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The Daily Bread Mailbag returns with Stephen “Breadman” Edwards tackling topics such as Errol Spence’s win over Yordenis Ugas, Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol, Josh Warrington, Shakur Stevenson vs. Oscar Valdez, and more.
What’s going on, Brother Bread?
Hope all is good with you & the fam. Look, I’ma just keep it real because I’m still hot after just having watched the Errol Spence Jr./Yordenis Ugas fight, which props to both guys, who made it a great “fight of the year” type bout. But I’m mad about Laurence Cole’s ass. Ugas had Spence hurt really badly in the 6th round and for some reason Cole gave Spence a whole ass break when he was in danger of being stopped. I don’t expect you to call him corrupt, but I will. Man is as crooked as a 3 dollar bill.
I just got a few questions if you you’re kind enough to answer.1. How does this man, who is almost roundly reviled by boxing fans & commentators keep getting the opportunity to referee high-level boxing? Virtually everyone views him as the worst ref in boxing. Is it the sanctioning bodies that keep forcing this dude on us? The promoters? Or is it the state commissions? Is there some secret “referee rankings” that us plebs don’t know about that determines who gets the big fights? 2. I don’t expect you to say anything bad about him or any other judge because you might have to deal with him or them, I understand, but how does a high-level trainer like yourself prepare yourself and your fighter to deal with a ref, who has a “bad reputation”?
Can you prepare a fighter for a referee with “controversial” tendencies or do you not spend any energy wasting about the ref?
Bread’s Response: I was live at Spence vs Ugas. And I think everyone was confused at what happened. Spence got staggered and his mouth piece came out. Ugas sort of paused then followed up with some nice shots and staggered him again. People are accusing Ugas of throwing the fight. What I think happened is, he just didn’t process the situation fast enough. It was a tough fight and he was wearing down. I think everyone was confused for about 2 seconds and Errol Spence recovered really fast. He was in DOG shape. My goodness. His legs were unsteady and within a few seconds he was rolling again.
I don’t want to criticize Cole for Spence stopping for a second. That’s not on him. That’s on Spence. Ugas could have followed up but he didn’t. Cole’s mistake was he stopped the action when Spence was hurt and there was no big lull in the action. I won’t say he was corrupt however. But I do agree it was a mistake or miscalculation. I have never personally had an issue with Cole. So I can’t speak on him directly. But I get your frustration.
Overall I actually ask the promoters who are the judges and referees. There are guys I like and there are some I’m not fond of. I have respectfully asked for certain judges to be removed. Sometimes I get it. Other times I haven’t.
Once I had a referee in a fight we were up 3 rounds to 0. In the 4th round we had a head butt. My fighter and the other fighter were both cut. The referee somehow took the other fighter to the doctor and not my fighter and they both suffered cuts. Nothing horrible but workable cuts. The losing fighter started blinking and acting like he couldn’t see. The bout was stopped and ruled a no contest because 4 rounds were not complete. I was upset because they didn’t have to take him to the doctor. They could have given his corner a chance to work on the cut. The referee also selected the fighter who was losing to go to the doctor and both fighters were cut. He never checked on my fighter. It gave the fighter who was down on points a way out.
The very next year we fought in Vegas. I specifically asked to not get this referee and low and behold I got him again. I was sick to my stomach.
On another occasion I asked for a judge to be removed. He just favored too many A side fighters for my liking. So the judge I replaced him with ruled against my fighter and after the fight he apologized to me and told me my fighter fought well. We got a draw because of his scorecard. Then after the fight, the judge I had replaced said he ruled for my guy. So you never know. It can go many ways. I personally make list of good and bad officials and I pray I don’t get them. On the occasions I’ve had the power to switch, sometimes I have done it and others I haven’t because my guts told me we were going to be okay.
In over 60 pro fights and 12 years as a head trainer, I have only been what I felt like really screwed over 5 times. I have to take the good with the bad and not the play the victim. I can also honestly say I have never received a decision or call that I didn’t deserve. But I just march forward nonetheless. Establish my relationship with the promoters and hope things work out. It’s all you can really do.
Hey Mr Edwards,
Ugas busts up. Those were your exact words in responding to my write-in on Spence-Ugas in the last mailbag. As usual, you got it right. In the end, Ugas, strong and willing to continue to the bitter end, was so busted up he had to be saved from himself. But not before he showed a blind boxing world why Terrence Crawford will dismantle Errol Spence Jr in a way that will shock and awe those who, unlike some of us, have known for a while that Bud is a level or two above The Truth. And if further proof was needed, the 6th round of Spence-Ugas provided it in startling fashion. And, perhaps , it also showed us the bad side of boxing. Firstly, if it was Crawford and not Ugas in that 6th round and Spence was that vulnerable, it would have spelled the end. Crawford is a vicious finisher and I don’t care how resilient Spence is. He would have been stopped.
Secondly, I would ban that referee for life for his conduct in that 6th round. He definitely robbed Ugas of a possible stoppage victory. If it’s true what Spence says that the referee called a break after Ugas sent Spence’s mouth guard flying, that referee belongs in the amateurs. This was a high stakes championship unification fight and if Ugas landed a cracker of a punch and Spence’s jaw went slack to the point of dropping his mouth guard, you can’t take away that vulnerable moment by calling a break. And when Ugas followed up with a one-two combination that knocked Spence into the ropes, that’s a knockdown and a 10-8 round. The only stoppage the referee should have called was for an eight count, not to find Spence’s mouth guard. He could have kicked the mouth guard to Spence’s corner while commencing the count.
And after Ugas was robbed of a knockdown in the 6th round, Spence gets a 10-8 round I think in the 8th round when Ugas was never off his feet. And you will recall Spence was awarded a very dodgy knockdown in the Shawn Porter fight and that swung the scorecards in Spence’s favor. All this shows that despite the fact that Spence is talented and works hard, he gets help from the officials when the going gets tough. Fortunately, Crawford is not going to be as hesitant as Ugas was when the referee was clearly making the wrong calls. Crawford will strike before the officials are able to show their bias. If the fight gets made. I said in the last mailbag that the only way Spence embraces the Crawford fight is if he blows Ugas away. He seems to believe he did and perhaps that explains the bold call outs to Crawford after the fight. I hope they don’t sit down and carefully study the tape of the Ugas fight. Because if they do, they will see many points in the fight where if it was Crawford in there and not Ugas, he would have been done for. Then we will begin to hear nonsense about Crawford pricing himself out of the fight. Spence is too slow of foot to make this fight into the Leonard-Hearns and Leonard-Duran welterweight classics many are predicting. And he is also very predictable with what he throws. Yes, he’s heavy handed enough to hurt Crawford but Crawford always comes back from being hurt and he’s crafty enough to walk Spence into something. And when that happens Crawford will take him out.
Crawford deserves 50-50. He is a three division and former undisputed champion. He has had a long and dominant reign as WBO champion. He’s undefeated across three divisions. And he would have collected the belts Spence now holds more emphatically than Spence did if he was given the opportunity. So, Spence has nothing on Crawford except promotional hype. I don’t know which Dmitry Bivol is going to turn up against Canelo Alvarez. If it’s the pre-champion Bivol, he has a chance to trouble Canelo and perhaps even pull off the upset. However, if it’s the champion Bivol, expect another Canelo romp. There’s no way the Bivol who struggles with the Isaac Chilembas of this world stands even a sniff of a chance against Canelo.
But Bivol did go on an impressive run before he won the 175 pound title. He’s just too tentative and fights too much within himself to trouble Canelo since he became champion. Bivol must fight big and he must be on the front foot. He’s got to throw combinations and then turn Canelo to avoid the counters. If he can’t do that, Canelo will bust him up and maybe break an orbital bone. That’s what heavy handed punchers like Canelo and Spence can do to you. Looking forward to the next mailbag.
Katlholo, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Bread’s Response: I agree about Bivol. When he was ascending I was higher on him. I don’t know what happened. I suspect he was hurt by a punch and it has caused him to take a more tepid approach. Canelo’s smells that on opponents and if he senses that he rips into them. Bivol has to give Canelo the sense that he’s coming to GET IT! When I say get it, I mean get it. That entails everything that Canelo is bringing and then some. So many of these fights are won on character and attitude. Every fighter is skilled at the top level.
We will disagree with about Spence vs Crawford. I don’t have a pick yet. But some of you guys are biased and it shows. Spence just put on an excellent performance. It was his best since Lamont Peterson. Why are you being so critical? You don’t like Spence so you’re making it seem like he’s over his head vs Crawford. How do you know that? Their ability levels are not that far apart for you to be so SURE Crawford will destroy him. And your reasoning is just off. You’re saying if Crawford gets him in the same position Ugas had him in, then Crawford will ko him. Maybe, maybe not. Different fights, different night. Just because Ugas hurt Spence, doesn’t mean Crawford will. It doesn’t mean Ugas is better than Crawford, he’s not. What it means is, that’s what Ugas did on that night. That’s just like me saying because Mean Machine knocked Crawford down, then that means Spence is guaranteed to ko him. That doesn’t have to be the truth. I may turn out to be the truth but it’s not a guarantee. They have to fight. It’s a great fight.
As for the purses I don’t like to get into that. It really shouldn’t be for public consumption and I feel like fans care too much about that.
Bread,
First off, hope you are proud of your fighter for his performance against Lee. That was one of his best performances and there is a lot he can get better at but he made Lee look ordinary at times and that is full credit to Zachary. Alright, on to the Spence/Ugas fight. The way Spence is able to fight on the inside by creating settle space is something special. One of his all time favorite fighters is Chocolatito and I feel like he has a lot of him in his game. Ugas was countering well early on as Spence was trying to jab from the inside but he quickly realized that it was going to be difficult to fight that way against someone with a high guard defense. So what does he do? He essentially abandons his jab and makes it a inside fight. Of course, he was going to have to take some shots in return but this allowed him to start getting his uppercut off and his hooks off over Ugas’ guard.
The body work was great as usual and while everyone thinks the tide turned from the 7th round on, I believe it turned from the 4th round on. The 4th and 5th rounds set the tone of the fight. Ugas got some good shots off in the 6th round, especially the two shots when Spence had his hands down and wasn’t paying attention, but even after that he regrouped quickly and went back to work. I keep going back to what you said a few years ago that Spence may have the best clutch gene in boxing. He never panics when things aren’t going his way and always lands the shots he needs to swing the fight in his favor. If you look at his physical attributes, while he is strong, he’s not the quickest fighter or the biggest puncher, but he knows what he is and has a lot of pride. We know what is coming next and it is the biggest or at the very least the best fight in boxing at the moment. I’m not sure yet who I will be picking but I was thinking watching this fight that the one difference could be that Spence is very composed and unemotional and in a fight where there will be a bunch of ebbs and flows, that could be the difference. He’s not going to divert from his game plan and may be the one that doesn’t make the big mistake getting overanxious. Either way, boxing better not fail us here!
Take care.
Bread’s Response: I didn’t know one of Spence’s favorite fighters was Chocolatito. That explains a lot. Spence found a rhythm inside that he hasn’t had in many years. He had been using his jab as of lately but in this fight he went in the trenches. Great move. For as good as Ugas is, he shells up a lot inside and he doesn’t have 2 fisted attack. He heavily favors his right hand. Spence has a 2 fisted attack. He was able to beat on Ugas from both sides of his body and it wore Ugas out.
I love what you said about Spence’s style. I feel like he keeps it simple and it works for him. Him and his coach are the perfect fit for each other. Their pad work is exactly how Errol fights. They do the same thing over and over. Many people would want to see something more fancy but there is a science behind it. The science is Spence’s heart rate is never stressed in a fight because he trains at that same exact pace. It’s not frenetic but it’s a hard pace that he’s used too. Spence is no joke and I’m happy he’s out of his performance slump. That performance was his best in years and it makes the Crawford fight more tantalizing because now no one knows who will win.
Ssup Bread, Might sound like I am nitpicking but as much as I liked Spence’s performance Saturday night, I couldn’t help but wonder if he has poor Ring IQ because if the way he handled Round 6. Full disclosure, I loved his performance except for Round 6. He was stunned and I mean really stunned and yet instead of trying to circle or clinch he kept engaging in a firefight. I loved it as a fan but I will have to admit that he survived that round due to the dirt poor finishing skills displayed by Ugas and not because of his IQ. What the hell was Ugas doing? Spence was giving him all the chance by continuing to engage instead of circling or clinching and Ugas still he couldn’t let his hands go. He allowed himself to be was overwhelmed by the punches of clearly stunned and wobbly legged Spence in that round.
Anyway, my views on Spence have changed so much over time. There was a time I thought he will easily beat Crawford even when I had Crawford ranked No.1 in my P4P rankings. Then after a while I started thinking Crawford will narrowly edge him but now I am thinking that Crawford will finish him. Spence has been clipped bad a few times in his career and Crawford will clip him as well. Only difference is that I feel Crawford will finish him once Spence gets clipped. Spence reminds me of Hearns in some ways. He takes it on his pride and continues to engage when he should just relax. This bad habit will cost him against Crawford.
My question to you – Please give a detailed breakdown of how Crawford vs Spence will look according to you?
Regards, Saurabh
Bread’s Response: I think you’re being too hard on Spence and Ugas. It’s easy to judge in the heat of the moment. I think Spence was hurt for sure. He got hit with a good shot. I think Ugas was caught off guard by his actions and everyone was confused. I don’t think it was a lack of IQ on Spence’s part. He was hurt and trying to get himself together. When fighters get hurt they can’t always help how they act. Sometimes they lose control of their faculties. Spence’s legs wobbled because that’s what happens. Ugas was slow to react because he was taking a beating. He was also confused. I think you’re being slightly too critical. We can all go back and micro critique a fight.
Spence vs Crawford is an awesome fight. Their temperaments are what will make this fight great. Both guys put a bad round or bad moment behind them and they move on to the next moment. Both have some of the best late round stamina you will ever see. Both are extremely confident. Both fight in all 3 ranges and they both are competitive in terms of momentum. Rarely has either lost 2 rounds in a row in their careers because they both try to get back the momentum of tough fights. I think Crawford has slightly more god given ability. Meaning if neither was a fighter and you had them both in a gym, Crawford would be able to do more at a higher level. But that doesn’t mean he will win. Spence has a Marvin Hagler, Mike McCallum way about him. He’s athletic but he doesn’t rely on athleticism. He’s a strong, technical, high volume pressure boxer. We often mislabel a style but that’s Spence in my opinion. With his style he doesn’t have to be more gifted or athletic to beat an opponent. He has to be in shape and be in the right mind set. That’s important.
Crawford is a little sharper. He’s brutal to the body. He gets stronger as the fight goes. And he’s the best finisher and improviser in boxing. But his one Achilles heel in my opinion is, it’s easier to win rounds against Crawford than it is against Spence. Not because Spence is a better boxer. But because of Spence’s volume, from the eye ball test he wins more rounds than Crawford. There are times when it looks like Crawford is getting outboxed before he routinely flips that switch. In a competitive fight with Spence being the slight A side, I can see a scenario where Spence can win if it goes to the scorecards.
To Crawford’s credit he has out fought the system of boxing. Crawford has not had one fight in his career where any critic can say they thought he lost. He wins them all convincingly. It’s a gift of separation he has had so far. I expect Spence to step to Crawford behind his hard jab. I expect Crawford to take inventory on Spence’s timing and moves. Crawford usually switches to southpaw after a few rounds and then he rolls. In this fight I’m not sure if will have the same effect because Spence is a southpaw. However I do think Crawford will go to Spence’s body.
Spence doesn’t stop being a dog. But he has shown a peculiar way to defend body shots. He literally jumped back from body shots in two fights in a row vs Ugas and Garcia. I can see Crawford countering to the body similar to Ugas but sharper. I believe both will keep upping the ante as the rounds go on. Because Crawford is sharper I think Spence needs to up his volume to even out the sharpness.
Crawford also has a press come forward game and because of his pride I think in the 2nd half of the fight, he’s going to go for Spence which will turn this into a vicious war. I believe it will be the Fight of the Century as they go down the stretch. Before Spence’s performance vs Ugas I believe if you polled 100 experts more than 60 would pick Crawford. After the Ugas performance I think it got closer. I still think more would pick Crawford because it’s easier to see Crawford’s gifts and people pick with their eyes. But Spence also has qualities that don’t show up on the eye ball test. I wouldn’t be surprised if the odds were even -110 for both after they sign.
Good Job Breadman,
Jose Corpas here. That’s the first time in a long time I seen Zach use his smarts in the ring – we always knew he had heart but first time he fought like a pro – big improvement, – it was closer than the judges said – you can argue Zach won 4 rounds. Heck, he might even draw or win a rematch. Zach said he made 135 ez for Gervonta when he was on standby – if he goes back down I like his chances if he keeps improving and fighting smart. good job. He’s real close to putting all together.
Bread’s Response: I don’t just judge wins or losses. I judge the level of performance. Zachary Ochoa just made 135lbs as a stand by fighter on the Davis vs Cruz undercard. He has always been fighting too high in weight. We had to take this fight vs Brandun Lee at 143lbs. So you had a bigger, faster, stronger kid in Lee vs a smaller guy in Ochoa. I’m not celebrating a loss but I’m very proud he carried the game plan out the best he could and he fought his best. I thought Lee won the fight 97-93. I have no issue with the decision a point up or down. We didn’t deserve a draw. Lee won fair and square. Hopefully we get a shot at 135lbs. Zach deserves it, he’s a great kid and he’s a pro’s pro.
Hello, Breadman.
Three quick questions:1. In your April 2 mailbag, you said, “Warrington is no joke.” I agree, but I think his head butting crosses the line. If you were training someone to face Warrington, how would you prepare your fighter to deal with Warrington’s constant head butting?2. If the Spence/Crawford fight gets made, Crawford wins, moves up to 154, and then beats the winner of Charlo vs. Castaño, and then retires, is Crawford in the immediate conversation of ATG? Top 10 all time? I can’t think of any other fighter who has unified the belts in three divisions and retired undefeated. (This is another “what if” greatest of all time to dovetail on your recent mailbag, but a scenario that can realistically happen. 3. Who do you think accomplished more in their career, Mayweather or Duran? Thank you for providing something to look forward to on Saturday mornings.
Bread’s Response: Josh Warrington is a rough customer. So you think he head butts on purpose. I don’t know if that’s true or not. But there are ways to deal with a head butter. First off notify the ref about your concerns. Then make sure your fighter stays lower inside. You can’t get hit with a head butt if you are below the crown of the head.
Next if you can’t get lower, make sure you stay ear to ear inside. You should be able to look over your opponent’s shoulders on either side and never face to face.
The last but not least, I would tell my guy to keep his head behind his knee. There is an imaginary line from the his front knee to the ceiling. Don’t allow your head over that line.
Crawford is already a HOF. I think beating Spence would make him an ATG. I don’t know if beating the Charlo vs Castano winner would make him top 10 ATG though. Top 10 is a special, special place. Let’s see him do it first and let’s see how he does it if he does. There is a lot of room between the cup and the lip. First they have to make the fights and next he has to win them.
Who accomplished more between Duran and Mayweather? It’s hard to tell. They fought in different eras under different principles. They both have done amazing jobs. Floyd’s record is neater. He doesn’t have a loss. Duran has better wins and he has them as underdogs. Duran’s win over Ray Leonard in 1980 is among the top 3 or 4 in history. Duran has a more dominant reign in one single division but Floyd’s reigns at 130 and then at 147 is comparable. Not so much the title defenses but the consistent wins over top guys in the division. Floyd was more consistent but Duran had way more fights in a shorter period of time and that can be a load. Duran fought bigger and harder styles. I’m not sure if Floyd would have fought Hearns at 154 and Hagler and Barkely at 160. Duran fought Hearns and Hagler back to back. He was a savage in that way! He lost the fights but no lightweight in history would win those fights. Especially past his prime. So it’s a tough call. It’s even tougher because the eras are so far apart. You can do things in this era, you couldn’t do 30-40 years ago. There were less belts available. Let’s just enjoy them both.
It’s interesting to watch things unfold and unspool as the fight between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte draws closer. With the new allegations against a promoter with ties to Fury, I feel like a new dynamic has been thrown into the mix. Questions about that alleged mob connection seem to be grating on Tyson Fury. Do I think that could distract him? Maybe, maybe not. Something about this whole fight just feels… off (for lack of a better word). I’m still picking Fury, but I can’t help but wonder if an upset is brewing. I actually wouldn’t be shocked at all if Whyte could pull off the win. What do you think of all this, Breadman? Could we be headed for an upset? How big would it be? Upset of the Year candidate or nah? And do you have any thoughts on Fury’s alleged ties to this promoter?
Bread’s Response: With heavyweights more so than any other weight, upsets are easier to occur. Heavyweights are up 150lbs bigger than most of the world’s other fighters. But their heads and neck are not that much bigger in a proportioned aspect. So it’s simply easier to score kos as a heavyweight. So of course an upset is possible. I am not picking Whyte to upset Fury because I just believe Fury is the better fighter. But yes it’s possible.
Fury also took a bad beating vs Wilder and he was almost kod. Fury also doesn’t fight other fighters as well as he fights Wilder. It’s sort of like how Marquez fights Pacquioa. Marquez has struggled with guys like Michael Katsiditis and lost to Freddy Norwood, Chris John and Tim Bradley. But yet he fights Pacman tooth and nail every time. Fury has struggled also with lesser fighters than Wilder but yet he beats Wilder and stops him. So I can see Whyte being very competitive.
From a technical stand point Fury is more of a 1-2 puncher. He doesn’t have a great left hook. Whyte does. So if Whyte can force Fury to hook with him, he’s really cooking with grease. But Fury’s mind is just next level. Inside of a boxing ring, he has one of the best minds you will ever want to see. He can function under extreme pressure and stress. Mentally his mind is at an Ali like level. So whatever distractions or technical disadvantages he may have, until he loses I’m going to ride with one of the mentally strongest fighters I have ever seen.
Wassup Bread?!
Peace and blessings to you and your family. I feel like this year is the year of unification-bout. We have a number of unifications coming up this year with Spence-Ugas and Stevenson-Valdez kicking things off this month. I’m very interested to see how Shakur performs against Oscar Valdez as Shakur has been calling him out since they were both at featherweight. I believe Shakur is the goods and will continue to elevate after a career best win over Herring. My gut tells me Valdez will have to fight a perfect fight if he wants his hand raised. Can he and Reynoso recapture what they did against Berchelt? Stevenson is a more complex puzzle to solve and it’s so difficult to fight a perfect fight multiple times. We won’t know until they get into the ring, but I think Shakur will score a late stoppage after systematically breaking him down and making him miss all night. What are your boxing eyes showing you about this one?
Stephen from Dallas
Bread’s Response: I am very high on Shakur Stevenson. I was probably as high on him as I have been any other young fighter in boxing besides Jaron Ennis. But I have to say I watched Oscar Valdez train and I believe he’s in critical shape. I believe he’s going to fight his heart out. He knows he’s the underdog. He knows this is a tough fight for him. He knows most people are picking him to lose. When a real fighter is up against that, a little fear comes in. And believe it or not, fear is a good thing. You train harder when you know you will lose if you aren’t better than you have ever been.
Reynoso is a coach who does not keep his fighters away from movers and southpaws who box. Reynoso has matched Canelo with Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara, Floyd Mayweather, Caleb Plant and BJ Saunders. That tells me something. It tells me he’s confident that he knows how to deal with a mover. I was very surprised Valdez took this fight and I give him props. I pick Stevenson to win but I think Valdez will perform at an elite level. I don’t think Stevenson will stop him. I believe the fight will go to the scorecards.
Assalamualaikum Bread,
Greetings from Malaysia. We are starting to see quite a number of fighters with famous surnames in action - Tim Tszyu, Mosley Jr, Evan Holyfield, Nico Ali, Chris Eubank Jr, Connor Benn, Vargas brothers, etc. My questions to you are:1. It might be too early to tell but out of all them, who do you think has the best chance to surpass his father’s / grandfather’s skills and legacy?2. Would you say there is an overall advantage of disadvantage being a boxer with a famous surname? On one hand I think the marketability, privileges and passed down knowledge will be advantageous, but I also feel that the pressures of expectation may be too much for the fighter to handle. Plus, we have seen fathers interfere with training and career management of their sons.3. As a father, would you encourage your child to box if he/she has a passion for it? If yes, would you be comfortable training them or would you rather focus on being a father?
Kind regards, Izz
Bread’s Response: First off I want to give props to those young men for even attempting to follow in their father’s footsteps. It takes a lot of courage to do so. I don’t want to criticize any of the young men. But it will be extremely difficult for any of them to pass their fathers or grand father. I’m just being honest. All of their father/grandfathers are HOF level or ATG greats.
Right now, I would say either Tim Tszyu or the youngest Vargas brother has the best chance to surpass the father. Tszyu is ranked #1 at 154 and if he can break through in a tough division he has a shot. I’m not sure of the youngest Vargas brother name. But he’s tall and slim. He looks like he fights at maybe 130ish. That kid is very talented. With the right matchmaking and developing he seems to have to the right mix of god given talent, genetics and resources to break through but it’s still so early to tell. Tough question!
I think it being the son of a famous fighter has it’s advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is the promotion of the last name. The disadvantage is the constant comparisons and impatience of the fathers. Often times, great ex fighters train fighters from where they left off and not where they started. They often don’t have the patience to deal with the learning process.
I wouldn’t encourage my child to box, period. Passion or no passion. But if my son chose to box, I would definitely want to train him but I would let it be a choice of his with no pressure from me. My son is 9 and he has asked me to box. But he wants to just spar and he doesn’t want to work on the floor. So that shows me he’s not ready to box. He wants to recreationally spar, which is ok but it takes more than that. I haven’t pressured him one bit. I just tell him, he’s not going to the gym to spar if he doesn’t learn the basics first.
Most people have passion or ambition to be good at everything they do. I personally don’t hold passion in as high regard as most. It comes and goes. I hold discipline and talent in higher regard. If my son had the discipline and talent to box I wouldn’t mind it. With discipline even when the passion leaves, he will still train the same. And let’s be honest. I wouldn’t want my son to be a journeyman. I would have to feel he has elite level talent to be a world champion or I wouldn’t be involved.
I just saw you checked a few haters on twitter about your lost betting slips. Good for you. Sometimes these guys need a reality check. Hope you find them. Onto my question. In light of Errol Spence’s dominant performance does your P4P list change? And has there ever been a fight in history between two undefeated fighters as highly touted as Crawford and Spence where so much legacy was on the line?
Bread’s Response: When people want to discredit you, they will find a way to discredit you. But I’m here for it all. I’m going to find those slips and tag the TROLLS with the pics. It won’t stop them, they will find another reason to hate. But it won’t be THAT reason. The troll has already started to back track. I move around a little too fast at times and I don’t believe I lost them. I believe I just misplaced them. One or two days of a clear mind and I will find them.
There have been some huge fights in boxing history where the fighters had great records. But being undefeated like you asked is very rare. People bring up Ray Leonard vs Tommy Hearns. But they forget that Leonard had 1 avenged loss to Roberto Duran. I personally am not caught up on the undefeated record thing but since you asked it’s really hard to think of many. Even Pernell Whitaker vs Julio Cesar Chavez was not two undefeated fighters. If you guys remember Whitaker had 1 disputed avenged loss.
Oscar De La Hoya vs Felix Trinidad fits the bill you’re speaking of.
So does Roy Jones vs James Toney.
Believe it or not Ray Leonard vs Wilfred Benitez does also. Leonard was 25-0 and Benitez was 36-0.
Wilfredo Gomez vs Carlos Zarate was also a battle of undefeated giants.
Floyd Mayweather vs Diego Corrales. Floyd Mayweather vs Canelo Alvarez.
Salvador Sanchez vs Wilfredo Gomez was huge but Sanchez had 1 loss. I chose that fight because it had P4P implications. But I’m going to throw some caveats at you.
The heavyweights. We have seen some huge heavyweight fights, with P4P implications between heavyweights. Everyone forgets the heavyweights because they don’t like to put them on the P4P list. But I have no issue with that if the heavyweight is a worth being put on the list.
So…. Frazier vs Ali 1. That’s a fight in 1971 for arguably not only the best heavyweight on the planted but the best P4P fighter on the planet. In 1971 who else would have had a better argument than the winner of that fight.
In 1973 Frazier vs Foreman. Two undefeated Gold Medalist going at it for the heavyweight championship of the world.
By 1973 Duran, Monzon and Napoles had emerged but Frazier was still a player in the debate.
In 1985 Michael Spinks vs Larry Holmes. The lineal lightheavyweight champion vs the Lineal heavyweight champion. Both undefeated. Both HOF. In 1985 Hagler was considered the world’s best fighter but Spinks vs Holmes definitely fits the bill of what we are talking about. Then in 1988 Tyson vs Spinks. In 1988 Tyson was considered the world’s best fighter and Spinks was still undefeated. This was huge.
In 1992 Evander Holyfield was undefeated. Riddick Bowe was undefeated. Both Olympic Medalist. In 1992 Holyfield had a case for being the P4P top guy although Chavez was considered the best. Bowe vs Holyfield may be an outlier but it’s close.
Spence vs Crawford is a rare occurrence if it does happen. Rarely in history has this happened. Especially between two officially undefeated fighters who are this established. If you throw in the unification and how long both have been pros, this is huge. I’m not sure if we have had one that checks as many boxes. I haven’t done a P4P list in a very long time. So here goes:
1.Terence Crawford
2. Canelo Alvarez
3. Monster Inoue
4. Oleksandr Usyk
5. Errol Spence
6. Artur Beterbiev
7. Josh Taylor
8. Roman Gonzalez
9. Shakur Stevenson
10. Gervonta Davis
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