By Stephen 'Breadman' Edwards

The Daily Bread Mailbag returns, with Stephen 'Breadman' Edwards answering questions on the recent middleweight fight between Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and Amir Khan, Canelo vs. Gennady Golovkin, Glen Tapia, Mike Dallas vs. Dusty Harrison, and more.

Craig Purdie

Bread’s Response: Khan has lots of skills but not ALL the skills required to fight such a fight. His lack of concentration and ability to process is what keeps him from being a great fighter.

Yes I give Canelo a reasonable chance to win his fight vs GGG. Canelo is hard to win a decision against. Extremely hard. It’s something about his judge friendly punches that influences the judges in his favor. He’s expected lo lose to GGG so a competitive performance may lead to over compensating in the scoring. He also has a good chin so its not out of the question he can go the distance. I say 65/35 in GGG’s favor at this moment.

Your call on Canelo vs Khan was perfect. I never really looked at the difference between speed and quickness until you pointed it out. I was telling my buddies how you broke it down. They were laughing at me because Khan was winning early. But by the 5 th round they weren’t laughing anymore. Canelo started timing him and you could see the fight changing. Then kaboom! Khan never saw that shot. Best breakdown of a fight I have seen. My question to you is do you think Khan is too fast. Do you think it’s a curse to be that fast?

Bread’s Response: Thanks my man.

Yes I actually do think it’s a curse to be that fast. I won’t say it would be a curse for every fighter but it’s a curse for Khan. It wasn’t a curse for Roy Jones and Ray Leonard….

John Wooden the great basketball coach used to say “be quick but don’t hurry.” Boxing is not basketball the rule still applies. In life it’s never good to hurry. Hurrying causes the brain to forget things. Think about the times you have hurried out of your house late for an engagement. Then think about how often you forgot something while hurrying to leave. Now think about how Amir Khan is so engulfed in certain spots in a fight to land punches. And think about how he gets clipped.

It’s almost as if he forgets the other guy is punching back. He doesn’t even realize he’s being set up. Against Danny Garcia and Canelo Alvarez you could see what was about to happen but Khan couldn’t. In both fights you could see Alvarez and Garcia sort of lining Khan up for the money shot. Both fights Khan got caught in the middle of his own punches. He’s faster than both guys but they think quicker than he does. Meaning their response time to an act is actually better than his. Khan’s general movement is just more rapid.

Khan does not transition well from offense to defense. And it’s because of his speed. When you’re going 100 mph it’s hard to come to a complete stop and change directions and mindsets. Khan is a great a talent but this flaw keeps him from being a great fighter. Unfortunately for him I think it could be too late. He would have had to have a coach who recognizes this very early in his childhood to correct this. He’s become too good at doing the wrong thing.

What in the hell happened to Glen Tapia? I can remember he was looked at right there with the Charlos, Andrade and Jrock about 4 years ago. Now he looks shot at 26. I can’t believe the Kirkland loss did all of that. I’ve seen guys like Azumah Nelson come back from 15 rounds of that beating vs Salvador Sanchez and go on to have a HOF career.

Bread’s Response: I really don’t know what happened to Tapia. But I do know Top Rank’s matchmakers did a great job with him. I can remember when he was struggling a little bit a few years ago, they scaled him back and got him about 5 or 6 kos in a row. Which built up his record and confidence and it allowed them to take a shot at Kirkland. I thought the Kirkland stoppage was brutal but I don’t know if it ruined him or not. Fighters have taken worse beatings and came back better.

That’s a hard call. Maybe it ruined him. Maybe he wasn’t a blue chip prospect anyway. Maybe it’s a combination of both. Nevertheless in his 3 step up fights he was brutalized and stopped early each time which is not a good look in this era. His last fight vs Lemieux was nothing more than a showcase for Lemiuex. The writing was on the wall. I hope Tapia makes out. He’s a nice kid, I would hate to see him get used up. Boxing is the cruelest of all sports.

Now that Canelo dispatched Khan where do you think the Fall will lead us. Kovalev vs Ward, GGG vs Canelo, Mayweather vs Garcia, Crawford vs Postol, Charlo vs Jrock, Santa Cruz vs Frampton. Anything other big possibilities I missed.

Bread’s Response: From your mouth to God’s ears. I can hopefully us boxing junkies could be so lucky. You forgot Thurman vs Porter and possibly Chocalito vs Estrada and Brook vs Spence.

Breadman,

I just watched JC Chavez vs. Greg Haugen.   Who wins between the Chavez that beat Haugen or the super sharp Mayweather that beat Arturo Gatti?

I am getting excited for Postol vs. Crawford.   How does the disciplined Eastern European style typically fare against the urban boxer?

How are you calling this fight?

Paulie Malinaggi and others were saying how great Amir Khan's jab was after the fight, but I saw someone who has incredibly fast hands but limited accuracy.   it seems like he loves shooting a fusillade of shots but there is no accuracy and Canelo picked up on that.   Where Mayweather kept Canelo guessing because he shot, sharp accurate shots that made canelo question coming forward.  should khan slow his output to increase his accuracy like some announcers are saying Westbrook should sometimes slow his attack to be more effective?

Billy Bomaye

Bread’s Response: I’m a huge Chavez fan. I watch him intensely. But if you know his career you will know he was slightly past his peak by the time he fought Haugen. He was still in his prime but he wasn’t at his absolute peak. Peak Chavez started around his fight with Ruben Castillo. He was a little young and spotty at 130 but the Castillo fight was his first master performance. His best performance in my opinion was against Edwin Rosario. He was also money vs Roger Mayweather both times and Jose Ramirez. Check out those fights and tell me what you see.  Floyd was peaking vs Gatti and that Floyd would beat the Chavez from the Haugen fight. JC would need to be peaking to beat Floyd. When I get hypotheticals I always imagine both guys at their peaks….

The Eastern Euros handle the urban fighters the best. Lomachenko did great vs Gary Russell. Krusher Kovalev did well against Bernard Hopkins. GGG was able to handle Curtis Stevens, Willie Monroe and Dominic Wade. Crawford has his work cut out for him.

I say Crawford by decision but he’s really going to have to earn it. Freddie Roach seems to see something in Crawford he thinks is exploitable. I think his superior athleticism will get him over down the stretch but this is a real fight.

Floyd Mayweather hits you right on the kisser with clean shots. Amir Khan slashes you about with a multiple shots. I will take accuracy over speed any day of the week.

Did you get a chance to Dusty Harrison vs Mike Dallas? If so what the hell is up with that DC commission. I remember the referee conveniently took points away from Amir Khan for pushing and Lamont Peterson actually needed the point to get the win. Now in this fight Harrison is getting outfought and he hits Dallas low. The referee calls it a knockdown and Harrison needs that exact point to get a draw. I know Dallas is not going anywhere but he deserved better. That was bullsh*t Bread!

Bread’s Response: Yes I saw the fight. First off I want to congratulate Dallas and Harrison. That was a really good fight. Both of those kids really gave it their all. Harrison actually showed character. Despite losing he kept fighting hard and he never stopped trying to win. But Mike Dallas Jr. won that fight and there was really no need for controversy. Even when Harrison started coming on Dallas would outfight him and answer Harrison’s punches with more of his own. Dallas was very conscientious of not getting out hustled.

Despite Harrison doing better in the 2nd half of the fight I still thought Dallas was doing better work. I don’t get how the outcome was even in doubt. It was a clear win for Mike Dallas. And I feel horrible that he was denied a victory. The B-side kid that no one cares about gets that treatment much too often. But these things will keep happening because these officials don’t lose their jobs over these types of things. They get “rewarded” with more opportunities.

I have seen it a thousand times. The B side guy keeps getting robbed. Then he finally gets an opportunity to breakthrough in a winnable fight and he no longer has it.  It just happened to Mauricio Herrera last week vs Frankie Gomez. I think Mike Dallas will suffer the same fate. It’s hard to keep getting up throughout training camps to not get rewarded with official victories. Mike Dallas won that fight!

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