The Daily Bread Mailbag returns with Stephen "Breadman" Edwards tackling topics such as newly crowned IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis, Terence Crawford, Hector Camacho, Ryan Garcia vs. Adrien Broner, David Benavidez vs. Demetrius Andrade, and more.

What do you think of Jaron Ennis being awarded the Terence Crawford’s IBF belt? I know you’re big on both guys but somehow this doesn’t seem fair to Crawford. He just won the title three months ago and now he’s being stripped. It seems inconsistent with both Charlo brothers not defending against their mandatories for over a year and in Jermall’s case over two years. What can boxing do to change this?

Bread’s Response: I am big on both. Crawford in my opinion is an ATG and could’ve competed in any era from 135-147. And Ennis is simply the most talented fighter I’ve ever been around up close and personal. I think it’s a shame that both are getting criticized. Crawford just became champion. And it’s obvious he has a rematch clause to fight Errol Spence. None of this is his fault. Maybe he could’ve paid Boots some step aside money but I’m assuming Team Crawford is saying for what. The rematch with Spence is at 154lbs. Why pay step aside fees for a 147lb mandatory and we are moving up? They would have a point…

In Ennis’s case what else is he supposed to do? He’s been overdue for a title shot since 2021. We are going into 2024. It sucks because for your first title. Every fighter dreams of hearing, “and the new!”. So Ennis was robbed of that feeling. But all he did was destroy 31 opponents. Become a mandatory. And wait for the rules to be enforced. He can’t help it that Errol Spence had injuries which prolonged a mandatory defense.

It’s no different than what Devin Haney and Tim Tszyu did. All 3 were 100% right. They earned their shot and never received their shots so they were awarded titles. 

Anyone who criticizes Crawford or Ennis is a moron. Both can be in the right even though they are on two opposite sides in this matter. 

Ok here is the fix. All champions have to defend their mandatories every 12 months. The only exceptions are unified champions who have 18 months to defend. Champions should only be allowed to pay step aside fees twice to a specific opponent. That will eliminate fighters who milk the mandatory by getting paid instead of fighting. Eliminate regular and interim champions ALL TOGETHER. There is absolutely no reason for them except to collect sanctioning fees. 

You’re not interim anymore if you’re the interim champion for over a year. Same as the regular championships. So after we eliminate that, and after a champion is stripped, we simply take the highest two rated contenders and they fight to become champion. No appointing of championships.

This would have a positive effect on the sanctioning bodies and they would recognize and put more deserving mandatories in place. It’s simple but it won’t be easy as Richie Plant always says.

Hi breadman do you think boots should move up in weight just because he have a belt these guys still not going to fight him.

Bread’s Response: He just got the belt yesterday. Dang, you guys are impatient. Let’s see what Boots’s team can do for him. Let’s see if they can get a big name opponent to take the bait and fight him. Let’s see if Boots can unify. Let’s just see how things go at least in 2024 before we talk about moving up.

Bread,

Saw someone wrote about the question I wrote concerning headgear as far as safety goes in regards to maybe brain injuries. Just to clarify my question had nothing to do with that .  My question was simply would there be more exciting fights with headgear vs headgear off. I dont want to see them wear headgear either.  I was just curious on what you felt concerning how much more action there would be

Take care

Rich Mathews

Bread’s Response: No I think boxing would be LESS exciting with head gear. I think being able to see fighter’s faces allows the public to bond with them. And if that gets taken away we will lose the bond. No way should pro boxing have head gear.

I’m assuming you think fighters would take more chances with head gear. Maybe but they would also get clipped less. I the two dynamics would cancel each other out…

Hey Stephen, Aside from boxing, it's clear to me that you are just a decent human being with morals and common sense. Quick Q, you have ringside tickets for the biggest PPV of all time and you get to choose the fights. 5 fights, could be a rematch but ideally have not fought before.  Same generation, weight etc - use you magic wand, who would you choose? One other question, which fight has stirred your emotions more than any other fight during the build up and press conferences etc, and did it live up to your expectations? Thanks and truly appreciate your honesty and integrity, it's refreshing.

Paul 

Bread’s Response: Thank you I appreciate that. 

The fight that really pushed me over the edge was Leonard vs Hagler. My step dad was a Hagler guy. My grand pop was a Ray Leonard guy. You guys know how I felt about the Sugar Man. My birthday is April 2nd. The fight was April 6th. I can remember telling kids at my party that Sugar Ray was going to win. Back in those days Closed Circuit fights used to be on weekdays. So they fought on a Monday or Tuesday night if I’m not mistaken. So I can remember drawing pictures of Leonard vs Hagler in school. My schoolmates couldn’t understand how into this I was. But my boyhood idol was supposedly up against it and I was confident but nervous for him. I watched and read everything I could concerning the fight. I used to go to the closed circuit fights. For some reason I wasn’t allowed to go to this one. I waited up all night for the result. When I heard Leonard won, I almost lost my mind. I kept saying to my step dad, I told you, I told you!!! Man those were the times.

With this hypothetical PPV card you’re saying same generation….That’s harder….I’m going to just pick the best style match ups I can.

PPV card The Heavyweight Title Fight would be Muhammad Ali of 1966 vs Mike Tyson of 1988. In terms of styles, popularity and explosiveness this would be the fight for me at heavyweight. Most would pick Ali as I would. But the thoughts on the 1988 version of Tyson was different than it is now. In 1988 Tyson was thought to be as good as Ali…

Sugar Ray Robinson of 1947 vs Sugar Ray Leonard of 1981.

Roy Jones of 1996 vs Ezzard Charles of 1946

Floyd Mayweather vs Terence Crawford at 147lbs

Opening bout Roberto Duran of 1979 vs Aaron Pryor of 1982

What would you expect from the proposed Adrien Broner-Ryan Garcia fight? Both are having their next fight on the exact same night and there’s a lot of talk about them meeting up in the future. I think it’s incredibly compelling. Broner is over the hill but I don’t know how Garcia responds to shots at welterweight. I would love your take. Thank you!

Bread’s Response: I haven’t given this fight much thought. I really can’t get a grasp on the fight because I haven’t seen Broner fight in a very long time. And I don’t know what to expect from Garcia after his fight vs Tank Davis. So let me check out their next fights before I start breaking stuff down.

Greetings Breadman,

I just watched a Showtime documentary of Hector Camacho. Was he as good as he’s made to be in the documentary? Also watched Leonard vs Floyd Sr. on YouTube - the focus was on how SRL broke the Philly Shell. Floyd Sr put in a gallant performance and actually had SRL on his bike the first round until SRL figured him out. How good was Floyd Sr and how do you think he fares against the current crop of WW? Paulie Malignaggi spoke of how the rain affected Usyk’s footwork  (vs Dubois) and just how damaging it was to both. Are there no rules for a fight to be stopped under such circumstances? I’m huge on De Los Santos and I think Shakur has a fight in his hands. How do you break down that fight? I should have asked you this last week since the fight is Thursday.

Thanks

Khalid Low

Bread’s Response: Hector Camacho was a great fighter in my opinion but not quite an ATG fighter. He’s one of say the best 10-15 fighter ever at 130lbs. He’s one of the top 10-15 ever from Puerto Rico. And he’s one of the better southpaws of the 80s. But I think he put his career on cruise control a little too early. He was about 25ish when he fought Edwin Rosario and most of his fights after the Rosario fight were safety first fights. It’s nothing wrong with fighting smart but if you were watching Camacho back then you would understand what I’m talking about. 

Against his better opposition Camacho became a little too comfortable with losing and NOT getting stopped for my liking. But overall he was a great fighter in the best era of boxing in my lifetime. But in comparison to his best contemporaries near his weights from 130-140. Azumah Nelson, Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell Whitaker were ATG fighters. He was clearly a notch below them in my opinion.

Floyd Mayweather Sr. was a solid fighter. Quick hands. Good defense. A ton of heart. I can’t really say how he would do today because it’s hard to compare eras especially when you’re trying to make the comparison with a fighter who wasn’t a great or HOF in his own era.

I didn’t even know Usyk was having issues with his footing. I like Shakur in the fight. It’s hard for me to pick against him. I think De Los Santos will come out smoking but I don’t think he can sustain it. I can see Shakur stopping him late or cruising to a decision after he gets him under control.

Hey Mr Edwards,

In 1967, the late great Muhammad Ali refused to take a step forward and join a futile, illegal US war effort in Vietnam and boxing officialdom moved swiftly and stripped him of his heavyweight title while, in the process, taking away his best fighting and earning years. Little did we know that a new phenomenon had been introduced which today threatens to make a mockery of the sport and begin to sound it's death knell. Terrence "Bud" Crawford had just settled a debate which had raged for years as to who's the best 147 pounder in the world and no sooner have the cheers died down than the IBF moves to strip him of his belt and hand it to an untested contender who's beaten nothing but run of the mill opposition throughout his career. I've said this before and I'll say it again, if boxing dies, it won't be because it's been killed by enemies. It will have been killed by those who are supposed to help keep it alive. I have nothing against Jaron "Boots" Ennis. You say he's the Truth and I have to respect your views. For me, I don't think he has a snowball's chance in hell against Crawford.

I'm not saying this because Crawford gave Errol Spence Jr a one-sided beat down, which I predicted for years, anyway. Ennis just makes too many mistakes to make a fight with Crawford competitive and he should count himself lucky that in these days when boxing is a business, he brings nothing to the table to make a fighter at Crawford's level even remotely interested in him. However, what shocked me was Ennis' reaction to being gifted the IBF title on a platter. The boy seems to believe he's actually a champion. If I were him. I would vacate the "title" and move up to 154 pounds and go for Jermell Charlo. He has the height, reach and physique unless he wants to stay at 147 long enough to be a weight bully among a poor crop of contenders. At least at 154, he could get a Spence fight because if the Crawford-Spence rematch fails to materialize, Spence is going to need a redemptive fight and Ennis would be it. Plus I think guys like Virgil Ortiz and Danny Garcia and Tim Tszyu are fights that could authenticate Ennis if he wins them.

I'm not sure about David Benavidez- Demetrius Andrade right now and this is largely because of Andrade's inactivity, so, I'll pass a prediction on that one. Andrade is talented and awkward but his inactivity worries me coming into a fight against a guy that's stayed relatively busy. Benavidez's lack of footwork could make for an eyesore of a fight especially if Andrade decides to get on his bike. We all saw how Benavidez struggled with Caleb Plant's movement early on and I think if age doesn't become a factor, it's a frustrating chase for Benavidez because Andrade can shift his feet a little quicker than Plant. How do you see it?I'm not prepared to comment on Jermall Charlo-Jose Benavidez Jr because Charlo is coming back from some issues with a lot of cobwebs on him. Benavidez Jr hung well with Crawford so he's no slouch. But he's just as inactive as Charlo. I think its a slugfest or a bore. It's a tournament I wouldn't spend money on. It looks good on paper but could be a letdown. MMIf Roberto Duran does not skip 140 and comes up against Antonio Cervantes, how does that work out? Cervantes was great in his first reign but I think losing to a boy young enough to have belonged in high school in Wilfred Benitez took something out of Cervantes and Duran does to him pretty much the same thing Aaron Pryor did. What do you think?

Keep punching Mr Edwards.

Katlholo, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Bread’s Response: I agree that boxing always finds a way to hurt itself. Bad decisions, inconsistent rules and rulings, inactivity and bias media has really damaged the sport. I agree that Crawford is a great fighter and I didn’t think the ruling to take his IBF title was fair to him specifically. But I disagree about Boot Ennis. What did he do wrong? Accept a title that he was the mandatory for but never got his shot at? Are you kidding me? 

Did you know fighters get PAID more in title defenses? Boots did what he was supposed to do. Let’s see someone try to take his title. I’m not arguing over who would win in Crawford vs Ennis. I think it’s a 50/50 fight. My argument with you is Crawford beats him easy. There is no welterweight who has ever lived that could beat Ennis easily. Ennis is in the same place now that Crawford was in 10 years ago. The people who knew Crawford, knew he was the goods. But he wasn’t getting a chance to show it to the public. For years Crawford was ridiculed for his resume. Well now no one can say anything after the Spence performance. 

I’m telling you Ennis is a mirror image of Crawford. You guys can argue with me all you want. But Ennis is special also, he just hasn’t had a chance to show it yet. For the record I don’t believe Crawford and Ennis will ever fight. I think Crawford will take big fights from here on out at higher weights to cement his ATG status and I’m not mad at him. So I won’t debate the winner of a fight that I don’t believe will happen.

You know, I am intrigued about Benavidez vs Andrade. I think fighters like David are hell when they get their first big chance. Look at  Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Jeff Fenech, Julio Cesar Chavez and even Antonio Margarito when he got his shot vs Cotto. I knew David would be on fire vs Caleb in their fight. The issue with those type of fighters is after they win their Super Bowl, they can burn out a little because they don’t have a relaxed style. It’s an intense fire style. Duran evolved as he got older but my point is my point. 

I’m wondering if David can sustain the training and fire he had vs Caleb. I’m not saying he can’t, it’s just something I wonder about. I also think Demetrius is in critical shape. I feel like sprinting and explosive training is a key in fighting David. Unless you’re master boxer like Floyd Mayweather or a brutal massive puncher like George Foreman it’s hard to slow David down. I don’t consider Demetrius a master boxer. I consider him a talented boxer. I don’t consider him a massive puncher although he can punch. So I agree with his sprint and high altitude training which I think is being overlooked. It’s exactly what the doctor ordered. 

If Demetrius can keep up with David down the stretch, the next question comes down to his durability. It’s a fair question because we have rarely seen him take sustained punishment. I have no idea if he can take David’s punches. But I do have an idea about his competitive nature and his pedigree. I think he’s scrappy. I think he’s a gamer. I just don’t know if he can take the punishment down the stretch. If he can, he can win. It’s just that simple. Andrade is a fighter who looks like he makes too many mistakes. He looks like he’s going to get clipped but it never happens. Aaron Pryor also looked like that, but it never happened until he was completely shot. 

Looking at Demetrius’s training. And hearing about his stamina and explosiveness. And considering how well Caleb Plant boxed the first half of the fight an elite athlete like Demetrius can take from that. Benavidez vs Andrade has become closer in my opinion….

I think Jose Benavidez will have his moments vs Jermall Charlo. But Jermall has a hard heavy bag George Foreman type of jab. I’m guessing that Jose will have trouble with it and I think Jermall will take the fight with his hard ram rod jab.

I agree. If Duran goes to 140 in 1978-79, he would have destroyed Cervantes. Duran was at his APEX during that time in the late 70s. He arguably had his best career performances during that time. I view Cervantes as a great junior welterweight. I view Duran as an ATG top 10 fighter ever. Big difference. 

Hey Bread,

This will hopefully be my first time on the mailbag so just wanted to say thank you for writing this every week and hope you and your family are well. I have 2 questions. The first one is who would be on your top 10 p4p of all time? You don't have to rank them because I know that can be a pain but just curious for your picks. Do you think Harry Greb should be included? I've seen some people include him despite there being no footage (that I know of) of him, personally I think he's unlucky to be from that era and has to be remembered more as a myth than a p4p great. My second question is one I've sent in before and didnt get answered so if you're not a fan of the question feel free to leave it out, but at what put do you think a fighter should be considered innocent despite testing positive for a banned substance? For example, Roy Jones Jr. tested positive at one point but I believe they managed to trace it to a supplement he was taking of which he had a contaminated batch. In this case I would think it's not his fault because he couldn't have known. Do you know any other examples like this? Furthermore, do you think that even if the fighter didn't knowingly take it they should still be banned until any benefits they may have gotten from the drug would have mostly gone away? Curious to hear your thoughts and thanks again for doing this every week.

Dean, London

Bread’s Response: It’s hard to do top 10 ever ATG rankings because it takes so much research and believe it or not once you research sometimes the order changes. For years I rated Carlos Monzon over Marvin Hagler as a MW, then I researched and I concluded that Hagler’s pre title reign was better and their championship reigns were even. So I rated Hagler over him. 

I feel that Harry Greb has arguably the best resume ever. But I’ve gotten some emails that tell me Greb is not real and he’s a big myth. I don’t know but I’m going to assume he was real. The issue I have is that no one thought of him as the best during his time. Not one writer said he was the #1 when he fought. I know legends grow and sometimes in proper perspective like Ezzard Charles being rated over Archie Moore when for years Moore was wrongly considered better. But even still Greb’s elevation has been more than any fighter in history. I’m not going to lie, I’m slightly skeptical. But I don’t want to be a cynic. I saw Gene Tunney and Mickey Walker fight. And if Greb was good enough to best them then he was on the level. So because of his resume I will give him at least an honorable mention. I’m doing this off the top of my head with no research today…

In no order I’m going to name the fighters who pop in my mind.... 

Sugar Ray Robinson 

Sam Langford

Muhammad Ali

Henry Armstrong

Roberto Duran

Joe Louis

Sugar Ray Leonard

Ezzard Charles

Roy Jones Jr 

As I’m thinking there are plenty of guys who come to mind. Floyd Mayweather, Harry Greb, Salvador Sanchez and Willie Pep can maybe play rock, paper, scissors to get in the top 10. It’s a tough call.

I hope you get your break bro. I hear trainers and media using your terms and they never credit you with the phrases but it’s obvious where they got it from. I just saw a video on Marvin Hagler and they used the term gazelle jab to describe his southpaw jab. You’re the only person I ever heard say that. Then I heard someone say quickness is in the mind and speed is in the body. 100% your stuff. I hope and pray you get your shot on a big platform. You deserve it. My question to you is if you can pick one trait to have in a fighter. What you pick if you had to choose between elite stamina, elite power, elite speed, elite processing, elite durability or elite IQ?

Bread’s Response: Thank you brother.  I get flattered when people steal my stuff. But I will admit I don’t like it when they act as if it’s theirs. But it’s part of the game.

Man you asked me a good question. But if I had to pick one, I would take elite processing. Because solving and adjusting quicker than mostly everyone else is probably the hardest thing to overcome for the “other” fighter. When a fighter is a step ahead of everything you try to do to him, it becomes massively frustrating and it forces you into mistakes because you over try to have some success and then they really pick you apart. Elite Level Processing for the win for me! 

I'm curious about something. Boots Ennis is a very big welterweight who should clearly be fighting in a higher weight class. If as he claims no one at 147 will fight him, why hasn't he moved up to 154 to test the waters there? Guys like Tszyu, Conwell and Murtazaliev would jump at the chance tonight him. Aaron Pryor was a natural lightweight. Most modern day fans forget this. When the champs at lightweight refused to face Pryor (I believe Jim Watt and Claude Noel were the two champs at that time. I may be wrong.), he moved up to jr. welterweight and fought Antonio Cervantes for the WBA title, and stopped him (4th Round, I believe). That's what fighters with profound self-belief do when the fish aren't biting in a pond -- they go to another pond.I don't believe it's simply management issues preventing Ennis from getting big fights. Why do I say that? I'm so glad you asked. Boots and his father were not at the Crawford-Spence on July 29th. Maybe I need my old eyes checked, but I don't recall seeing Boots in Vegas that night.

If Boots for real for real wanted to face the winner of that fight (and I believe he deserved to), wouldn't he and his father have been ringside ready to jump in the winner's face at the conclusion of the fight? Yes or no? I don't listen to what people say. I watch how they move. A person can say anything persuasive and fool a certain percentage of their audience, but their movements will never escape a sharp eye. I know you will resent hearing this, but Mr. Boots has been moving pretty FUNNY STYLE for a fighter who's supposedly on the verge of taking over the welterweight division. One other thing. Ennis wouldn't fight Crawford last December because he processed an undying loyalty to Showtime, a company that's about to pull up stakes and close its doors on boxing. Ennis refuses to sign with PBC. Yet he expects Al Haymon to simply let him fight the best of the PBC welterweight roster??? Please make it make sense because my head is about to explode. 

Bread’s Response: The ONLY thing you said that I agree with is it’s not reasonable to believe that Al Haymon will serve up his stable to Boots without Boots being signed to him. I agree wholeheartedly with that and I’ve said so in the past. Boots would be the favorite vs every PBC welterweight and junior middleweight at there is no way he’s going to get those fights without signing with some faction of PBC. Other than that I think you sound foolish. And I will address your comments piece by piece. 

Just because Aaron Pryor moved up to 140lbs to get a title shot, doesn’t mean that Boots should move up. That’s ridiculous. Errol Spence and Terence Crawford were two top 5 P4P fighters. If Boots moved up earlier then people would claim he’s ducking smoke. He stays at 147lbs and people are claiming he should move up. Boots should make 147lbs for as long as he’s NOT compromising his health. He should stay there until he reaches his goals of unifying. He should stay there for as long as he wants to. There is no fight at 154 that’s bigger than a fight with Crawford. Crawford is the greatest fighter in the world right now and he just came off a performance for the ages. 

On top of that Aaron Pryor was poorly managed throughout his career. His legend has grew as time went on but Pryor missed all of his big opportunities and only got the Arguello fight because Arguello wanted to be a 4 division champion. If not for that he would never have had the big fight.

Pryor was only 24 years old when he got his title shot. He was a pro less than 4 years when he got his title shot. It’s a BIG myth that he was being ducked for so long. How could that be when he turned pro in 1976 and got a title shot in his hometown in 1980. By what metric was Pryor being froze out? Howard Davis Jr who was a Gold Medalist didn’t get his first title shot until 1980 a couple months before Pryor. So that myth has been debunked. You may be of age to know about some of the going ons back then. But you're logic is misguided.

Marvin Hagler was the one who was froze out. He had over 50 fights before he got his title shot. He was a pro 7 long years. Not Aaron Pryor. But Hagler had self belief. He didn’t move up. He fought through the storm and ruled with an iron hand once he got the title. Both alternatives can be right. It depends on the person.

So you watch people’s actions. So do I. And often times in boxing things are done for show. I have no idea what Boots was doing the weekend of Crawford vs Spence. And more importantly neither do you. Before Crawford and Spence fought I didn’t see them going to each other’s fights calling each other out. It may help the promotion but it’s not necessary. Sure Boots could’ve went to the fight. And I’m not going to give him any excuses on why he didn’t attend. But fighters have “other” things going on when they aren’t fighting. 

Now here is what I know.  Boots fought Roiman Villa July 8th. Bud and Errol fought July 29th. So you’re criticizing Boots for Not attending their fight 3 weeks after his without knowing what he had planned after his fight. You’re looking for fault.

I don’t even know if Boots went to the fight or not. He may have and not jumped in front of bunch of cameras. That was Bud’s moment to shine not Boots's. I do know Boots is laid back. He’s not a loud disrespectful kid. He doesn’t try to hog the camera or shine. 

I don’t know what happened with Boots and Bud in December. What I know is Bud took a hometown tune up with a new promotional company BLK Prime. Boots had a deal in place with Showtime. I have no idea what either deal looked like. But I’m going to assume Boots just couldn’t go and fight on another network. I’m also going to assume that for as great as Bud is, he wouldn’t take Boots a tune up before Errol. Bud’s team is on point and they know that Boots is a tough fight. Why would they allow Bud to get extra wear and tear on him knowing Errol was on the horizon vs Boots? Especially when Errol was by far the bigger payday. 

Seriously, you say you may need your old eyes checked. I think your eyes work fine. It’s your common sense and lack of objectivity that needs to be fixed. Bud is an ATG fighter and currently the #1 fighter in the world. Boots is uber talented phenom who deserved a title shot that he never got. Read this carefully. It’s NOT Bud’s fault that Boots didn’t get a big shot. And it’s NOT Boots’s fault that he was awarded the belt without fighting for it. It’s the system of boxing that’s broke.   

Also the fans and media in boxing are broken. Boxing has the worst media in all of the other major sports. And the fans are even worse. They make up lies, move goal post and sh#@ on fighters at the drop of a hat. It’s absurd how many negative emails I got about Boots. Stupidity at it’s finest. The kid did absolutely nothing wrong. But here is the kicker. I recognize some of the email addresses. Some of you guys were calling me names because I said Bud was #1 P4P before the Spence fight, telling me he ducked Errol, had a poor resume and didn’t deserve the high ranking. Does that sound familiar?

Send Questions to dabreadman25@hotmail.com