The Daily Bread Mailbag returns with Stephen "Breadman" Edwards tackling topics such as Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin, WBC junior welterweight champion Devin Haney, weight bullies, Daniel Dubois vs. Jarrell Miller, WBO champion Teofimo Lopez, and more.

Is Otto Wallin good enough to beat Anthony Joshua or is he just good enough to provide a scare and a good show? Thank you so much and have a great Christmas!

Bread’s Response: This fight has me perplexed. I’m literally saying to myself WHY. Why fight a fighter, so close to Usyk in terms of style, when Usyk just beat you twice. So either Joshua is the most Gun Ho matchmaker in the sport, or he made a huge mistake. My guess is Wallin is good enough to beat Joshua, but I don’t know if he will. The judges will be a huge factor in this fight and with Joshua vs Wilder lurking…..

Hey Mr. Edwards,

Best wishes for the festive season for you and family. Just a few random issues from me this time. Let's not get carried away. In Regis Prograis, Devin Haney beat a guy who was just a solid pro on the slide. Prograis will never get within hailing distance of the Hall of Fame. So, this thing of writing up Haney's victory in the stars must stop. Let's leave it to his father who is fully entitled to place Haney at the top of the pile because blood is thicker than water and Devin is clearly the apple of his eye. I learned that Devin fought a lot in Mexico on the way up and I think this has helped him with his output in the ring. However, there's a lot of all-action Mexican fighters who are not considered great.

For me, Devin fits that mold. He might go on to win five titles in five different weight divisions and amass a fortune in the process. But all Devin will ever be worth is a nomination on the ballot of the HOF but as to being inducted, the best he can get is maybe that he is posted on the road to Canastota as a guide to boxing luminaries who gather for induction. It's not a knock on Devin. It's more an indictment of the state of boxing. I love this sport so much but I think the day is coming when I will have to walk away from it because I no longer recognize it. The best refuse to fight the best with impunity and suited men dethrone undisputed champions at the stroke of a pen. I will only stay in boxing if the best fighters fought each other with no belts at stake so as to eliminate these greedy leeches and keep their pudgy hands from sanctioning fees. Look at Sugar Ray Leonard's run between August 1979 and September 1981. It's easy to forget Pete Ranzany and Andy Price. But I tell you, there were no tougher contenders in the history of boxing than those two. Leonard fought them back-to-back and a couple of fights later was in with a lock-in Hall of Famer in Wilfred Benitez. The dust had barely settled on that and he was already staring across the ring at the crazed gaze of an ATG in Roberto Duran.

No sooner had the cheers died down from that than he was in there with a freak of nature in Thomas Hearns. And all Devin can show us for his purported greatness is George Who, Jorge Who (who made him chicken dance, by the way) and a washed up Prograis. I know it's a very unfair to compare a limited fighter like Devin with Leonard but I was annoyed by Bill Haney trying to place Devin on a higher pedestal than Floyd Mayweather Jr. Adore your son by all means but don't insult greatness while you are doing it. By the way, I'm mad at Mayweather talking rubbish about Leonard, Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson, among others.

These were men who never ducked anyone while Floyd ducked a few of his contemporaries. But he's still way out of Devin's league and inasmuch as Floyd should apologize every day to the ATG's he disrespected, Bill Haney or his son must apologize to Mayweather. While Mayweather himself is an ATG, he's at the foot of Mt Rushmore while the guys he disrespected are at the summit. But the fact is, at Devin's age, Floyd was STOPPING opponents. Pillow-fisted Devin goes the distance every time. So, Haney senior is a bit delusional saying Devin has achieved more than Floyd did at the same stage of their careers. Moneywise, perhaps, because Devin got easy DAZN money but in the end Floyd made the sort of money neither Devin nor any other fighter will ever make. I was never more mad than when Bill downplayed Terrence Crawford's win over Errol Spence Jr. It's so annoying that a lot of people are still trying to rationalize Spence's defeat rather than celebrate Crawford's victory. Crawford beating Spence is not like Devin beating Prograis.

This is the same Spence who had dominated both Danny Garcia and Yordenis Ugas AFTER his accident and weight issues. Haney-Prograis is a prelim fight by comparison with Crawford-Spence. Devin can't carry Floyd and Crawford's water buckets. He has to wash their cars outside the arena. Quick ones: I think Otto Wallin ends Anthony Joshua's career, Joseph Parker puts a beating on Deontay Wilder for a few rounds but after the administration of some smelling salts, he asks what happened. I don't know about Jarrell Miller. If he loses to a quitter like Daniel Dubois, which is very possible, I think it's over for him. I would like to hear your views on that Saudi Arabia extravaganza. Weekend afterthoughts: Well done Bam Rodriguez. The British lured Moruti Mthalane to their country with what he thought was a decent payday, proceeded to rob him blind against a man who ran, hugged and patted the whole night, and never even offered him a rematch. I hope Bam has battered that bum into retirement. I am sorry for some of my language in this email Mr Edwards but you know I write clean. It's just that some of the subjects are so emotional for me. MM: Aaron Pryor v Floyd Mayweather at 140 pounds.

The late Pryor said it's a six round fight. I don't think it ends that early but Floyd struggled so much with the pressure of Jose Luis Castillo while he was in his prime and avoided Paul Williams like the plague. Why, if Marcos Maidana had an engine, Floyd was in serious trouble, granted he was past his best at that time. I think Pryor stops him between the 10th and 12th rounds even though I believe that the Floyd who stopped Arturo Gatti was as close to Pryor as the greatest 140 pounder ever as Antonio Cervantes was. Floyd just didn't have enough firepower to keep the Cincinnati Madman off him. I saw Alexis Arguello hit Pryor with a right hand that could have frozen a heavyweight as a round ended and Pryor just stood there and faced him down so that his corner men had to beg him to come for a sponge down. What do you think?

Keep punching Mr Edwards Katlholo, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Bread’s Response: Long winded I see…Devin Haney has a chance to go in the HOF. He’s on a good road if you ask me. He’s 31-0 and he’s 25 years old. He’s also turning into a star which helps with the matchmaking. You’re very knowledgeable but you get too emotional which effects your ability to be objective. I am numb to my feelings about fighters. I don’t want to see anything. I just see what happens…..

This era is not great. But it’s also not horrible. We just have to adjust our minds and expectations. Fighters can’t help when they were born. 

Bill Haney loves his son. So he’s going to think his son is the best. I wouldn’t overthink his comments because he’s coming from a place you aren’t coming from, Devin is NOT your son.

Either Joshua is crazy for fighting Wallin or he knows something. He did beat Wallin as an amateur so maybe he knows something.

I disagree on Wilder vs Parker. I like Wilder by ko in the first half of the fight. 

Miller is the underdog vs Dubois which is sort of bizarre to me. I can’t get a hold on this fight. I haven’t seen Miller fight in about 4 years. And Dubois is a fighter who never gets legitimately gets knocked down. But he has about 6 official knockdowns in his career on taking knees. I’m not saying that taking a knee is the worst thing in the world, but I’ve never seen anyone take 6 knees. I have no idea what will happen in this fight but I do know both of their career’s are on the line. 

Twist my arm I say Dubois wins because although he's had a rough go of it lately, he has been going. He's fought a tough guy in Joe Joyce. And a HOF in Usyk. Both are levels above Miller. I don't know what the weigh in weights will be but Miller looks between 325lbs-330lbs. I just don't know if a boxer can be THAT heavy and apply a volume style. Miller is not a huge puncher, but he's big so obviously his punches hurt. But his game is volume. He may not be able to put too much volume pressure on Dubois being so apparently heavy. Let's see how it plays out.

Aaron Pryor is a rough fight for Floyd Mayweather stylistically because in the rock, paper, scissors of boxing, volume pressure can overcome pure boxing. Floyd had his hardest struggles vs ferocious volume. Pryor is the epitome of that. Pryor is a madman in a good way. He's also fast and athletic with serious boxing ability. For arguments sake I can see them having to fight 3 times to settle it.

What’s up to one of the best boxing minds in the game. Question- why does boxing allow weigh - ins 36-48 hours before a fight and not do same day weigh-ins like back in the day ??? I believe it is a horrible rule, and makes a lot of the fights unfair. You have fighters who master the art of trying out to a crazy weight like Devon Haney and David Benavidez and then by fight time they are literally 25 to 30 pounds heavier and the fights are unfair. What are your thoughts?

Joe from New Jersey

Bread’s Response: For every rule there will be someone that will push their competitive edge to the limit. The rule changed to day before weigh ins because of two reasons in my opinion. One is because of the Michael Spinks vs Eddie Mustafa Muhammad rematch. Muhammad came in over weight and Spinks refused to fight him. The fight was scheduled for a weekend afternoon on free tv and it caused an uproar. The second reason is obvious, health. Fighters get more time to rehydrate, which causes less brain injuries. 

In my opinion weigh ins are too early in the day, the day before. I’ve seen weigh ins in the morning like 10am and the fighters don’t walk into the ring until 10pm the next day which is a clean 36 hours. Weigh in times should be set in stone. Maybe 4pm or 5pm. I think that’s as fair as you can make it, while also trying to be safe.

Maybe around 2 to 3 years ago the term the ‘4 kings’ or ‘new 4 kings’ was first thrown around for Lopez, Haney, Garcia and Davis. Rightfully you rejected this as disrespectful and pointed out they need to fight each other to be even started to be compared to Hagler, Hears, Duran and Leonard. However, they are slowly but surely starting to build up resumes of work. Now if I could respectfully swap out Garcia for Shakur (Shakur came a little later, but its clear now that Garcia is a level down from the others. I’d like your take on where they all stand now in terms of achievements and how you would see some head-to-head scenarios. There's been plenty trials and tribulations and challenges already to make some meaningful assessments on each of them, whilst appreciating there’s plenty of food left on their respective plates and much, much more to come. Firstly, recency bias can play a huge part, but Haney’s performance v Prograis was the best performance between them so far.

Do you agree ? I’ve watched it a few times already and may come back to it again as a bit of boxing porn – Like Calzaghe v Lacy, Maidana v Broner or Bowe v Holyfield! Lopez v Loma is next best, followed by Lopez v Taylor. Now Haney and Lopez have landed in 140 together, that must be the next fight. It probably won’t be, but let’s say they fought in spring who would you take right now? I’d go Haney as his development curve seems super high right now and he’s becoming a much better version of himself. He also looked super strong at 140 without losing a step. Lopez was classy as hell against Taylor- he looked strong and powerful. I just think Haney can take more rounds from Lopez, I think Lopez may need a knockdown or two to close the gap. Haney UD. I also factor in Haney's activity into that, plus Lopez has demons. As a side note was the previous class of 140’s overrated or did their super 6 take a lot out of them? At the time Prograis and Taylor fought I would have taken either of them against Haney or Lopez, and straight up laughed when Tank was beefing with Taylor!  Has their slide just coincided with the next generations rise? Or have they always been the superior fighters. Also, Mathias is nasty and maybe everyone benefits waiting him out for a while. Shak and Tank both need better wins to overtake Haney or Lopez in any P4P list but that’s not to say they aren’t as good. These two, for me, are even more naturally talented but if they both stay in their lanes for now at 135, then they should be fighting next. Who have you got? Firstly, I think it’s a bit of a stinker or at the very least a slow burner.

I think, stylistically its tanks worse match up. I don’t buy that Shakur will always fight super negative against big punchers- I just think his last performance was poor, he was just off. Tank waits on you, figures you out and pounces. Just think he’ll still be waiting for Shak and by the time it’s too late and he’s already looking at a decision loss. I think Tank can move up and trouble anyone at 140 though. And I think if he fought both Lopez and Haney up there, he’d knock at least one of them out. Not sure Shakur needs 140, not for a long time anyway. Finally, when all is said and done- who sits at the top. I know that’s a super hard question with lots of moving parts – so just give me your hunch. Finally, I wish the UK had even a smidgen of this talent to get excited about. Its real slim pickings at the moment, very little depth.

Andrew, Durham, UK

Bread’s Response: I love Haney’s performance vs Prograis but I don’t rate it over Lopez’s performance over Taylor. Let’s remember Taylor beat Prograis, so Taylor was the more highly regarded fighter. Taylor was a top 10 P4P fighter. And most importantly Lopez was the underdog vs Taylor. Haney was a prohibitive favorite over Prograis. Both were excellent but Lopez over Taylor has a slight edge in my opinion.

I don’t know why no one is talking about Haney vs Lopez at 140 for the lineal and ring title. That’s the fight. I think Devin has a stylistic advantage but Lopez is so well rounded he may make up for it. Let me think on it…Tank and Shakur is a great chess match. But I agree I don’t know if it’s a great action fight. But I don’t think it’s even close to happening. No need to discuss a fight that’s YEARS in the making. It’s too many variables to say who’s going to be on top. But I can say whoever remains in POWER will come out on top. Meaning who can stay the A side the longest. Because that fighter can dictate the terms and allow the others to eliminate themselves by attrition. 

The older 140s weren’t overrated. I think what they were, was excellent fighters. But these smaller guys who moved up like Devin and Teo are excellent fighters, who happened to be really talented and athletic. It’s not to say that Taylor and Prograis aren’t talented and athletic but it’s not on Devon and Teofimo's level. Talent and athleticism on top of the skills are hard to deal with. 

Stevenson, Haney, Lopez and Tank all rank differently, it just depends on what you're asking. Obviously in terms of box office appeal, Tank is the leader going away. Followed by Haney then Teo, then Shakur. 

Shakur is leading in terms of winning titles in the most weight classes. 

Teofimo is leading with the best wins. But he also has the worst loss.

Haney is leading in terms of upside. He seems to be improving the most and he's the youngest.

Hello Bread,

Question, as a trainer how much do you think a fighters disposition helps or hurts them? For example Subriel Mathias seems like a "mean" guy, his interviews about Maxim Dadshev, are eerie, he doesn't seem fazed like other fighters have in similar situations, the fact that Mathias was shot twice, stabbed, and in prison to me, have made him have a mean streak. He says he won't be happy if he doesn't put Rolly in a hospital if they ever fight. Thats cold talk from someone who actually was involved in a fatality in the ring. Some fighters to me are just mean and nasty, James Toney, Ray Mercer, Mike Tyson. Am I tripping or is that a real thing with fighters and does it give them an advantage??

Bread’s Response: Great question….I think dispositions matter. I like mean fighters. But I don’t like fake mean fighters. What I mean by fake mean. Is they’re only mean when they are the dog on top. I want a guy to mean when the opponent is better and he’s losing and he stays mean. I believe Matias is mean but I need to see him vs more world class opponents to see just how mean he really is. See we know Diego Corrales was MEAN against everybody. Floyd whipped him from pillar to post and Diego had ZERO give in him. He was nasty til the end. Tommy Hearns acted like a killer vs everybody!!! Then we have seen others who are only mean when they’re winning….But there are more dispositions than being MEAN. You can be confident like Floyd Mayweather. You can Clark Kent then turn into Superman like Ray Leonard. You can be Ali, a fun loving philanthropist, then in the ring he showed as much heart as anyone ever. The key to an effective disposition is being able to APPLY it in a fight. The worst thing a mean fighter can be is a front running BULLY. Because he will implode at some point…

For the record my favorite disposition are the ones like say Ray Leonard, Andre Ward and Roy Jones. They don't act like tough guys because they know they're tough. These guys are BULLY KILLERS. They bust the Bully's bubble because Bullies always try to bully the professional guy who is a just a winner. They confuse that professional demeanor with being a PUNK and every time someone tries to punk them it doesn't work.

Hey Breadman, long time reader and to keep short I value your opinions on boxing above all and continue the great work. My question is can you name and detail why to some of your favorite “old man” performances like Pac-Thurman, Duran-Barkley etc. I just got done watching Morales-Maidana and remember how scared for Morales’ wellbeing going into this fight. Him being smaller and older against a heavy handed Maidana but wow what a great fight and what a performance

Bread’s Response: Favorite “Old Man” performances. So many…Foreman vs Moorer, Robinson vs Fulmer, Moore vs Durelle, Duran vs Barkley, Pac vs Thurman, Carbal vs Arce, Hopkins vs Tarver, Hopkins vs Tarver, Toney vs Jirov……

Good Day Mr Edwards,

I'm going to try and make it short and sweet. I wanted to pick your brain on Devin's last performance. Do you feel that Devin has really improved or is he more or less the same, just had an opponent who was mismatched against him?No doubt he was way stronger, had way more stamina (both physically and mentally) and hits way harder at the new weight. That was easily noticeable and it's not a surprise at all because most of us knew he was killing himself to make 135lbs and would be much stronger and fresher at a higher weight.But I'm talking about the skills. Was there anything you felt improved or was it the same old Devin Haney in that respect just with an easier style match up compared to his last fight?Finally, the match making. I don't know if I'm imagining it but do you get the feeling that Devin's match making in the last four opponents has been all about preparing him for Shakur and Tank Davis?

Three out of four of them were southpaws, and we know his archrivals, Tank and Shakur, are southpaws. Based on Devin's performances against Jojo Diaz and Lomachenko, even though he won both fights, I feel it was easily noticeable that his southpaw game was a significant number of levels below his game against orthodox fighters, the difference was just too big and too noticeable. I suspect it's part of the reason Kambosis resorted to switch hitting in their rematch.  This is match making question also relates to my first question by the way. Its why I was asking if Devin really improved or if the style match up was just favorable. Put simply, I suspect they are trying to improve his game against southpaws to prepare him for the two aforementioned arch rivals of his, and it's why I'm so eager to know if you thought he really improved or not in terms of overall technique, tactics, strategy, punch selection, and execution against southpaws.

Curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Bread’s Response: I think you answered your own question. You said he seemed to hit harder, was way stronger and had way more stamina. So if these are true and you apply them to your skill, your skill will be better. Everything is interconnected. Devin has increased his leg strength. Therefore his movements are better. Therefore his skill set is improving because he’s doing it with more strength and athleticism. He also improved because he fought Loma and Diaz. Those 24 rounds helped him with Prograis. Devin’s matchmaking has been excellent. His dad is doing a great job. I don’t know if it’s on purpose but Devin has 36 rounds of world class boxing vs Southpaws. It will serve him well if he ever faces Tank or Shakur.

So to answer you directly. YES!! Devin has improved physically, skill wise and from an IQ stand point.

Breadman Happy Holidays! I am very interested in how your trained eye would put together a pound for pound list of fighters under 30 years old. There are a lot of fights amongst the younger generation that I am excited to see which unfortunately may never happen. Thus, I would love to see how you would rank the next generation of fighters based on what you have seen so far. Thanks!

Bread’s Response: The P4P Under 30 should be more of the P4P than anyone realizes. As a whole boxing holds on to the older guys a little too long. 

So let’s see in no order: Bam Rodriguez, Tank Davis, David Benavidez, Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, Boots Ennis, David Morrell, Jai Opteai, Teofimo Lopez and Tim Tszyu.

First a huge thank you.  You are the best! Secondly, I see a lot of people accusing Benevidez of being a 'weight bully' and IMHO this is bs. God gave all fighters strengths and weaknesses.  Nobody talks about Leonard as a skill bully, or Foreman as a power bully, or Lara as a speed bully.  They are just using their god given gifts.  Part of the fun of fights is to see which of those gifts, honed by training, wins out at the end of the day.  Is speed going to beat power etc etc. Being a big guy who can trim down more than most is just one of those gifts.  Deal with it and stop whining or maybe whine about the talents of your own favorite fighters.

Bread’s Response: You know what. I agree with you. As long as a fighter is making weight legally I personally don’t care how much they cut. Because there is a two sided coin to cutting massive amounts of weight. It’s all good until it’s not anymore. The same strength that blessed you can curse you.

So what I mean by that is for all of the fighters who cut massive amounts of weight then get to rehydrate and have a size advantage, those same fighters one day have poor weight cuts and have poor performances and blame it on the weight. So I don’t get into the weight bully stuff and I also don’t give fighters the excuse that they couldn’t make weight good when they lose or have poor performances. Trust me it goes both ways and it evens itself out over time.

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