INDIO ? After the battle Timothy Bradley was coming off of in March, it would be reasonable that the WBO welterweight champion might ease into his first sparring session of training camp for his Oct. 12 fight.
But Bradley isn?t always reasonable.
For his very first sparring session, Bradley took on a man considered one of the most dangerous punchers in all of boxing when he welcomed Argentinian Lucas Matthysse into the Indio Boys and Girls Club on Monday.
Bradley and Matthysse were already scheduled to work together, as Matthysse had said he wanted to move his training camp from Las Vegas to Indio so he could avoid all the distractions of Sin City.
Matthysse is in final preparation for his WBC and WBA light welterweight title fight against champion Danny Garcia as the co-main event on the Floyd Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez super fight on Sept. 14. The dangerous Matthysse is 34-3, with 32 of those victories coming by knockout. Both losses were controversial decisions to Devon Alexander and Zab Judah in their hometowns.
In Matthysse?s last victory in May, a second-round destruction of Lamont Peterson, the victory was so impressive that Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer declared Matthysse the next Manny Pacquiao.
Bradley is preparing for his Oct. 12 fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, a future Hall of Fame boxer who is considered the best technician. For Bradley, it makes sense to spar Matthysse.
Just not on the first day of sparring.
?It was shocking. I think it was shocking to everyone that was in the gym ? shocking to my father, shocking to my team that I was coming back and sparring such a big name and a tough kid, a guy who punches so hard and knocks out everyone,? Bradley said.
?It was a shock to everyone,? he said. ?Joel didn?t set this up, it just kind of happened. It was just a spur of the moment type of thing. He came down, ?hey, why don?t we get in the ring and spar.? I didn?t expect to spar Matthysse today. I really didn?t expect him today. He was like, ?hey let?s get some work, we might as well get some work while we?re here.? ?
