DAILY BREAD SUNDAY EDITION
By Stephen "Breadman" Edwards

Bread, i wasn't too impressed with Nonito Donaire.. I think he should stick to the basics a little more.. The Kid is athletic, great footwork, dynamic than a mutha.. He probably has the best left hook in the game right now..
How do you think Nonito would fair with In a fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux, Chemito Moreno, or any of the top Dogs @ 126lbs?
Bread’s Response: Before Nonito moves to 126 he needs to establish supremacy in the best division in boxing. Rigondeaux and Moreno are 50/50 with him at this point and Mares is 60-40 in favor of Nonito.


As you know I have been singing the praises of Nonito forever. But I am perplexed right now. I was patient with his fight against Narvaez because Narvaez  was such a stinker but Nonito has hit a plateau. It happens sometimes and then guys take off again. It happened with Manny in 2007 around the time of his rematch with Barerra and Whitaker in around 91 or 92 when he fought Anthony Jones. Sometimes great fighters flatline slightly then they pick it up when they feel threatened.
But I am a little worried about Nonito for many reasons.

Nonito’s body does not look to me that he can carry much more weight than what he’s carrying. I know he’s never cut but 122 seems right for him at this time. He claims he wants to leave but he’s struggling somewhat at 122. I know I seem to be nitpicking because he’s handling top class elite fighters, which is never easy, but I don’t like how he’s going about it.
He is doing everything off of athleticism nothing off of skill. He’s very impatient in his approach. He barely uses his jab and he has a GREAT one. He also has a great left hook to the body that he never uses. He’s the best counter puncher in boxing but he doesn’t seem to be able to SIT in the pocket and force his opponent to open up. Nonito is unconventional like Roy Jones but Jones seemed to be much more cerebral. Maybe I just expect more out of one of the most talented fighters I have ever seen….. But you guys have to realize that talent comes in the ability to THINK also.


Nonito also tries to punch too dam hard. He’s whipping his whole body into every shot. When you do that you put your opponent on NOTICE and it makes it hard to catch him. You also put yourself in jeopardy of hurting your hands. I am very detailed and in my opinion Nonito is wearing the WRONG gloves. He wears the Mexican cut Everlast gloves. These gloves are the worst I have tried on. The Everlast 1910 edition are much better. So are the Reyes and so are the Grant Mexican cut, which to me are the best. The Mexican cut Everlast are mushy on knuckle and flimsy on the wrist support. That’s a bad combination for a hard puncher. Remember me saying it first, Nonito will have hand problems if he doesn’t explore a new glove.


Also, I don’t buy into Nonito not being a hard puncher at 122. He can still crack. The problem is he’s fighting bigger and better fighters and the secret is out on him. It’s like in the NFL, a player has a great season, then the next season he levels off because everybody game plans for him. The same thing is happening with Nonito.


People call Robert Garcia a great trainer. I am not suggesting he’s not but I do want to bring something up. The same people criticize Freddie Roach and say he gets ready made champions. Well let me play Devil’s Advocate. Sometimes you can get a fighter that has so many bad habits it makes it difficult to break those habits, even champions. Let’s remember Freddie Roach did his thing with Michael Moorer, James Toney, Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan and Julio Chavez Jr. And that’s off the top of my head. Robert Garcia got Nonito Donaire, Kelly Pavlik and Antonio Margarito and to be honest I have not seen the improvement in those guys that I saw in the guys I named that Roach had.


I know no one is 100% in transforming a fighter. Roach has failed and so has every other big name trainer who has been brought in as a fixer or hired gun. But it’s peculiar to me that Nonito has flatlined so much under Garcia and no one talks about it.


For the record I have tons of respect for Garcia. He seems like a fine trainer. But I know that sometimes because a trainer gets fed top fighters and has a beautiful SITUATION because of his location and gym and affiliation with a Promotional Company, then everyone assumes he is a GREAT trainer. I’m not suggesting Garcia is not a great trainer. I don’t know if he is or not at this point. But I do know what I see. And I am not ready to label somebody great because of a situation; I will label them great because of accomplishments.


 

Hey Bread, I think upset of the yr in barn burner is Chavez Jr-Martinez. I got Chavez by decision or late stoppage someway somehow. What u think? My favorite fighters of all time are Holyfield, Chavez Sr, Hector Camacho Sr, Marco A. Barrera, Prince Hamed, Angel Manfredy, Victoriano Sosa (personal reasons lol), Emmanuel Augustus, Junior Witter (though underachieved somewhat, same for Augustus), and Chop Chop Corley (underachieved in my opinion). Favorite fighters of today are Amir Khan, Brandon Rios, Chavez Jr and I also like Randall Bailey a lot (though he relies on his power a little too much). What u think of these fighters if u have the time? And I forgot to congratulate ur boy Julian Williams for his win vs Hector Rosario. That was a good test and win for him. Rosario is a very good underated tough fighter. I didn't think it was a good fight for him to take at the time. He just got out of prison and only fought 1 time in the last 4 yrs. I thought he should have took a tune up b4 stepping up to the plate against a fighter like Julian who's been active all yr. I was sparring with Hector and I can tell u the guy can crack. But that's what happens when u from the hood and chase that money too quickly, u end up taking fights u have no business taking. But good win anyways can't take nothing away from the kid.
Bread’s Response: I love your first set of favorites. Holyfield, Barerra and Chavez Sr. are always in my VCR or DVD player. Yes I still have a VCR, lol.


Thanks Julian fought an excellent fight against Hector Rosario. There was a quiet buzz about that fight in AC that weekend. A fair number of people thought Rosario was going to beat Julian. Even Emanuel Steward walked up to me after the fight and told me thought Rosario had a shot at getting Julian. He congratulated us on the victory. Julian put on a boxing clinic and I was very proud of him, because as you stated Rosario is no joke.


Rosario has a heavy punch and he was very confident. I am curious to see, how many other prospects are willing to tangle with Hector. I hope he stays in shape and stays focus he still has a future. We have another tough one coming up on Shobox July 20th……

 

 

Hi bread!  Good morning from Australia!  Got a few questions for you.  Who is Al Haymon?  I was looking at his stable now and it is pretty good.  Over the last couple of years, we seem to hear more about him.  Some say he is good, some say he is bad.  He seems to have a fair bit of influence on HBO an Showtime.  Why and how?  .  Is he good or bad for boxing? Would you recommend one of your fighter to join his stable?  I thought I'd try to pick your brain on this topic as the business part of boxing is also interesting. Thanks!
 
Mike Lafleur
Bread’s Response: Al Haymon is the most powerful man in boxing. Period. Because he is an advisor and not a promoter he has a big field to play on. A promoter is limited to what they can do as far as advising a fighter. It’s actually illegal to be a promoter and a manager/advisor of the same fighter. Al Haymon is a genius and he understands this. So he is an advisor who deals directly with the networks allowing his fighters to get paid top dollar and often times overpaid. Haymon cuts the (middleman/promoter) out often. See Andre Berto and Antonio Tarver. Haymon is sort of an advising promoter.


I still don’t know how he has so much control over the networks but I assume it’s because of his ties to Floyd Mayweather. If you have the top dog, you can bark as loud as you like. But I think it has to be more than that too….. I notice Haymon is loading his stable up because Mayweather may not be around too much longer and he has to have leverage in his talent.
I would consider going with Haymon if the right opportunity presented itself. It all depends on the fighter and the circumstances.


 

How you doin Mr Edwards, hope you & yours are well..
I wasn't too excited about the Khan v Garcia when it was made, Garcia's a decent fighter but I didn't think he'd test Khan too much, but after reading the interview given by Garcia's pops Angel Garcia I wanna see Garcia get brutally beat & knocked out after some serious punishment, Angel Garcia has got to be one of the dumbest loudmouth racist ignorant pricks in boxing, to disrespect no only Khan's race, country of birth, heritage as well as his religion is just too fuckin far, to say I ain't never met a Pakistani that can fight is just stupid, how big is the Pakistani population in America? It's tiny compared with other parts of the world, to disrespect a race like that especially when you don't know shit about that race is disgusting, if he actually knew some history Khan's ancestry is from the Punjab area of Pakistan/India an area know throughout history for producing great warriors, the punjabis even had there own regiment in the british army during World War 2 & where singled out for praise for there fearlessness, now to say I ain't never met a Pakistani that can fight is just fuckin dumb, could anyone say they ain't met a Philipino that can fight before they saw the monster that is Manny Pacquiao?
For him to go on to disrespect Khan's & all Muslims religion & God is crazy & I wouldn't be suprised is one of the brothers from Philly ran up on him.
 
Thanks Bread
 
Amar (Proud Muslim, Pakisatni/Kashmiri)
Bread’s Response: I have been trying to avoid this question but I keep receiving email after email about it. I really don’t know what to say. I don’t get into religion and things like that, it’s just too touchy. I don’t know the Garcia’s very well. I speak to them and they are always pleasant and cordial. Especially Angel, he’s very cool whenever I have been around him. I was shocked at the comments and I don’t want to defend him. But I honestly think he’s trying to frustrate Khan. I think he wants Khan to fight MAD instead of focused and he doesn’t care about offending people because he loves his son. In Philadelphia we have a large Islamic community and I am sure Danny has some Muslim friends. I don't think it was an attack on Muslims, I think it was a mind game attacking Khan…..


Nevertheless I understand why you’re offended and you have a right to be. Other than that, I’m going to leave this alone. As for the fight I expect a great fight of the year type of fight. I will do a video breakdown later on in the week.


 

Mr. Edwards,
I'm putting this in a separate email because it deserves its own space. I saw that Jimmy Bivins passed away on July 3rd. How much did you know about him? I understand he beat Charley Burley, Lloyd Marshall, Ezzard Charles, and Joey Maxim. That's damn impressive. I read in Jerry Fitch's book on Jimmy Bivins that Jersey Joe Walcott said he was pound for pound the best of their era (Walcott beat Bivins). Unfortunately, there's not much video on him and none that I'm aware of, where he is in absolute prime. However, here he is against Ezzard Charles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVJPgXWk7RM and here is a good obituary:
http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2012/07/jimmy_bivins_was_a_top_clevela.html
Bread’s Response: Jimmy Bivins is in the Hall of Fame. I know that statement was very bland. But here is the follow up, he beat all of those great fighters and never received a title shot! Although Bivins stopped the great Archie Moore, Moore came back and beat him 4x in a row. Bivins beat Ezzard Charles before he embarked on his historical run from 1943-1951 in which Charles could make an argument for history’s greatest run. But like Moore, Charles beat Bivins 4 out of 5. I think that’s one of the reasons Bivins is so overlooked, he came up short against his two best contemporaries.


Nevertheless like many great fighters of the time, Bivins put his ass on the line consistently. Winning some and losing some. In what could be considered the best era of light heavyweights, Bivins held more than his own. He also beat Gus Lesnevich and Billy Soose. If it weren’t for the war, Bivins may have been the legitimate lightheavyweight champ. Nevertheless he never got his opportunity. It’s a shame that many fighters of that era were only appreciated after their careers were done. RIP Jimmy Bivins, possibly Cleveland’s greatest fighter.


 

 

Hey Bread!
Not written in for a while so thought i’d quiz you on some mythical matches and some potential fights and see what you think (obviously all in primes).
Zab Judah v Ricky Hatton; shane mosley v kostya tszyu; winky wright v Vernon forrest; nigel benn v james toney; michael nunn v Sergio Martinez; eric morales v naseem hamed. How do you see donaire getting on with mares or rigondeaux and who do you see devon Alexander getting on with the top welters? All the best from the UK, James
Bread’s Response: In an upset I would take Hatton over Judah. Judah never had a great gas tank in his prime and Hatton would maul him and carry him at a pace Zab couldn’t handle.


Mosley’s feet are little quicker than Tszyu’s. This fight is so close but because he probably beats him to spots today I close my eyes and say Shane. But Shane does not have a defense for a right hand and Tszyu’s right hand is money in the bank. Great fight.


Winky would beat Forest. If you are not a volume puncher or stronger than Winky, then he gives you hell. Vernon is neither.
James Toney beat Nigel Benn is a classic. Benn would burn himself out winging shots ant the more composed Toney. I wish they would have fought.


Nunn and Martinez are at the same place historically in my opinion. Nunn is a contemporary great but not quite an all time great. Martinez has a chance to go past Nunn with a few more victories. I say Martinez catches Nunn with the same left hand he caught Paul Williams with. Martinez can fight taller guys because of his in and out body rhythm….


Morales’s straight, long shots would catch the Prince too much. The Prince pulls out on punches and Morales gets great extension on his right hand. Great fight, but edge to El Terrible.

Send questions and comments to: dabreadman25@hotmail.com