By Stephen 'Breadman' Edwards
Another edition of the Daily Bread Mailbag, as Stephen 'Breadman' Edwards answers questions on a variety of subjects, including Timothy Bradley in the Hall of Fame, Paulie Malignaggi taking on Danny Garcia and whether it's a cherry pick by Garcia, Floyd Mayweather not facing Amir Khan, and more.
Whats going on bread? Quick question do you think Tim Bradley is a hall of famer? His resume is top notch, flooded with generational type talent. In the past 7 yrs the only 2 easy fights he has had is edner cherry and joel casamayor. Also whats next for him? Probably marquez rematch but I do think Bradley deserves another big money fight. Also at this stage is broner another Judah type?
Bread’s Response: Yes I do think Bradley is HOF. If he stopped boxing today I don’t think he’s a lock. I don’t think he’s a 1st ballot guy. One or two more significant victories will push him over the edge. But as you stated with his resume and his character I think he would creep in. Bradley is an excellent fighter. Not sure what’s next for Bradley but if he signs up to fight GGG then I put him in 1st ballot on nuts alone.
Being another Zab Judah is nothing to sneeze at. Judah may in fact be a HOF fighter. He’s like a 4 or 5x world champion. The problem is Judah was thought to be a mixture of Pernell Whitaker and Mike Tyson. Max Kellerman really put a burden on Zab with those comparisons. And now Broner is being compared to Floyd Mayweather and it’s tough on the young man. He’s just not Mayweather.
Do you think Danny Garcia vs Paulie Malignaggi is a cherry pick on Danny’s part? Paulie was just steam rolled by Shawn Porter. Porter is a strong guy but he never steam rolls anyone. Danny has seemed to lost all of his momentum since 2013. And what gives. I know it’s not a duck on Danny’s part but how come he never ask for the Mayweather fight. If Guerrero and Maidana could get the fight I’m sure he could have.
Bread’s Response: I don’t know why Danny never asked for Mayweather. I believe in 2013-14 he deserved the fight also and would have had a better argument than anybody around the time. It’s interesting that the fight never seemed like a big deal to him.
I wouldn’t call fighting Malignaggi a cherry pick but Team Garcia does seem a little careful. Danny seems to be easing his way into 147 with a few catchweights around 143 and now he’s fighting Paulie who is not a big puncher. But here is the thing. Call me crazy but I think Paulie troubles Danny if he’s not damaged from the Porter fight. That was a brutal ko and you never know how that damages a fighter but if Paulie is on he troubles Danny.
First off the fight will be in Brooklyn and Paulie fights his butt off in Brooklyn. Also stylistically Danny comes in squared up with slow feet. Danny has a , flaw in his footwork when he has to track a fighter down. Danny likes it better when you either fight him straight up or you engage him. Danny is not a tracker. He’s an aggressive counterpuncher. It’s an enigma but that’s what he is. Look at him close. He engages, his opponents, makes them open up, then he opens up with them. He knocked Khan out because Khan is a greedy fighter who over punches and he stayed there too long. Herrera didn’t give up so much so therefore Garcia had trouble.
Paulie is not a huge combination puncher. He’s more of a double jab, stick and move guy. The big question for Paulie is will he have the physical strength or pop to hold Danny off, because Danny will let his hands fly if he feels things are close. It’s hard to make an accurate prediction because again we don’t know what Paulie has left. But my gut tells me if Paulie makes it past 4 rounds, he’s live. I wouldn’t pick him because it’s tough to get better in your mid 30s. But I’m not sure he gets steamrolled. Danny is in a little bit of a performance slump right now.
Do you think Mayweather is ducking Amir Khan? I remember he did that fan poll and Khan won and Floyd still picked Maidana. The media really gave Floyd a break for that. It’s like they want to interview him so they don’t give him shit about all of his indiscretions.
Bread’s Response: Floyd has a way of putting off certain fights until they are right for him. He allows certain opponents to think he’s scared of them then he fights them and they see a genius in the ring. He does this time and time again. And I really think it shocks his opponents. Shane Mosley being the #1 shock recipient. Mosley went from hurting Floyd to thinking Floyd was a punk, to trying be Floyd’s best friend in the ring and Floyd walking him down and beating on the supposed tougher, stronger guy. I think Floyd likes it when his opponents think he’s afraid. This scenario happens too often for it to be a coincidence.
On the flip side, I personally believe he has a lot of misses on his resume. I also believe that when you put off fights you take the chance of losing the opponent through losses and attrition. Antonio Margarito and Kostya Tszyu come to mind. But this method works for Floyd. He always takes the right fights at the right time.
I have mixed emotions about these lawsuits being filed against Al Haymon. I know Haymon is a shady guy but at the same time so is Oscar and Bob Arum. I also know Oscar did business with Al for years with no complaints about the Ali Act. Do you think it’s true that Oscar got paid for the fighters he lost after Haymon stopped working with him? What do you think Richard Schaeffer has to do with this? Top Rank is also filing a suit against Haymon what do you think is up with that. They just made a boat load of money with Mayweather vs Pacquiao.
I don’t think Haymon is guilty of mistreating fighters but I do think he’s guilty of blocking various venues from promoters. I did hear that this is part of the lawsuit also. The biggest problem for Haymon is, can he pay back the investors and what will happen to the fighters inflated purses.
Bread’s Response: First off let me say I think Golden Boy is a great promotional company. They have a great staff and everybody over there that I have come into contact with is a class act. I don’t know Top Rank as well but I think they also have a great company and I think their matchmaking is the best in the history of boxing.
But if you are objective you know that a 9 figure lawsuit against Al Haymon is overkill. From my knowledge Oscar did get paid well for fighters he lost in the break up. But more importantly Oscar got to work with Haymon almost exclusively since Mayweather fought him in 2007. I never heard anyone claim any violations of the Muhammad Ali Act or Anti Trust Acts then. So why now? Maybe because they are not working together anymore I would suppose..… I also believe that Haymon offered Golden Boy the PBC idea and they rejected. From my knowledge you are creating a monopoly if you stop others from doing what you are doing. If Golden Boy was offered the PBC idea first, how can they claim Haymon is setting up a monopoly? Besides that everyone wanted big time boxing on network television. Now that’s it’s on in a big time fashion I don’t think it’s accurate to claim a monopoly because Haymon was the first to do it at this level in a long time. No cared that Mian Events was on NBC because the level of fighter they showcased was not as threatening….
It’s ironic because lets look at a promoter like Lou Dibella for example. He had Andre Berto since very early in his career. Once Haymon and Golden Boy started working together, Berto was fighting on Golden Boy Shows and not Dibella shows. No one was screaming and cheering to stand up against the monopoly then. Let’s also look at Dibella’s interaction with Top Rank.
Dibella was the promoter of Sergio Martinez who defeated the Ring Magazine champion in Kelly Pavlik a Top Rank fighter. Martinez got stripped by a sanctioning body and his opponent Sebastien Zbik was turned down for him to fight on HBO. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. got to fight that same opponent for vacant belt that Martinez never loss on HBO.
After Chavez beat Zbik, Martinez had to come in on the B side and fight for his belt he never loss. Chavez is a Top Rank fighter. There was no outrage. No cheering on Twitter. I can give literally gives 100s of examples of simple mistreatment. This one was just perfect because Dibella has done business with Top Rank, Golden Boy and Haymon so he fits the perfect profile of someone who has been hurt and has benefited from the power brokers…..
Sure Haymon has signed lots of fighters. That’s obvious. But as far as I know there is no limit of how many fighters a manager or advisor can sign. It’s just up to Haymon to make sure those fighters get fights and get paid well. Thus far as a whole he has done a solid job of that. I’m not claiming that 100% of his clients are 100% pleased , but I am saying that the majority of his fighters love the guy and what he has done for them. The Muhammad Ali Act was set in place to protect the fighters foremost…..
Haymon also has taken a huge chance on his investment. But that’s something he has to deal with. Either the investors get a return, they break even or they lose. I’m sure the investors understand this. People seem to be concerned as to whether he can pay them back but that’s not a violation of a law. That’s a risky investment deal…
And yes you make a good point, what will happen to Haymon’s fighters inflated purses. I don’t know but I do know Haymon’s fighters have been well paid before these investors stepped in. Andre Berto has been one of the highest paid boxers of the last decade and Berto is not a super star or great fighter. So again that may be a concern but that’s not illegal.
Since we are on the topic of inflated purses, let’s talk about it. Was there outrage when Kelly Pavlik was making over 2 million dollars to fight Gary Lockett? Or was there outrage when Krusher Kovalev got 500k to fight Bernard Hopkins in a unification fight? I just gave you two extremes where one fighter was seemingly overpaid and the other was seemingly underpaid.
The Ali Act highlights full disclosure. Meaning the fighters get to know what the network is paying for the bout and they get to refer that to what their promoter is actually taking off the top. Lots of times the promoter makes almost as much if not more than the fighter which shouldn’t be. So I don’t get why Haymon’s fighters making more money than the average market value is a bad thing. It should be a good thing. And I assume that if Kovalev was with Haymon he wouldn’t have made 500k to fight in unification fight.
The Ali Act also prevents managers from being promoters. And Haymon has more power than the “average” manager I get that. But so does Cameron Dunkin. So does J Prince. So does Frank Espinoza. So did Shelly Finkel. There are regular managers then there are the power broker types who just have more influence. There are the guys that have leverage with promoters because they will simply take elite talent elsewhere. We all know that. I could give exact specific examples of manager/promoter relationships in which the manager has more control than the promoter or in which there is a major conflict of interest. I’m not claiming it’s right, but what I am saying is if you take this court some of these things will blow up everyone’s face because TR and GB willingly do business with some of these same relationships…
Last thing, Haymon for a time worked mostly with Golden Boy. Now he’s working with Dibella, Goosen and Warriors. There was a time when Cameron Dunkin was a really hot manager and he took most of his talent to guess who, Top Rank. I didn’t hear any outrage over that. Was Dunkin a manager and promoter or was he taking his talent where he had the most control?
After the biggest fight in history gets made, I just think it’s ridiculous a lawsuit like this comes about where the three most powerful entities in boxing will have more obstacles in making big fights. …..
Sometimes court is a good thing. Because in court there is something called discovery that has to be turned over. I was looking forward to the discovery in the Pacquiao/Mayweather lawsuit that never came about. And now I’m looking forward to the discovery in this case if it goes that far. We shall see…..
I got Canelo over Cotto in this one. I remember before the Floyd fight, Canelo was looking beastly and you yourself said Canelo was too big and strong and would roll Cotto at that point in their careers. Well while a lot has happened in between, I actually envision it playing out the way I thought a few years back. That is, Cotto doing well to box but Canelo’s youth and strength overcoming him. Canelo has underrated defense and his stamina seems to be improving. Will be a tight early in the fight but Canelo will start timing hard shots and get into a groove. I predict stoppage around the 9th.
I think mentally Broner is done. Not just from his performance which lacked any desperation whatsoever in a fight he was losing, but his in ring interview after the fight. He clapped the decision (which is fine) but barely seemed bothered by the loss. Obviously being humbled by Maidana didn’t make him hungrier, but instead made him complacent – in this sense that he is now ok with losing and does not want to pretend to be something he isn’t. His comment about fans still wanting his autograph and photo was the cherry on top. It really showed where his priorities lie.
You don’t have to post this bit but did you notice how sharp Matthysse looked in early rounds against Prov? Man he was super relaxed, throwing hard and sharp combos. I was thoroughly enjoying the offensive prowess. Prov just has an all-time chin. He just kept coming and I actually felt bad for Matthysse for looking so good but still having to deal with this beast for the full 12! And yes I understand the irony of showing sympathy for Matthysse over Prov who actually absorbed a whole lot more over the course. I was rooting for Danny in their fight but I think Lucas really can do some damage at 140. On that note I also think Lucas took away Danny’s prime that night. Still one of my favorite fights of the last few years. Highly anticipated and it actually delivered on the night.
Bread’s Response: I favor Canelo but man Cotto has been absolutely lights out with Roach and McMillan. He literally has not lost a round in 3 fights. He’s scored about 7 knockdowns. Cotto is in the zone. One of the better zones I have seen from a fighter in his mid 30s who was destroyed 6 years and kod twice by two big punchers. Cotto is having a remarkable resurgence. I don’t favor Canelo as much as I used too.
I don’t know if Broner is completely done at 25 years old, but I will say his career is at stake over the next few fights. I don’t like what I’m seeing from Broner inside and outside of the ring. Broner has to do some soul searching.
Interesting point about Danny. I’m not sure Lucas took his prime away but it was a grueling fight. Every tough fight doesn’t ruin the prime. You have to remember that Danny is an overachiever and he’s been very fortunate. Not lucky but fortunate. Sometimes things just level off. Let’s see how these next few years play out. He’s only 27.
Send Questions to dabreadman25@hotmail.com