The Daily Bread Mailbag returns with Stephen "Breadman" Edwards tackling topics such as Jaron Ennis, Blair Cobbs vs. Alexis Rocha, Errol Spence, Marvin Hagler, Jaime Munguia, Michael Conlan vs. Leigh Wood, Canelo-Golovkin, and more.

Hey Bread,

Great MB as usual. I agree totally regarding Boots, neither Spence nor Crawford have to fight him, they're the established guys and Boots is still in process. Boots is young enough to carve out his own path. There'll be many big fights for him going forwards against his peers (Ortiz Jr.), etc. Thurman my opt to fight him if he can't get Crawford or Spence, but I think at this point Boots would beat Thurman probably into retirement or gatekeeper status. What I meant regarding Tank having an easier time against Mario Barrios is Tank was never hurt, but Thurman was hurt to the body by Barrios, everyone knows the effect solid body shots have on Thurman since the Collazo fight. Thurman isn't "One Time" any more!

In the golden age(s) of fighting there was no NFL, NBA, X games and other money-making sports/endeavors of today. You had boxing, horseracing, baseball and Olympics, so fighters had to fight often that's why they got title shots relatively early in their careers. I get it that Canelo is the cash cow of boxing and somewhat follows the Mayweather template. The only difference is Floyd mainly fought the guy everyone dared him to or said he was scared to fight. Another difference is Canelo like Pacquiao has a country behind him so they'll support him whoever he fights. Floyd got more support i.e. PPV buys from his detractors who bought his fights to see him lose! Floyd exploited this built his latter career off of this fact.

Bread’s Response: I agree totally regarding Boots. No one in this era will break from the status quo. If a veteran A side fighter decided to face Boots and lost, then their brain trust would tell them “I told you so!” So no one is willing to face that being thrown up in their face and straying too far off the proven successful formula of current matchmaking unless they’re forced to. It’s why I don’t think Crawford or Spence is ducking him. However I would be curious to see what would happen if he becomes one of their mandatories. That’s a little different. 

Jermaine Taylor became Bernard Hopkins’s mandatory. Riddick Bowe became Evander Holyfield’s mandatory. John Mugabi became Marvin Hagler’s mandatory. We got some great match ups with real #1 contenders vs great HOF level fighters with mandatories. Boots would be one of the best mandatories who was not a champion yet, that we have seen several years. Crawford and Spence are Hall of Fame level fighters and he would be the best fighter either has ever faced. 

We will disagree about why fighters got title shots earlier years ago. I think it’s simply because they wanted to fight. They were willing to take tough fights in order to be a champion. The mentality is different. Today fighters will become a mandatory and try to finesse their way to a title. They will try to fight for a vacant title before they attempt to beat a great champion. How often do we see a blue chip, phenom level fighter, fight a great champion as their mandatory? We may see mandatory title defenses, but rarely do we see Evander Holyfield vs Riddick Bowe1. Or Buddy McGirt vs Meldrick Taylor. I think it’s because the challenger is not willing to take the fight as an underdog in their first title shot. In years past we saw so many young never before champions take historically tough fights in order to be champion. No one wants to beat a HOF for the belt. They want to fight a guy they know they can beat to be champion. Let’s just go back in history.

Ali chased down Sonny Liston to fight him. Liston was viewed as a monster and in 1964 he was one of the 5 or 6 best heavyweights ever. Ali was a 7 to 1 underdog but he was a real fighter so that didn’t bother him. Carlos Monzon went after the already great Nino Benvenuti in 1970. Roberto Duran went after the already great Ken Buchanon in 1972.Alexis Arguello went after the HOF Ruben Olivares in 1974.Ray Leonard went after the ultra talented 36-0 Wilfred Benitez for his 1st title in 1979.Tommy Hearns went after a 10x defending titlist in Pipino Cueveas in 1980.Aaron Pryor on the same day in 1980 went after the already HOF Antonio Cervantez.In 1981 Michael Spinks challenged Eddie Mustafa Muhammad who was excellent. I can go on about this, all the way up until about 10 years ago. And that’s when ultra talented never before champions, didn’t want to challenge great fighters for their 1st title. The key phrase is never before champions. Most are not willing to lose their 1st title shot. So they become selective. We are seeing with several young fighters currently. 

Speaking of that. I want to give Errol Spence props. He went after Kell Brook and was willing to travel overseas to fight Kell Brook for his 1st title. It’s not Spence’s fault that Brook had his eye socket broken against GGG. Spence was going after the IBF before that and that one brave move actually gave the PBC all the leverage it needed in boxing’s #1 division historically. Since 2017 the PBC has had the WBC, WBA and IBF belts at welterweight because of what Spence did. Spence has been rewarded for this brave move. 

Sometimes fighters just have to be GUNS and fight and not try to be matchmakers. The main reason it takes so long these days is because they want to be matchmakers. And with the ridicule from Social Media most can’t take the back lash of losing before they prove their greatness. But the other side of that is this. It only works if you’re undefeated. After a fighter takes a loss then the promoters don’t bless them with the selective mentality. Now they are forced to take real fights, underdog or not and they haven’t cultivated the mentality to take those type of fights. No matter what a fighter should be a fighter and let the businessmen be the businessmen.

Breadman,

Hope all is well with you.  Thanks again for your taking the time to give thoughtful  and educational answers. My take on Duran vs Leonard 2 since you mentioned it in today's question/answers. Do not believe Leonard frustrated Duran so much that he made him quit.  He had fought fighters before who moved not as well as Leonard but he would eventually wear them down.  That was a pretty large boxing ring though.  He was not getting hurt that bad at all but he was getting hit.  No need for him to worry about getting knocked out I believe. Do not believe he ate so much that he had a tummy ache.  He was just trying to come up with excuses to get through the aftermath and fall out of the fight. I think what he did was very simple but after he did it he only took him about 20 seconds to realize how stupid and wrong it was.  But then it was too late.  After he quit Leonard hit him with that good body shot that had no effect and then Duran started jumping up and down in his corner like he was ready to do something but what he was really saying was "what did I just do"? Duran knew how good Leonard was.  Leonard was a gangster who was really a better welterweight than Duran.  That alone shows how great a fight Duran fought the first time.  

If you watch Durans eyes during the 30 for 30 show where Leonard went to Panama to try and find out what happened you could see Duran(in his eyes) did not want to be on that show and he had no conviction in his reasoning on why he quit.  I felt bad for Leonard because the ending of the fight overwhelmed how good he fought.  However he should just feel that he knocked Duran out in the 8th round which is what happened. As to why Duran quit I believe this.  He was not in the same mental or physical shape the second time around.  Leonard was at his peak and he was ready for revenge.  Like a Joe Louis.  He wanted to set matters straight.  To illustrate what I think happened I give you this scenario.  If me and you were to play a 1 on 1 basketball game for $20 and I beat you 20 to 18 and then afterwards you say lets run it back.  We start the second game and there became a point in the game where I knew I was not going to beat you.  So I said to you I will give you this game and lets play another.  2 out of 3.  We could do that but Duran could not.  I really believe in his mind he was telling Sugar Ray I will give you this and lets run it back 2 out of 3.  He never really got a immediate quick 3rd fight he wanted because of what he did.  

But he did get Moore Barkley Hagler and even Castro to show his true abilities and greatness.  In my opinion only the other sugar ray was better than Duran based on what I have seen on youtube or live.  Just my opinion on that. I can not make opinions on older fighters even though I appreciate how great they were based on what I read from boxing historians. What Duran did hurt the people who bet on him, his loyal fans  the promoters and especially his team including arcel.  They dedicated and gave a lot for Duran but he let them down.  But the 2 he hurt the most was Leonard and the people of Panama.  He also hurt me.  When you are a sports icon to a small country that can lead to disaster when they turn on you because you become so important to those people.  But I believe many people including Panama have forgiven him.  Was not his best day.  

Can you imagine what the people of Japan would think if in the middle of a fight Inoue all of the sudden quit.  Leonard gave Duran his glory but Duran robbed him of his.  But Duran has more than made up for what he did in my mind.  He is a true champion and has a great heart especially taking his son to see and kiss de jesus when he had aids.  Nobody did that. I will go to war with Duran any day. Maybe God sent Tommy Hearns to pay him a visit as a little payback and to teach him a little humility.  We all need some of that .Also I think Duran did not realize how favorable scoring he was getting.  If he knew that he might not have quit.  I had Leonard up by at least 3 pts up maybe even 4 but Duran at the time he quit was only 1 pt down on two judges scorecards and 2 on another.

My take but I would really like to know yours.

Sincerely, Rich Mathews

Bread’s Response: You convinced me! I love your analogy and I actually have stated some of what you said before. But let me add some context. Every single fighter has a reason in their minds to believe why they will win. I have always believed that Leonard was robbed of his glory not only because Duran quit but because of everyone’s reasoning. Somehow Leonard was criticized because supposedly he picked on Duran and rushed him into a rematch. People don’t realize how stupid that sounds. Duran was being marveled for being the smaller man and winning vs the ultra talented Leonard. And those same people criticized Leonard because the smaller Duran supposedly struggled with weight in the rematch.

Duran always partied. He always gained weight. That was who he was. How dumb does it sound for the great little man to get praised for beating he great bigger man in June, but in November of the same year now the great little man can’t make weight in a healthy fashion and the great big man gets blamed. Duran had 2 months to prepare and that’s on him if gained weight in between fights. 

I love what you said about basketball. I would like to add that you beat me 20-18 but I was a little bigger and faster than you. And that you had played better than you ever had in your life and you barely won. And while I played well in our first contest, I had the ability to play better. So when we played again you knew you couldn’t be any better. In 1990 my neighborhood friends and I entered the Hoop It Up Tournament in Philadelphia. We made it to the championship in our age group. In the game before the championship I went absolutely CRAZY. The games were to 16 by 1s. And you had to win by 2. I had about 14 of our teams 17 points. We won by 2, when I hit a foul shot to end the game. We basically called ISOLATION clear outs for me every single time and I hit, cross over pull ups. Jab step pull ups. 1 dribble pull ups. 2 dribble pull ups. I was out of my mind. I may have missed 3 shots the entire game. 

So we won and 30 minutes later we played against a team a little bit better than the team I just cooked. I had to be better than I ever was for 2 games in a row. I was good in the next game but I wasn’t what I was in the previous game. In fact on that day in 1990, I was never more zoned out. I had grown to better but I never had a day like that before or after. I wish someone produces a video of that game and day. I would literally pay them 10k for it. Sometimes you chase that high and often times you don’t get it again. Mentally it takes something out of you to be that zoned in. I can’t describe it but I felt it. I think that’s the main thing that happened to Duran. His fight in Montreal was so PEAKED out that he never reached that form again. His brain and nervous system could never compute the way it did that day again. 

Leonard basically said to Duran, let me see you be perfect 2 fights in a row vs ME! Duran couldn’t and he knew it after 2 rounds in the rematch. He wasn’t getting beat up but he was being BESTED. And you have to remember they were 15 round fighters and it was only half way through. If you remember the 1st fight, Duran knew Leonard was the deepest of deep water sharks. Leonard took rounds 13,14 and 15 and gave himself a small case for winning the 1st fight. So Duran knowing how strong Leonard closes and being down in the rematch just said “F@#$ it”. I believe that wholeheartedly. I also believed he regretted it as soon as he did it. Duran is no coward. But he was very foolish for quitting. I thought Leonard was winning 6 rounds to 2. But the scorecards were closer. But in Duran’s mind, Leonard was having a great day and his day was just OFF. 

The notion that Leonard had all of these advantages are misguided. Leonard was 24 and had just suffered his 1st career loss to the world’s best fighter and he decided to run it right back with him. The weight of the world was on Leonard’s back. Can you imagine his career trajectory if he lost the rematch? Hearns was the WBA champion at 147. Pryor was one division below. Donald Curry was ascending. And Hagler was hovering at 160. Without hesitation Leonard rolled the dice in one of the ballsiest moves in boxing history and somehow he gets lauded because Duran quit. Leonard had optimistic thoughts on why he would win the rematch. He thought Duran would party and get out of shape. But that doesn’t mean Duran had to prove him right. Every single fighter in history has an optimistic view on why they will win. I’m sure Leonard thought he would win the 1st fight too. It’s ridiculous that people criticize his train of thought. Every fighter has a WHY.I have always believed history became conspiracy theorist on why Duran quit and your comment has put me over the top. To sum it up I think Duran just couldn’t get in the zone he was in, in the first fight. And when Leonard was better the 2nd time around, he simply said ok it’s 1 to 1, we can settle the tiebreaker in the next one. And after he did it, he immediately regretted it. 

Our parents teach us to think before we act. I don’t think Duran thought it out. He just quit. The food. The bribe. The weight. I have heard it all. But I really think he wasn’t having his best day. It would have been good enough to beat most fighters. But just not Ray Leonard. I have done several things in my life I wish I could take back. I have done several things I regret. But they weren’t in front of millions of people to judge. It’s why I don’t like people who harshly critique fighters. Before you ever wrote this into me, I have engaged in debates over Duran. Someone said to me a quitter is a quitter. And I said no way. You can’t compare a bad judgment call by Duran to fighters who ACT like they are more hurt than they are. Or quit because the kitchen is too hot in a fight. It’s not the same. Duran quit because he was Duran and he had won the 1st fight. But he wasn’t smart enough to realize the implications behind it. Most great fighters have a complacent and dismissive side to them and we saw Duran’s on November of 1980. I love both Leonard and Duran. I bought Duran entire lightweight title reign that’s how highly I think of him. But I don’t like to give people excuses. He QUIT but he’s still top 5 dead or alive! 

Hey Breadman,

What’s up? I trust that all is well with you and the family? Now that we’ve recently passed the one year anniversary of Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s unfortunate and untimely sudden demise, I have a question related to him. I honestly don’t think he gets the full credit he deserves as one of the all-time greats. Where do you think Hagler ranks all-time as a middleweight? Could he reasonably have a justifiable case as second all-time behind only the incomparable Sugar Ray Robinson?

Also, Hagler avenged all but one of his 5 draws and losses (3 defeats and 2 draws). He destroyed Sugar Ray Seales (whom he had a draw against) in one round in one of their two rematches. He knocked out Viti Antoufermo (also had a draw against him) in 4 rounds in their rematch. He knocked out Bobby Watts in the second round of their rematch. And he knocked out Willie Monroe twice (2nd and 12th round) in their two rematches. Notably, the only loss he didn’t avenge was his final loss to Sugar Ray Leonard. Discouraged by what he considered suspect judging, he retired after this fight, never to again do battle in the squared circle. Considering this, is Hagler the best rematch fighter of all time? Who are some of the better rematch fighters of all time, in your opinion? (The great Lennox Lewis comes to mind.)Thank you for elucidating us with your keen boxing insight. Continued blessings!

George from The Bahamas.

Bread’s Response: I disagree. I think Hagler is a legend that is revered by many. Hagler is so many fans favorite fighter because they can relate to him. He also hit the lottery by being the winner of what some call the best fight in history. I rate Hagler #3 all time at middleweight. A few years back I was asked to do a top 10 list at middleweight. And to my surprise I had Hagler rated over Monzon. I let my research take me where I was going and what I compiled was Hagler had a considerably better pre title reign. And his championship opponents were equal to Monzon’s.

 I also rate Hagler as a top 3 southpaw ever along with Whitaker and Pacquiao. 

As a rematch fighter Hagler has a case for being #1. He scored a ko vs every single opponent he ever rematched except one. That’s remarkable. He’s 11-0-1 with 10 kos in rematches overall. He fought Sugar Ray Seales 3x and their middle fight was a draw. The last one Hagler kod him in 1. He also has a DQ win in a rematch vs Jimmy Owens. Owens was DQ for holding. The most amazing thing about Hagler in rematches is that they all were ended faster than the fight before with the exception being the draw vs Seales. 

The only other fighter with a body of work as large as Hagler’s in rematches with his number of kos that didn’t take a loss was Joe Louis. Louis is 9-0 in rematches with 8 kos and like Hagler he ended all of the rematch fights earlier with the exception of 1 which he went the distance vs Omelio  Agramonte. Louis was 36 and clearly past it. So in terms of the greatest rematch fighters in history I say Louis is 1 and Hagler is 2. But the places can easily be reversed Hagler was that good in rematches. 

Other great rematch fighters were Sugar Ray Robinson, who avenged his first 4 blemishes on his record vs Henry Brimm, Jose Basora, Jake Lamotta and Randy Turpin. Robinson had draws with Brimm and Basora that he avenged with wins. He also beat Bobo Olson in 3 rematches. Kid Gavilan in a rematch. Carmen Basilio in a rematch. Gene Fulmer in a rematch. Fritize Zivic in a rematch and Sammy Angott in 2 rematches. I don’t know if anyone has more rematch wins vs HOF than Robinson does. Only Paul Pender and Gene Fulmer got the better of Robinson in rematches but he was ancient by the time they were concluded. Robinson’s record is not as perfect as Louis and Hagler in rematches but he has way more rematch wins vs HOF.

Obviously Lennox Lewis avenged his blemishes in rematches. He beat Holyfield, McCall and Rahman in rematches. He’s undefeated. 

Carlos Monzon was very good in rematches also. He was actually undefeated. But he wasn’t the destroyer Hagler and Louis was in their rematches. Monzon’s opponents did a little better overall but none were able to beat him. From my research Monzon had 14 rematches and won them all. But I have to add the scoring in Argentina was extremely bizarre he had 8 draws on his record before he came to America. That’s an unusual amount but Nicolino Locche had a similar record and they’re countrymen.

The last fighter I will mention is Muhammad Ali. Ali was money in rematches. He defeated Henry Cooper, Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Joe Bugner, Joe Frazier 2x, Ken Norton 2x and Leon Spinks. Ali was 9-0 in rematches with only the 3rd Norton fight being controversial. 

Hello Breadman ,                            

Very intriguing how Jaime Munguia has asked to be removed from mandatory status , refusing championship fights. He has refused a championship fight with Andrade . What is so unbelievable about this , Munguia was ordered an eliminator with Zhanibek Alimkhanuly to fight for the title . He turns this down , then is rewarded with a offer to fight Charlo for the title . He can go straight for the championship . But he turns down this as well . Should this not just drop him from the rankings, why be ranked one or two, when you wont fight . He will not fight as either a number one contender or a mandatory challenger . Very odd it seems . My next question is do you think Bud Crawford is sincere about going to one fifty four and a fight with Jermell Charlo . I would love to see this fight . I think Bud has a great chance against Charlo . And GGG Murata , please give us a breakdown on this one .                                                                                                                              

Thank You                                                                                      

J.B.

Bread’s Response: I don’t understand why Jaime Munguia was so highly ranked for so long and wasn't forced to either take his mandatory shot or lose his spot. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a fighter not take this level of fight as a challenger. I believe that if you turn down your mandatory then you should be removed out of the rankings for 18 months because you set another fighter back from his chance. With the only acceptable reason is an injury.  I also don’t get why some members of the media turn a blind eye to what has happened with Munguia. I read that Munguia wanted the Charlo fight on DAZN but how can he dictate that and he’s the challenger? But more importantly he could’ve fought Andrade on DAZN and chose not to. I just don’t understand this as the mandatory. I know those are tough title shots, but at some point you have to fight. Fighters dream of becoming world champions and now Munguia has basically turned down two title shots. All I can say is he’s very privileged to be able to do that. 

Jermell Charlo has a big fight coming up vs Brian Castano. Let’s not look past Castano and match him with Crawford. That’s a great fight. But I do think Crawford is serious about going to 154. He needs a big name and 147 is running low on big names besides Errol Spence and Keith Thurman. I can’t really call GGG vs Murata. At one time I would have picked GGG by a brutal ko. But that was a long time ago. I just don’t know what he has left. Although he got the ko in his last fight, I think the official helped him a little bit because the stoppage was a little early in my opinion. GGG is still able to hit hard. He still has heavy hands. But he hasn’t shown that extra gear to get a guy out of there lately. So it’s hard to call at this point.

Breadman-What a fight!!! Although these two may not be the best in the weight division, the fight delivered as far as skill, will and excitement. Where do you think these two go next after this grueling fight? Onto the politics of boxing. Why is it that we hear all these call outs as fighters are getting ready for a fight or getting ready to announce a fight? Usually, it's around this time and then it's radio silence until this goes on again? Is it their management and/or promoters telling them to do so or do you think the fighter is self promoting? I personally think it's a bad reflection as these guys come off as all talk and not truly wanting the smoke. Again, I can respect a fighter who's speaks truth like Mayweather, he says it's about the money. Lots of fights are being announced and although they're okay, they're not the ones the fans want to see for instance Munguia vs Mall, Plant vs Benavidez, etc. I can respect if it's a subject you would rather not touch on. You usually speak facts without ever showing a bias.

As always Breadman, take care.

Richard K.

Oregon 

Bread’s Response: Leigh Wood and Michael Conlan put on a show. I’m very happy for Wood. He showed a special kind of determination. Despite Conlan being slightly more talented Wood never accepted anything but a win. He was willing to overcome. His objective was to defeat. That was special. I hope he can show that type of determination for the next few years. What he did was legendary. 

By the way, Wood hit Conlan with a right hand on the right side of his face to get the ko. When fighters land sharp shots on the opposite of the face that the opponent is used to being hit on, it has a different effect. Charlo did the same exact thing to Lubin. The head is not used to being snapped that way and it really throws off the senses. 

I think Conlan performed well also. But for the last few years I got the feeling that Conlan was taking long to develop. Whenever I see that from a highly touted prospect I wonder what’s wrong. I saw the same thing in Jason Quigley. There are cases like Deontay Wilder and Kelly Pavlik where they take long and they still turn out to be elite. But often times it’s hard to overcome. Conlan has world champion talent but I don’t know if he’s going to be a world champion. That was a really tough loss. He’s going to have to show some great character to get back on track. Not every fighter can lose in that type of devastating fashion and get back on course.

What do you think about older fighters going up in weight to get a new lease on life? For example, Kovalev at CW. I suspect that he will have an even harder time taking punches than he did later in his career at LHW. Speaking of which, if GGG fights Canelo in the fall, it is supposed to be at 168. Does that weight class benefit Canelo more than GGG, and if so, why? Lastly, did you hear that Canelo was going on about how the rubber match with GGG would be personal. That GGG said bad things about him? What the hell? Nothing he said--as far as I know--was wrong. Is it Canelo overcompensating for the truth?

Thanks for your time.

Jay

Bread’s Response: I think that when fighters get older their metabolism slows down and making weight becomes harder. But the biggest issue is they simply don’t stay on top of the scales. If you weigh yourself everyday, then gaining weight won’t creep up on you. Sometimes a fighters has to move up. Sometimes lack of discipline is the reason. I think Kovalev is done no matter what division he fights in. But being heavier does help with the punch resistance because you have more water, fat and protein in your body to absorb punches. That’s a fact. That’s why rehydration is so important.

I didn’t hear what Canelo said about it being personal. But if anyone should be upset it should be GGG. The cool thing about boxing is if you don’t like someone you can legally assault them.

Thanks for your reply. Overall your points made a great deal of sense to me. I will, speak to North American mindset and why people won't fight as readily for their country as Ukrainians, here's what I think. I think that when you don't have to work for something, you respect it less. Since WW2 there has been a diminishing of appreciation for what freedom is. Advanced democracies typically provide for people without them having to deeply consider it. You made an important distinction about MOST serviceman, and the FEW bad apples. I blame social media. I think it's algorithm helps pit people against one another. We get too extreme but we forget that we are more like than different. We all need to eat. We all laugh. We all cry. We all like waking up from a good night's sleep. Anyway, in society, more or less, people get what they want. They don't have to fight for survival.

In the late 1800's 1 in 4 children died from tuberculosis (nevermind other contributers to mortality). War, physical crime, and injury were more common, and you got less compensation. Living longer was a miracle. People worked longer for less opportunity, and they died sooner. People were more grateful back in the day. I read a great book called "With The Old Breed," by E.B. Sledge, and he served in the Pacific Theater during WW2. He quoted someone who said, "if this country is good enough to live in, it's good enough to fight for," and that line really stuck with me. It gave me perspective. I don't know about you, but society today is messed up. I agree with what you said about heart and how it doesn't always manifest in the same way. It made me think back to your "types of punchers", like "Heavy Handed Debilitators", and I wonder if you can classify types of heart/mindset of people/boxers as well. Is that possible for you to do?

Thanks for your time.

Jay

Bread’s Response: You guys must love my mailbag about the type of punchers there are. You know I did that off the top of my head one day when asked. It just flowed. I will try to do it about heart. I don’t want to be morbid but when talking about heart I have to. 

Come to Die Heart are fighters who come one way. You have to ko them to beat them to a pulp. They have absolutely no give in their make up. They go to the BURGER! They don’t win every fight but they don’t stop trying. They don’t compromise. Diego Corrales, Carmen Basilio, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Evander Holyfield, Arturo Gatti. 

Winning Heart. These are fighters who people look at as business men. They get to call shots. But once they get in that ring, these are guys killers. They go the wall and they often take the heart of fighters people thought they were scared of. Their similar to Come To Die fighters but most times these guys are pretty boys who people think don’t have killer heart in them. Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De Hoya.

Love of the Game Heart. These are fighters who may not overcome the most adversity. They know their limits in the ring and they may capitulate and come back to fight another day. But they always come back and they’re literally willing to fight anyone. Wladimir Kilitschko, Anthony Joshua, Kell Brook and Miguel Cotto.

Pride Heart. These are fighters are not full blown attackers. They may do things that people don’t like. But if you attack their pride and corner them they don’t give. They fight. Hector Camacho, Prince Naseem Hamed, Floyd Patterson.

Anybody Anywhere Anytime Guys. These guys are just born fighters. They’re so tough they don’t have to show the Come to Die heart because they’re rarely in that type of trouble. But they just love to fight and they’re willing to get down with anybody. Anybody. They don’t have picks. Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, James Toney, Roman Gonzalez. I free styled. How do you like it?

Hello Breadman,

Thank you for answering my question about best runs a few weeks ago. I went straight on to Youtube! I just watched Floyd vs Maidana 1 again and a couple things immediately stood out to me. In round 1 I saw Floyd get hit high on the head by a hard overhand right that literally 'bent' his head. This punch would literally drop or at least discombobulate and throw the balance of almost any fighter, yet Floyd took it without showing any effect. When you look at the shot he ate from Shane too it would seem that he had a pretty good chin (as well as some of it being him always getting into elite shape). He out-trained most of his opponents so in a way would win even before the fight began. He doesn't just take over down the stretch because of adjustments, it's also because it's simply hard to match his conditioning for 12 rounds.

In the second round Maidana hit him low up against the ropes, and Floyd immediately tried to hit him low back (Maidana blocked it). What you said in your most recent mailbag is true and gets overlooked with Floyd because of his skills - he is a really tough, mean 'dog'. You don't have the level of success that he did over such a long period of time without being an extremely competitive person. However I did also notice throughout the fight that Floyd was looking to the referee quite a lot in clinches, even talking to him at times. It was almost as though he was applying pressure that "You know I'm the A-side here". Facing Floyd in Vegas might be the toughest out in boxing history. Not taking anything away from him, it's just the reality. There was too much money behind him so in a sense you're not just fighting him but also the business and system of BOXING.

With that being said I have two questions for you.1) If you were to train someone to fight Floyd, how would you try to beat him? To some extent this would depend on the fighter you had, but ideally what would be the gameplan? Personally I would look for a mix of Maidana and Oscar. I think that the way Oscar doubled and tripled up on one side/hand works quite well against the alternating shoulder roll defense Floyd uses. I also think that the way Maidana would at times try to draw Floyd's counter, and then counter the counter is the only way you're going to 'outbox' Floyd without going for pure pressure like Castillo. Floyd is physically gifted enough that he essentially forces you to play chess with him. If you notice he quite often takes round 4 off and lets the opponent punch themselves out thinking that they are having some success.

Also, I feel like I'm crazy but I haven't seen anybody else talk about how Floyd will always plant his foot and get up on his right toes before throwing a lead right hand. He does it a lot. Surely other teams will have seen this and tried to exploit it? He never throws a lead right hand without doing this. Sometimes he will posture up like this then put his foot back down when he changes his mind not to throw it, but he never throws it without doing this little 'routine' first.2) Hypothetically: If you had a young welterweight ready for his first title shot, but the two champions in the division at the time were a prime Ray Robinson and a prime Thomas Hearns, who would you put him in with and why?

Again, call me crazy but I might be inclined to go up against Ray over Tommy he is simply all-time scary at welterweight. (Real answer is probably try and make them fight each other ha ha)

Bread’s Response: Floyd Mayweather had everything a fighter would want except one punch ko power and he never really needed it. He responded like a G vs Maidana. He did some complaining but he didn’t cower. It’s a big difference. Maidana hit Floyd low and Floyd hit him low back. Maidana was being dirty but Floyd can be dirty also. Floyd has no character flaws inside a boxing ring. I’ve watched him close. He takes guys hearts who the public think he was scared of. Special fighter. Every fighter has tendencies. I can’t tell you how I would train a fighter to beat Floyd because you didn’t give me a fighter. You asked me for a gameplan and that depends on the fighter. But I would have whoever the fighter was study Floyd’s tendencies. 

So here are his tendencies. He leans a little forward and points his back foot towards you, when he wants to do his pull counter right hand or lead right hand. Speaking of Maidana he did his homework because he almost clipped Floyd in the rematch by shooting a right hand at the same time Floyd did the move. I think it was at the end of the 3rd or 4th round.

Floyd’s next tendency is his jab. This is harder to pick up on. Floyd has an underrated great jab. His jab sets up 3 shots. It sets up the jab to the head. The jab to the body. Or a lead left hook to the head. They all come out looking the same exact way. He tore Diego Corrales up with this. Corrales didn’t know where the jab was going, it literally made him dizzy and then Floyd switched it up and lead with a hook and dropped him and that was basically the fight. 

The last thing Floyd does is break rhythm. He moves off the bounce. Then he moves off the step. You have to identify when he’s changing rhythm and why he’s changing rhythm. The only punch Floyd has been consistently hit with was a jab. I would work on breaking rhythm. Cotto and Oscar had major success with a simple jab. But it has to be an educated, rhythm breaking jab. Ray Robinson is the best fighter in the history of boxing. But Tommy Hearns is the hardest match up in boxing history. Pick your poison. I really don’t know.

What up Bread man?147 has that flavor. Blair "Flair" Cobbs is a marketing genius capping on Spence. I mean you got to do what you got to do to get heard. We all know that Golden Boy does knot  have interest or know how to market Black fighters. I am not going racial either. Seems like PBC is the BET channel of boxing. So much competition at 147 with my two dawgs Ennis and Ortiz. Conner Benn is in the mix. Maybe Cobbs can make some noise. Love Spence and Crawford along with the other soon to be grey  haired regulars but the kids are coming to spice this up. History always repeats itself. Leonard and Hearns use to be those kids a long time ago: let's root for Ortiz, Ennis, and Ben to make history. Just need the opportunity. Skies the limit !!

Peace, Mr. Blount

Bread’s Response: Blair Cobbs has found his place. He has the Ric Flair persona. The look and doesn’t seem to care who he offends or calls out. I know Blair. I’ve seen him in the gym. He’s talented. He hits hard and he’s very fast. But he’s 32 and he seems vulnerable. Because of all of the talk. Everyone is going to be tuning in to see him lose. 

But I have to say....Very few fighters in history have talked as much as him and been able to take a loss well. It’s one thing to call guys out but it’s something different to be as outlandish as him. For the exception of Ali I can’t think of any who had that level of personality and took losses well and came back better. Even Naseem Hamed, who was a HOF. Took a loss and fought once more and retired and he wasn’t 30 yet. Cobbs is going to have to fight really hard to keep his 0, because the backlash will be brutal. 

But here is the thing I respect. Cobbs is the underdog vs Rocha Saturday night. I had no idea he was the underdog until this morning. It really takes some big balls to talk the way he’s talking and being expected to lose.

Welterweight historically is the best division in the history of boxing. The world’s best welterweight is usually exclusively considered a great fighter, HOF level fighter and often times one of the best 10 fighters in the world. From Mickey Walker to Barney Ross to Henry Armstrong to Ray Robinson to Kid Gavilan to Emille Griffin to Jose Napoles to Wilfred Benitez to Ray Leonard to Roberto Duran to Tommy Hearns to Donald Curry to Simon Brown to Marlon Starling to Buddy McGirt to Pernell Whitaker to Meldrick Taylor to Ike Quartey to Felix Trinidad to Oscar De La Hoya to Shane Mosley to Miguel Cotto to Floyd Mayweather to Manny Pacquiao to Errol Spence to Terence Crawford. This era will be no different. If Boots or Ortiz win the titles then they will run the show.

Send Questions to dabreadman25@hotmail.com