By Stephen "Breadman" Edwards
The Daily Bread mailbag is back, with Stephen "Breadman" Edwards answered questions on the best fighters from 1980 to the present, thoughts on Amir Khan vs. Chris Algieri, thoughts on heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua, and more.
What’s up Bread I was born in 1980. Who would you say are the best fighters since 1980 or the last 35 years. Let’s say 10 best….
Bread’s Response: Geez you got me doing a list early in the am. Off the top of my head without comprehensive research….
1. Ray Leonard 2.Roy Jones 3.Pernell Whitaker 4.Marvin Hagler 5. Evander Holyfield 6.Julio Chavez Sr. 7. Floyd Mayweather 8. Salvador Sanchez 9. Manny Pacquiao 10.Thomas Hearns
Now watch and see, I will get bombarded with hateful emails because certain favorites are not high enough or not on my list at all.
Who do you think did the better coaching job between John David Jackson and Virgil Hunter? How did you score Khan vs Algieri?
Bread’s Response: I thought Khan won the fight. Didn’t really score it with a pen and pad. I was at a sports bar. But there was controversy in the bar because many in there felt Algieri was winning. I explained to them he wasn’t winning, he was just doing better than we all thought. I turned out to be right.
I would like to commend John Jackson on an outstanding coaching job. I was very impressed with Algieri’s conditioning, his body and his ability to press the fight and take Khan’s punches. It’s hard to say who did the better coaching job because Khan still won. I assume Hunter had to make some major adjustments because Algieri pretty much shocked everyone with his constant aggressiveness.
I’m not willing to say Hunter was out coached because Algieri performed better than we thought he would. I will say Jackson did a great job with him and Amir Khan is heavily flawed. He simply does not respond well to a fighter invading his space and becoming physical with him.
Who wins between Khan vs Brook? I don’t understand why they don’t fight to earn the shot at Floyd Mayweather? In the UK that’s an 8 figure fight for both guys. I think Khan is avoiding it because he has the inside track to Floyd. Kell would take it in a heartbeat.
Bread’s Response: At this moment I would pick Brook to defeat Khan. Brook is in a groove and Khan I believe has lost some confidence after his performance vs Algieri. Khan is the type of kid who compares himself to other fighters. And after Pacquiao comprehensively outperformed him vs Algieri I think it will dent his confidence. He is going to look for justification as to why he didn’t light Chris Algieri up.
Brook is not a swarming type of rough house fighter who seems to give Khan trouble but I just think the kid is so hot right now, so relaxed, and so honed in I would favor to beat everyone at 147 except Floyd Mayweather.
What do you make of Khan’s statements that if the Chris Algieri who showed up against him, showed up against Manny Pacquiao that he probably would have won. Was it an excuse or a shot at Pacquiao?
Bread’s Response: I could play the Devil’s Advocate and say Pacquiao is 36 years old and past his prime. Amir Khan is 28 years old and in his prime…..
I really don’t know if it was an excuse or a shot at Manny. But I do think that Amir has to be more humble and focus on boxing and improving his craft. I don’t believe Chris Algieri could walk to Manny Pacquiao like that for 12 rounds without being knocked out or at least dropped multiple times. I respect Amir Khan. He’s an excellent fighter and he has some quality victories. But he should have settled down, not been so skittish and put Algieri in his place. Amir won but he never put Algieri in his place. After fighting Pacquiao ,Algieri knew he was defeated. After fighting Khan, Algieri feels like he’s a winner. Big difference.
I read on Twitter that you felt Anthony Joshua is the 2nd best heavyweight in the world right now. Wow that’s a big statement. Also what did you think of Jorge Linares? He seems to be the goods but he has to be missing something. I just don’t get why he’s not a star.
Bread’s Response: Yes I feel as though Joshua is the 2nd best heavyweight in the world. I know it sounds premature but if you had your last $100 to bet on a fight, honestly who would you bet to defeat him besides Wlad Klitschko? I could be wrong but the division is dreadful to me and I just think the young man is the goods. We shall see…
Jorge Linares is as talented a fighter as I have seen come along in quite some time. He has perfect balance and punch delivery. He’s loose and relaxed. But his talent doesn’t match his substance. He doesn’t have a great chin and he doesn’t respond to punishment well. Even still he has had an excellent career. I love watching that kid fight. I think he’s missing natural toughness and he seems to do too much at times. But boy can he fight.
I used to take up for Miguel Cotto. I thought it sucked that he had to fight Pacquiao at 145lbs. You always said it was no big deal. I have to admit you were correct. Since then Cotto has asked for 3 catchweight fights and he doesn’t get anywhere near the sh*t that Manny caught. Do you think there is some kind of media conspiracy against Pacquiao where fighters get a pass for the same things he got bad ink for?
Bread’s Response: I don’t know about a media conspiracy but Pacquiao definitely has received lots of sh*t, (your word) that other guys get total passes for. Pacquiao has got pieces of his legacy discredited for winning titles in catchweight fights. But Cotto won the lineal middleweight title in a catchweight fight and no one speaks of it. I personally give both fighters full credit for winning their catchweight fights. But the rest of the public and media seem to pick and choose on such subjects. I have said it before and I will say it again,90% of the A side fighters will participate in a catchweight fight to gain a perceived advantage, make a certain fight and/or flex their A side stance. Now you guys see the light.
What's up Bread? I just wanted to get your thoughts on Khan-Algieri. Like you I thought that Amir would dominate but the fight was much more competitive than most anticipated. Why do you think Algieri was able to exceed expectations? What did you observe about his strategy? And what do you think about his decision to press the action despite his lack of power? I liked it because sharpshooters like Khan thrive from distance when they have a speed advantage.
Peace, William in West Palm
Bread’s Response: Algieri was able to exceed expectations because he used the expectations as fuel. He let it motivate him that he was viewed as cannon fodder.
Algieri also bought into what his coach wanted him to do. Because Algieri usually boxes sometimes people confuse light hitting fighters who constantly box, with master boxers and great defensive fighters. Algieri is not a master boxer or great defensive fighter and if he would have boxed Amir off of his back foot, he would have been lit up.
So he put that part of his game in his toolbox. I assume he watched tape and observed that Amir loss rounds to Lamont Peterson and Marcos Maidana when they “mugged” him. Algieri humbled himself and turned himself into a high energy come forward fighter and he almost pulled it off.
Just because Algieri is not known as a puncher that doesn’t mean he can’t hurt one of his opponents. There are many ways to skin a cat. He can hurt them with volume, he can hit them on the sweet spot and most importantly he can win rounds without hurting him. He fought the best style in order to give himself the best chance against Amir Khan. Props to Algieri for that.
It worked simply because Amir Khan is not comfortable in the mid range or inside. He will fight back in there but he doesn’t thrive in there. It’s visible. He becomes frazzled when an opponent gets too close in a threatening position. Until he gives somebody the business for trying to crowd him, I look for most of his opponents to try the same tactics. Amir is more of a cat when you close in on him. Meaning he’s fighting when because he’s cornered and has no choice. In contrast when you crowd James Toney , he relishes it and turns into a dog. It’s all about the mindset.
Send questions to : dabreadman25@hotmail.com