to finish camp for Danny Garcia and spar with the WBO World Welterweight Champion Timothy Bradley. Matthysse then confirmed the report last Saturday when he met the media at the Abner Mares-Jhonny Gonzalez card in Carson, California. Last night on ThaBoxingVoice Radio show, Timothy Bradley joined us and described the first sparring session with Lucas Matthysse.

“Fantastic, I’m  a little sore after sparring but I’m alright, nothing that’s going to kill me. I’ve only sparred him (Matthysse) once this week, next week we’ll probably spar a little more. I’m just coming back but this boy is 2 weeks away from his fight so you know he’s ready. I’ve been off for about 4 or 5 months so that first day back was hell, especially with Matthysse, that dude hits like a monster. Nobody has no idea how hard he hits, well some guys do know because they got knocked out,” Bradley told us on the program last night.

Bradley also observed that even though the notoriety of the big punched proceeds Matthysse, the man known as “The Machine” has underrated boxing skills.

“This dude can punch.  Danny Garcia is definitely going to have his hands full. He throws tight hooks. He has good defense, he’s kind of hard to hit too, you know, he likes to slip inside of you and close the gap. He’s a great body puncher. I hope Garcia is doing a whole bunch of ab routines because it will be tested that night. “

Now by the way Bradley was speaking, you would think that he would favor Matthysse over Garcia. While he respects Matthysse and considers him an elite fighter, he still tips the nod to the fighter from Philadelphia, September 14th.

“Right at this moment I still favor Garcia, but Matthysse is a special type of cat. I have been in the ring with him. He sparred me one time, my money is still on Garcia but Matthysse is a true champion, and a warrior, but Garcia is definitely going to have his hands full.”

Bradley is in preparation for his big showdown with Juan Manuel Marquez on October 12th and feels that bringing in Matthysse is exactly what he needs to prepare him for Marquez.

“I think it’s perfect. His power in his punches is what I’ll be going up against next month. In that first round we sparred, he (Matthysse) definitely woke me up with that left hook. It was like jab, jab, and a left hook out of nowhere, so I was oh ok, I see what he’s doing now. I was able to make adjustments in the ring and so was he. I was able to use my jab a lot and then all of a sudden he starts throwing three of four jabs. He was learning in there too, he was bobbing and weaving and staying low. Not only is he a strong puncher but he’s a strong fighter too and I think this will be good for my preparation for Marquez. “

Bradley is coming off a fight of the year candidate with Ruslan Provodnikov where Bradley slugged it out with the hard Russian puncher and slipped by barely to win a decision to retain his title. Ruslan may be a big puncher but Bradley feels there is no comparison with Matthysse.

“Matthysse hit harder than Provodnikov. Dude had 20 ounce gloves on and dude was hitting. The dude is light and I’m like around 160 and he hit me with a left hook. I didn’t get dazed but it moved me, I was like whoa. I had to stop for a second and tell him, damn, you’re strong. The boy can punch, he was hitting me on the arms and body shots, I would block those body shots but I still could feel that pressure from my elbows on my stomach. I didn’t show any pain. We went at and it was great, it was a great sparring session.”

 

For Full Audio Of This Interview Click Here: http://thaboxingvoice.cogito24.com/keith-thurman-timothy-bradley-on-tha-boxingvoice-radio/17940