By Stephen 'Breadman' Edwards

The Daily Bread Mailbag returns with Stephen 'Breadman' Edwards discussing his boxing awards for 2016, what boxing needs to do in order to better itself, whether or not Gennady Golovkin should move up, and more.

Can you give me your FOY, Trainer of the Year, Comeback Fighter of the year,  and Fighter of the Year?

Bread’s Response: Fight of the Year: I would say Yamanaka vs Moreno. This was an underground classic. Top skill, lots of violence, knockdowns on both sides and a conclusive ending. I know Frampton vs Santa Cruz and Thurman vs Porter are more viewed fights but this fight was better than both of those classics.

Trainer of the Year is a tricky one. I have 4 candidates. Two never get mentioned. Mike Stafford who trains Adrien Broner, Robert Easter and Rashee Warren never gets mentioned. But two of his guys had great years and won their first world titles in 50/50 fights.

Manny Robles has some really good young talents in Terrell Gausha, Oscar Valdez and Jason Quigley. He seems to be doing it the hard way from the ground up but he deserves some mention.

Abel Sanchez a more well known coach continues to do a great job. All of his fighters are extremely physically strong. All have great stamina and all are strong punchers. GGG, Gassiev and Shafikov all have big wins this year. Even his gatekeeper Carson Jones scored another big win. Sanchez is doing a great job out the Summit.

Shane McGuigan. I just can’t get over the job that young Shane is doing with Carl Frampton. If you have the eye you can see that Frampton is as well coached a guy as there is in boxing. McGuigan is probably the best coach under 40 in boxing.

Comeback of the Year has to be Abner Mares. In this era you can’t get stopped or you’re considered damaged. Mares gets stopped and proves not only is he not damaged but he wins a huge fight as an underdog. Great job Abner.

My Fighter of the Year would also be Carl Frampton. Winning two huge fights on the road against undefeated in their prime opponents does it for me.

In 2017 what is the one thing that boxing needs to better itself?

Bread’s Response: Better testing! And not optional testing… The standard testing in boxing is not enough. And with fighters taking off for over 6 months at a time on a regular basis in this era it’s bizarre that unless they voluntarily asked to be tested then they don’t get randomly tested. Everyone in the top 10 should be in a random pool of testing. VADA is the most efficient priced and comprehensive testing you can do. I still don't understand why it's not mandated.

Gday bread,

Long time reader first time writing, I gotta say I love your analysis of fights and your breakdown of fights, you seem to pick flaws in fighters that most don't see. My question is in regards to Ggg I know you like him as a fighter, I remember my first Ggg fight I watched was vs ouma I thought this guy is special and I waited for him to step up and waited and waited and still waiting.... And now I've turned sour on him I know you say he shouldn't have to go up in weight but if he wants money and to go down as a great shouldn't he have to take risks? Why do people hassle ward to take challenges to prove his greatness but not Ggg? Personally I think Ggg has one if not the worst negotiating teams in boxing what do you think? If you can't land a big fight in five years perhaps you need to change the team around you. Finally if haymon wins the Jacobs purse bid will Ggg drop the belt? I doubt hbo let him go to Showtime.  What does that do to his credibility as unifying the division was his reasoning for blatantly ducking ward. Keep up the good work and I hope to hear from you

Cameron

Queensland Australia.

Bread’s Response: GGG shouldn’t have to move up to be considered great. Consistently beating the best available competition is enough for me. Terry Norris never moved up to 160. I think he’s considered great. Eusabio Pedraza never moved up from 126 I think he’s considered great. Kostya Tszyu never moved up from 140 I think he’s considered great. Carlos Monzon never moved up from 160 I think he’s considered great.

And for the record Bob Foster didn’t enhance his legacy one bit by getting knocked out at heavyweight by Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Doug Jones and Ernie Terrell. Moving up in weight is not for everybody. It depends on where you start out at ( smaller weights are easier to jump), your height, athleticism and more importantly who is at the weight above you.

GGG is fighting Jacobs now hopefully you guys feel that match up is quality. I think it’s the best fight that can be made between two full fledged middleweights.

What's up breadman,

I'm one of your biggest fan from the Philippines. I always searching if you have a new mailbag since 2012 because I'm a big boxing fan and I consider you the best mind in the business.

I just wanted to ask regarding your own top 10 pound for pound boxer of today.

And some mythical match up

1. Vasyl lomachenko (126 and 130) vs Manny pacquiao and 3 great Mexicans ( barrera, Morales and Marquez)

2. Guillermo rigondeaux vs Roman Gonzalez (118-120) catchweight

3. Aaron pryor vs Terence Crawford at (140)

4. Andre ward vs James toney( 168 and 175)

5. Tito Trinidad vs Floyd mayweather at 147

6. Guillermo rigondeaux vs prime Jorge arce at 122

7. Pacquiao vs al haymon stable ( Garcia, Thurman, broner)

Thanks and God bless

Angelo Seso

Bread’s Response: Thank you my friend.

Loma vs the Million Dollar Quartet is tough for me. This may come to a surprise for some but I don’t know enough about Loma right now to pick him over any of those 4. He looks the part but you have to get back to me in a few years.

Rigo is too big for Roman. Roman’s prime weight is 108 and you can see he’s at his apex. Too much of a size difference Rigo wins.

Don’t know enough about Crawford yet. Aaron Pryor is a certified killer bro.

Ward vs Toney. A part of me says Ward can peck and poke to a decision. But I then I watch Toney vs Nunn and Toney vs Barkley. The weird thing about this fight is Ward would either have to be all the way in trying to smother Toney like Prince Charles Williams did for a few rounds. Or all the way out moving and pot shotting. Standing and “boxing” with Toney is tough.

Toney does not clinch with his infighting he boxes so that's a plus and a minus.... If I flip a coin I say Toney but they may have to fight 3 times to settle it.

Tito vs Floyd is another tough one for me. Tito is a much better version of Diego Corrales that Floyd dominated at 130. But Tito had better defensive instincts and a better jab. Floyd loves to pick apart tall linear fighters. The problem is Tito was a crazy man and his pressure upped and upped as the fight went on. This is too close to call for me.

Rigo too much for Arce.

Pacman is still capable but older now. I would favor him over Broner. But Thurman and Garcia are tough fights for him at this point of his career.

Hello Breadman

Great Mailbag again loving that we are getting it twice a week now.

I saw you wrote that nobody could stay unbeaten fighting Oscar DeLa Hoya schedule. Maybe the best cv in the business.

What fighters on that schedule would of beaten Floyd Mayweather and how?

What do you think was Oscar best fighting weight? I think his best weight was 135 or 154.

Oscar was a amazing talent but I felt he fell short in some of his big fights cause he only had his left hook. He is left handed and if he fought as a southpaw it would of given him a better chance in the fights he lost. The guys below the greats he fought he wipe them out cause they just needed know his left hand was his main hand. I saw Whittaker. Floyd and Hopkins take away that lead hand that left him handcuffed cause his right hand was poor.

Do you feel the same?

I scored Oscar beating Trinidad but had Tito to win the fight going into it. I feel both guys were much better fighters at 154 who do you feel wins in a rematch at that weight?

Bread’s Response: Oscar is the only fighter in history to fight the number 1 fighter p4p 5times. There may be some argument that Roy Jones was #1 when Oscar fought Whitaker and Mosley but there was a considerable faction who had Mosley #1 from 00-02 and Whitaker from 93-97. Oscar also fought Mayweather, Pacquiao and Hopkins when they were all the top guys. That’s unheard of for an A side fighter. Again no one is going undefeated with those fights. It’s not just the one style it’s the accumulation of the tough fights and then the future opponents getting to study your weaknesses.

Floyd would have held his won with Oscar’s schedule. But Oscar’s run from 147-160 would have been tough on Floyd. Oscar fought an undefeated Quartey, Trinidad and Mosley at 147. Man that’s rough. Then you throw in an older but still great Whitaker. Factor in Hopkins and Sturm at 160 and a prime Manny in 2008. Take your pick. All of those fights are tough on Floyd but Bhop at 160, Manny of 2008 and Trinidad stand out.

Oscar was best at 140lbs. no doubt in my mind he left some prime performances on the table at 140. Look at him vs Chavez in their first fight and Miguel Angel Gonzales. I still don’t understand why he moved up so fast.

He was left hand dominant but I thought Oscar’s right hand was good. It was just underused. He had a sharp fast straight right hand. It’s just his muscle memory led him to throw the left much more often. I think Oscar’s biggest problem is he fought a harder schedule than all of his contemporaries. I also think he was so versatile he fought the “wrong” fight in lots of his fights.

For example he was like an aggressive flailer vs Floyd. Lots of his punches were flails in that fight. I couldn’t understand why. Floyd couldn’t handle his jab.

Again vs Whitaker he tried to be a pressure fighter. That wasn’t his game. Whitaker had just had trouble with the boxing of Diaboles Hurtado.

The Mosley fight is the one fight where he needed a better fight hand. Mosley had trouble defending it and Oscar wasn’t looking for it.

Sometimes being able to do several things curses a fighter because they don’t pick the right style against certain opponents.

Tito was my guy but Oscar won that fight. I don’t care what anyone says. What’s weird is Tito was better after that fight. He just got hot after receiving what I thought was a gift decision. Think about this. Tito was a big favorite over a middleweight Bernard Hopkins 2 years later despite struggling at 147 with Oscar. I would have favored Tito in a rematch.

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