Former two division champion Timothy Bradley does not expect size to play a big role in Saturday's lightweight fight in Las Vegas, between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Masayoshi Nakatani.
Lomachenko is fighting for the first time since losing a twelve round decision to Teofimo Lopez in their unification last October.
Nakatani returns from the biggest win of his career, a knockout of Puerto Rican Olympian Felix Verdejo last December.
Besides the winner over Verdejo, the Japanese fighter gave Lopez some trouble when they fought in 2019.
While Nakatani has many physical advantages in the fight, Bradley believes he has too many flaws to overcome the skillset of Lomachenko.
"Nakatani is a bigger guy, he is a taller guy, rangier. But he's not super skillful. He has a lot of toughness, which is a gift, an important trait, but while toughness is a part of skill, but it's not everything. Boxing skills are more important than just being a tough guy," Bradley said to ESPN.
"Nakatani's a very tough guy, he won't quit, but he just makes a ton of mistakes inside the ring and doesn't have much defense. That's combination is the worst kind of matchup for a guy like Lomachenko. He's a calculated, technically sound fighter with immense experience and confidence."
Lomachenko is looking to make a very big statement in the fight.
And Bradley expects him to make a statement - by stopping Nakatani in the second half of the contest.
"Lomachenko believes he's going to stop Nakatani, and I can't disagree. I believe that Lomachenko is eventually going to find a way to make the referee step in and stop the action, because he's going to beat Nakatani up that bad. I don't think Nakatani is going to quit at all. I don't think his corner is going to stop the fight, just because of who he is as a fighter," Bradley said.
"I think Lomachenko is going to use Nakatani's mistakes to his advantage, consistently. He's slowly going to overwhelm Nakatani, closing in tighter and tighter, working him on the inside. Lomachenko is going to score an emphatic win -- I think it's going to end late, but before the final bell. I'm going to say an eleventh - or twelfth round stoppage."
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