The Daily Bread Mailbag returns with Stephen “Breadman” Edwards tackling topics such as Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia, Andre Ward, Haney vs. Tank, Calvin Ford, and more
What’s up Breadman? I just finished your mailbag, and I wanted to tell you that I totally agree with what you said about Tank: he was enjoying the fight and having fun! This guy is made for events of that size. I think he is at a stage of his career where he feels in peace and exactly where he deserves to be. He proved us he is really special. First, his boxing performance was a great one (I want to notice his investment to the body), but most of all he proved us that his mind is on par with the greatest of his era, on that aspect I think he is equivalent to Mayweather, Canelo, Crawford and some few others. He was in total control of every single aspect of the fight (before, during and after). He imposed his rhythm and know how to utilize his strength perfectly. I can’t wait for his next fight because watching a fighter of that level in his prime, who wants to challenge himself is always enjoyable!
Thanks for your time!
Max from France
Bread’s Response: I’ve been watching Davis closely since he fought at the Palms in Vegas many years ago. I strongly believe I’m watching a great talent evolve into a possibly a great fighter. At this point his team will have to secure him the right fights. Once a fighter gets to this point I feel he has to mix the money fights with the legacy fights. The fighters who understand that elevate themselves. If Davis wants to be an ATG and/or a HOF fighter. He’s in the perfect era at lightweight. He has Haney, Stevenson, Lomachenko, Zepeda and Martin. He just defeated Ryan Garcia. If Tank somehow finds a way to make 3 of these fights over the next 2years, before the perception of these fighters get lowered by losses or bad performances, he elevates himself.
With Tank being the A side money maker, the responsibility falls greater on his shoulders just like it does all of the A sides. Their A side status allows them certain privileges but they also inherit certain responsibilities. They have to consistently MAKE big fights. My eyes tell me Tank is special. Now we just need him to go to the next level with his match making. I believe he will but we have to be patient.
Hope all is well with you and yours. I asked a Snapchat artificial intelligence bot for its top 10 boxers of all time and its top 10 heavyweights of all time. Here’s the lists: 1. Muhammad Ali 2. Sugar Ray Robinson 3. Henry Armstrong 4. Willie Pep 5. Joe Louis 6. Roberto Duran 7. Benny Leonard 8. Harry Greb 9. Jack Dempsey 10. Ray Leonard Heavyweights Only: 1. Muhammad Ali 2. Joe Louis 3. Jack Johnson 4. Rocky Marciano 5. Larry Holmes 6. George Foreman 7. Lennox Lewis 8. Joe Frazier 9. Mike Tyson 10. Evander Holyfield.
What are your thoughts on each of these lists? Any surprises/snubs from either?Thanks for the insight you put out every week.
Take care!
Bread’s Response: It’s hard to agree to a list 100%. If you asked a bot then I’m assuming some type of analytics were involved. I won’t nitpick because most of the fighters that were listed would also be listen in my list. But in the P4P ranking there is no way Jack Dempsey is the 9th greatest fighter in history. By no metric is that accurate. I can live with everyone but I can’t live with Dempsey. What’s even more egregious is he’s not on the heavyweight list but he somehow makes the P4P overall list.
On the heavyweight list I can live with the top 10 but I would change the order ever so slightly. I think Marciano may be slightly too high but I do acknowledge he was a heck of a fighter and deserves a high status. But #4 may be a stretch.
What up Breadman? After watching the interviews with Ryan Garcia I had to tip my hat to the young man as he answered questions and owned the moment. Kudos to the man who took it to Tank maybe not the right plan but it is easy to critique these gladiators from a keyboard. It is another thing to take that “fade” and let the fist fly. I feel he will still be a force to reckon with and show that an “L” is not a career ender. He can challenge Romero for a strap possibly. And just because you come from a better way of life and background does not mean you are soft. If he wants to be a success in this game he will learn to bite down in these big moments. Much respect to him and Tank as well. Boxing is not a game and I bet all those talking trash from a fan’s perspective have never taken a hard Tyson like body shot. Always love your fan mail Mr. Breadman and your straight up honesty about this cold realistic sport of Boxing….
Michael ”Expedite” Blount
Bread’s Response: Ryan Garcia is a kid that I want to see do well. He really has the “IT” factor. He definitely went to the press conference and owned the moment. He showed honor in going to the post fight press conference. I truly believe that some athletes need to go through things to learn. While some get it right their first time around. It all depends on how the brain compartmentalizes moments. In boxing because the fighter’s pay the teams, the dynamic is different than any other sport. Ryan has to basically find someone that he employs to tell him what to do and get him on track so his accomplishments and skills can catch up to his god given talent.
Ryan did let his fist fly. He definitely took the fade. But going to the next level he will need more than that. The objective is to do your best and win if that’s in your best ability. I think Ryan can be better and I think he could’ve done better in the fight. Losing is tough. But losing and not fighting your best fight is something that can be avoided.
Ryan just doesn’t need a great coach. He needs a great coach that he’s willing to listen to. This will be very interesting to see how the rest of his career plays out. I suspect he’s going to make BIG changes. I think unfortunately for Joe Goosen Ryan is going to look into a new direction for a trainer.
Andre Ward is one of the toughest motherf—— in recent memory to ever lace on the gloves. There are just so many things to admire about the man but one thing that never gets said enough is his ability to rile and irritate opponents. I noticed it with Froch, Kessler, Kovalev, Barrera, Brand etc and for someone who didn’t say so much other than reassuring himself, his team, fans and his opponent that he was surely winning, he somehow said so much with very minimal use of words. Such a respectable man. Now to the Ryan v Tank match, I want to touch on something; why do boxers never pick an attribute from recent legends (HOFers) to emulate that they surely know contributed to the HOFers success. I’m saying this while thinking about Broner. No disrespect, but he was able to do so much just by idolizing and copying Mayweather’s biggest style attribute (the shoulder roll).
Even SOG openly talks about his admiration and emulation of Bhop and Roy Jones. We can refer to AJs rematch with Ruiz also and his admiration/copying of Ali. All he had to do was not brawl in the rematch and he secured his titles back. All Ryan needed most in the fight was to jab first, keep a cool head, not be so agitated and use his best attributes. This would have conserved his energy but no, he wanted to beat a shrewd and extremely dangerous boxer with bravado alone. Lastly, now everybody can agree he needed that tune up he skipped. Plus, he gets bored easily in fights, something needs to be done about that. I see him doing far better against Shakur and Haney due to the benefits of attrition. I expect Shakur to ko him though.Thanks for all you do. The fans who love boxing and care about these nuances you share really appreciate your efforts over these many years.
Bless up.
Bob. Nigeria
Bread’s Response: Ward toughness is his best quality in my opinion. Because you have to have toughness in order to execute the tactics he does. Ward’s physicality and his physical toughness are off the charts. You have to have toughness to carry out tough instructions. Ward is a boxer but he has no issue getting his hands dirty if he has to. He’s a mean tough dude without acting like one.
I always point to past fighters with similar characteristics and body types for current fighters to study. I think Ryan Garcia should watch Oscar De La Hoya, Alexis Arguello and Antonio Esparragoza. It’s always something to learn from great fighters with similar body types and rhythms. I suspect that Ryan may be a fighter that does better vs boxers than punchers. Some fighters are just like that. Tank is a huge puncher, plus he’s a southpaw and he’s a minimalist which drives high tense fighters crazy. So while Ryan would be the underdog vs Devin and Shakur I think he would be in the fights because both are more boxers than punchers.
I was very disappointed that Ryan didn’t take the tune up. That told me a lot regarding where he was.
Hey Bread,
I recently saw your tweet saying that if Haney vs Tank happens, it would be the biggest fight in the history of the lightweight division, assuming he beats Loma. You mentioned only five other fights that can compare. Which five fights in history are those? Looking at the lightweight division, it doesn’t have a deep pool of “biggest fights ever in the history of the division” like say heavyweight, welterweight and middleweight. I know boxing missed a great matchup with Loma-Mikey Garcia, if they would have fought in the 2010s.The lightweight fights that come to mind are Chavez-Rosario, Duran-De Jesus 3 and maybe Canzoneri-Lou Ambers in the 1930s. Can’t think of many that historically were big in terms of hype, anticipation and pound-for-pound implications on the line.
James
Bread’s Response: I was thinking Amrstrong vs Ambers, Williams vs Jack, Duran vs DeJesus 3 , Leonard vs Tendler and Camacho vs Rosario. The lightweight division is one of the original 8. Before 1990 there were some super fights in the division. But we haven’t had a true Super Fight at 135 since the 80s in my opinion. Maybe Whitaker vs Nelson in 1990….We definitely missed Loma vs Mikey. If Devin beats Loma. And him and Tank fight next. It would be the biggest lightweight fight in over 30 years. You have to realize that although Oscar, Floyd and Manny were super stars and had big fights at lightweight. None of their fights were viewed as 50/50 or fights where that had likely chance to lose.
Greetings and blessings as always sir,
Real quick, amid everything that took place this past weekend how do we account for the terrible scorecards submitted for Davis vs Garcia. 10-10 on one card and 10-9 on the other 2 in round with a clean, decisive knockdown? Is it just me or did the final cards look a little bit too close? Regardless of the outcome questions should be asked of what the judges were scoring. As a trainer what kind of input if any do you have pre and post fight on who are assigned as judges? Are trainers allowed to petition or follow up post fight with a commission or with the promoters? This is nasty business. Thank you for your time.
Jack from Detroit
Bread’s Response: Garcia was winning the round but as you stated Davis scored a clean knockdown. I figured it would be a 10-8 round. I can understand a 10-9 round although I don’t agree because it wasn’t a flash knockdown. It was real. I can’t understand a 10-10 round. Maybe it was a mistake. We all make them. Maybe it was just sort of a typo because I don’t think 10-10 is justifiable. I also think judges should be interviewed so they can explain their actions. Because they get to disappear in anonymity, there is rarely accountability. And if the judges aren’t interviewed maybe a spokesperson from the commission can explain controversial scorecards or decisions. Yes trainer and managers can dismiss judges. I’ve done it twice. Once it worked out. The other time the judge ruled against my guy 115-113. So you have to be careful. It’s no exact science to it. At the end of the day, you just hope they’re fair but more importantly try to dominate so you take the judges out of it.
Good Day Breadman,
I just wanted to talk a little bit about David Morrell Jr. and why I think he is the next p4p # 1 and hopefully I make the mailbag a second time. I started watching Morrell Jr. fight in 2016 where he competed in the Youth World Championships in St. Peterburg, Russia and he won the light-heavy weight (178 pounds) world championship in a very impressive fashion. He was 17 at the time and he was named the best boxer of the tournament as he ran over the competition in a very impressive manner.
The following year, Morrell Jr. fights in the Cuban Nationals and he has a very easy time against very good fighters until he reaches the final and meets one of the all time greats in world amateur boxing today in Julio Cesar La Cruz aka La Sombra or the Shadow. La Cruz is a 5 time amateur world champion at 178 lbs and twice an Olympic gold medalist. He was an Olympic gold medalist in Rio in 2016 at 178 lbs and then moved up in weight for the Tokyo 2021 Olympics to 201 pounds or heavyweight where he won his second Olympic gold. In my opinion, after having watched Julio Cesar de La Cruz for over 9 years, I think he is the closest fighter talent and skills-wise to Ali. He is that great! Anyway, back to Morrell Jr. He had a very close fight with La Cruz in the Cuban nationals final at 178 in 2017, however, La Cruz was given the victory. I thought Morrell edged it but it was close. The fight is on YouTube I believe. That is when I knew Morrell Jr. was very, very special. Morrell then decides to leave the country because he would never replace La Cruz in Cuba. La Cruz is a sports legend in the island and a political figure for the regime.
I think all of Morrell’s opponents to date have been easy in terms of skill compared to the fighters he used to face in the amateurs. If I am not mistaken, he hasn’t lost a round as a pro yet. I am so high on Morrell Jr. that if he were to move up to light heavy and face Bivol tomorrow I will make him the favorite because he is a natural light heavy weight. Btw, good luck to Benavidez and the naysayers saying he is green and inexperienced. The only thing I didn’t like about Morrell Jr. in his last fight is when he hurt Yamaguchi he signaled to the ref to intervene and then in the post fight interview he said he didn’t want to put anyone in the hospital again like he did with Uzbekistan fighter.
When he fights the big names he can’t do that. Tank did what he was supposed to do against a technically limited fighter like Garcia. Garcia hadn’t made that weight in a long time, had a re-hydration weight stipulation for this fight, didn’t take a tune-up fight the way Tank did, has been inactive, left boxing because of mental health issues, changed trainers. With so many variables against him I was surprised he wasn’t a much bigger betting underdog. In the build-up of the fight he was constantly giving self-defeating vibes that would come out subliminally during his display of bravado. Even in his public workout like a day or two before the weigh-in he had a rough time hitting the pads, following instructions, moving under the hooks, he looked bad.
Then the fights starts and in the second round he started 3 offensive outbursts with a lead left hook in a span of 15 seconds and surprise, surprise Tank actually decided to counter him the third time around. Garcia had his feet on the same line and standing too tall on the inside, what was he expecting? Then that shell shocked him for 5 rounds until he gathered the courage to go for another offensive outburst where he again stayed tall on the inside and this time his feet were together. I mean, he could’ve gotten up too but he didn’t want to get a bad beat-down so I understand. His pitiful team were not even present for the post fight. DLH, Bhop and Goosen took off. Crazy word!
Best Regards,
Eugene from Toronto
Bread’s Response: David Morrell is really good. I saw him in his 1st or 2nd fight in Minnesota and I knew I was looking at a stud. I don’t think he’s green. I think he has room for improvement because he’s young and doesn’t have many fights. Big difference. Nevertheless he would be a handful for Benavidez. They actually would be a handful for each other. Both guys have strengths that would trouble the other. Benavidez has never faced someone with his similar physical dimensions and physicality with a southpaw stance. Morrell is experienced but the chaos and hell that David brings in the 2nd half of fights is something he hasn’t seen or dealt with. That’s a great and brutal fight! I hope it happens. Fight of Year in the making.
Ryan Garcia and joe Goosen just spilt ways. You could see a mile away that it was coming after Goosen was a no show at the press conference. There seems to be a plethora of candidates. Even your name has come up. Who do you think would best fit with Garcia? Would you take the job if he picked you?
Bread’s Response: Personalities, entourage and concepts all have to match. It’s more than just who can train. I don’t know Ryan so I can’t say who will fit his personality. But in terms of style I think Reynoso was good was with him. I also think Sugar Hill and Floyd Mayweather Sr would be good fits. I don’t like to talk about myself involving training a fighter. He hasn’t asked me and until he does I’m not involved.
I don’t believe Joe Goosen lost his job because he didn’t attend the press conference. I’ve been doing this for 13 years and I’m telling you that press conferences are very informal. Post fight activity is chaotic. We talk to people. We call our families. There is so much going on. There are fights when I’ve been told about press conferences and there are others when I’ve been invited. Goosen said he didn’t know about the press conference, so until I hear otherwise, I will take his word.
Who would be your front runner for Trainer of the Year so far? I would say Calvin Ford. Why do you think he’s overlooked as far as being one of the top trainers in the world? Tank Davis is an undefeated ko machine who’s been through three divisions….
Bread’s Response: Honestly it’s too early to say who should be Trainer of the Year. I didn’t like it when a couple of years ago, members of the media were campaigning for Eddy Reynoso to win it after Oscar Valdez kod Miguel Berchelt and it was like February or March. The year is not complete until December 31st. Things happen. Fighters win and lose. Fighters also test positive for PEDS. There are too many things to consider before we start crowning titles too early.
As for Ford personally, I love the guy. I love his energy. I hate the fact that he gets overlooked. Him and Kenny Ellis are staples of the boxing community of Baltimore. They deserve more flowers than they have been getting. From the outside looking in I feel like the media doesn’t give them credit because they attribute Tank’s success more to his matchmaking, connections with Al Haymon, Floyd Mayweather and Leonard Ellerbee than they do Ford and Ellis’s training and that’s a shame. Yes Tank is matched well but they still have to put the work in.
They still had Tank since he was a small kid. I also think Tank has to speak out about them more so people can start hearing about how important they are to him. Ford and Ellis are very humble so they don’t talk about themselves too much interviews. They’re team players. And because of that they don’t get the credit they deserve.
Lastly I think trainers get more credit when their fighter wins a fight when he’s perceived to be up against it. Tank hasn’t fought that fight yet. In his fight vs Garcia, Garcia was the fighter who was perceived to be up against it. Had Garcia won, Joe Goosen would be getting his props. It’s just how it is.
In my opinion The Trainer of the Year is the trainer who has the most influence over his fighter and scores the best wins or performances. Right now if we are being fair Jose Benavidez Sr has the best win in my opinion of the first 4 months of the year, but again the year is far from over. Fulton vs Inoue, Spence vs Crawford and Charlo vs Tszyu will all have Trainer of the Year implications. Let’s have this conversation in December though, May is too early.
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