Tim Bradley says it feels “unbelievable” that he is now a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Speaking at the induction ceremony for the 2023 Hall of Fame class, Bradley described the long path to enshrinement in Canastota, which began when he was five and asked his father for a motorcycle for Christmas.
“He told me, he didn’t believe I was strong enough to handle a motorcycle, so he insisted on me doing 100 pushups and 100 sit-ups every day after he came home from work, and I had to do it for an entire year … I must have been the strongest six-year-old in America. I’m telling you, I was a freak.”
It was his father who then took him to his first boxing gym, and who trained him with methods that could best be described as unconventional.
“My father even told me to get a rock from the desert so he could drop it on me like a medicine ball,” he laughed. That start, he said, helped fuel a determination and hunger in him that lasted throughout his career.
“I’m not here because I’m more talented than the people I fought,” he said. “I’m here because I wanted it more.”
In an interview with ProBoxTV two days earlier, Bradley expressed his delight at being inducted and his determination to revel in the experience as much as possible.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “During this week at the festivities, I've been really taking it all in, staying off my phone as much as possible and just being receptive to everything that's been going on.”
The experience was even more special for him, he continued, because it was the first time he had been to the Hall of Fame, having turned down opportunities to visit previously.
“To tell you the truth, I got invited many times to come here,” he revealed. “But I said no. I said I wanted my first time to be when I get inducted. And then I wanted to experience it all and take it all in for the first time. I don't want to come here and see everybody else's accomplishments. I want to come here and see mine first and then see everyone else.”
His induction is the manifestation of a dream he had nurtured long before he turned professional.
“I knew when I started this journey when I was 10 years old, that I wanted to be a Hall of Fame fighter,” he explained. “I knew that I was talented, but I knew it would take a lot of work. So, when I became champion, I understood from the old days, the older guys back in the day - Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson - these guys fought the best. And I said, ‘When I become champ, I want to fight the best guys that are available in the sport.’ And that's what I did. And I knew someday if the right people look at my resume and really break it down, and really say, ‘Huh, this dude really did fight the best guys out there,’ that I’d be here one day.”
Even so, for all that he had been picturing the moment for years, now that it was upon him, it was proving hard for him to wrap his head around.
“It's unreal,” he admitted. “I feel like it's really hard to really comprehend. To be in the same room as the greats; I just can't believe it. I can't fathom it. It’s really hard to understand. I think, dating back to last year, there's only been 186 or so inductees into the Boxing Hall of fame and now my name is going to be inducted with them. One hundred and eighty-six! Think about it! In the entire history of boxing, there’s been just 186. And now I’m one of them.”
