Bradley’s claim
This is the optimistic reading about Errol Spence Jr. as he prepares for a return match reportedly targeted for June in Australia against Tim Tszyu at 154 pounds. The more difficult question is whether that version is ever truly gone.
Spence hasn’t looked like himself in the two fights since the 2019 crash. Against Danny Garcia he clearly won, 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.
The pressure remained, but the sharpness did not. By the time he met Terence Crawford, the erosion was fully felt. Crawford rehydrated greater, controlled distance and punished him in exchanges that once belonged to Spence.
Bradley doesn’t dwell on that stretch. He focuses on recovery.
“When you’ve been training since you were a little boy … with that time off, I’m pretty sure it’s 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. This eventually quiets the nervous system and gives a man a chance to actually train for a fight instead of just surviving the damage of the preparation. If the wear and tear was not permanent, a layoff is how long a fighter eventually regains his body.
Bradley also believes the matchup favors Spence. “Earl is going to stop his ass,” he said of Tszyu.
His reasoning reverses the attrition discussion, as Tszyu has absorbed serious punishment over the past few years, from the bloody loss to Sebastian Fundora to tough 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 his edge.
This may be the only track where this comeback works, because three quiet years at 35 does not automatically create improvement. Time away can heal minor injuries, but it can also dull timing and urgency. While Spence has earned the right to live well, comfort doesn’t 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 emerge as soon as the bell rings. If that jab snaps with authority and his legs look solid as he walks into the fire, the layoff worked. But if the punches float and the reactions lag even a fraction of a second, we’ll know the rest hasn’t really recovered. It only interrupted the inevitable.
