What?s up Breadman! I wanted to provide a few comments on the Dawson/Pascal fight. First, I give Pascal his credit for winning the fight! He did what he had to do, outhustled Chad, won more rounds than Chad and thus clearly won the fight. I hate the excuses and the ?hypotheticals.? I?m a huge Chad Dawson fan and I like his fight game. Going into the 11th I had it 6 rounds to 4 for Pascal. I scored the 11th for Chad. Chad looked ?off? and sluggish and didn?t step up until the 11th. What do you think about the following: Did Chad have an off night? Or was it due to Pascal? I hear the rematch clause is not for an immediate fight but if it does happen, who do you favor in a rematch? Where do you now rank Chad in the P4P rankings? Should Chad fight Tavoris Cloud next? If so, who would you favor in that matchup? What?s the latest on Dirrell/Ward? Why in the world is Shane vs. Mora on PPV? Keep up the good work!!
Bread?s Response: I am not going to say Chad had an off night. He fought the fight he usually fights. He needed to fight with more urgency. It?s not a coincidence that Pascal fought a good fight the same night some people think Chad had an off night. I give Pascal some credit. I favor Chad in an rematch. Chad usually makes fight to fight adjustments better than he makes them during the fight. He will still have a really tough time if that fight is in Canada. Chad is still in my top 15 p4p. No I don?t think he should fight Cloud next. He needs to master the style of Pascal 1st. I?m not sure what?s going on with Dirrell/Ward. I think it?s strange we haven?t heard about them in training camp etc etc and they have a fight coming up for September 25th. Logic tells me that fight won?t happen on that date. I?m not sure if it will happen at all. I?m curious to see what the Fight Camp 360 shows us.
Saul Alvarez is being touted as a future superstar and you seem to pretty knowledgeable so I’m curious to know how you would schedule his next 5 fights as his manager/promoter. Assuming he beats Carlos Baldomir give me his next 5 fights if you’re his brain trust. Here are 5 guys i wouldn’t mind seeing him face (in no particular order and at 154). Let me know how you think he does in each matchup: 1. Alfonso Gomez (he’s younger and limited while Baldomir is old and limited) 2. Kassim Ouma (a former champion who just gave Vanes Martisoyan(spelled wrong) all he could handle). 3. Joe Greene (I would like to see if he could dominate Greene like Vanes did) 4. John Duddy (once again to compare against how Chavez Jr. did) 5. Yuri Foreman (I’m sure they wouldn’t take this risk if Yuri has two good legs but I’d like to see how “Canelo” handles a slick boxer)
Bread?s Response: That?s not a bad map out. But I would take Joe Greene and Yuri Foreman out. Maybe replace them with Harry Yorgey and Joel Julio. I wouldn?t risk Alvarez with Green a southpaw stinker and Foreman can really box. No way they would do Foreman.
Bread, don?t bet on Lopez to win. Marquez is as sharp and as strong as they come. Lopez has the more punch resistant chin of the two but it?s still not world class. I have Marquez connecting early and often for an early rounds KO. Lopez has not fought anyone at the level of Marquez and he?s definitely never fought in a fight of this magnitude. I think Lopez will fight scared but not in the ?I?m running away from you? scared but scared as in ?I?m scared for my life and can?t move? scared and will freeze up while Marquez tees off on him for the KO. Marquez has been there and done that. Roy from Seattle
Bread?s Response: I gave my man Roy Bettencourt my word and that?s all we have in this world. I love Rafa Marquez but I think he will up against it. Lopez has one the hardest right hooks I have seen from a southpaw. I don?t think he will freeze up. He seems to me to be the kind of kid that will rumble until he can?t rumble no more. Kind of like his idol Tito Trinidad.
Why do people make tax excuses for Floyd? He’s in the top tax bracket already. He will have to pay the highest tax bracket regardless. If he fights Manny next year he still is in the highest tax bracket lol. No difference.
Bread?s Response: I can?t understand that either. It?s one of the strangest phenomena?s I have ever seen. I was just doing the math on Floyd?s projected totals and for him not to fight Manny this year, he could cost himself an estimated 42 mill after taxes. Wow! I came up with the numbers like this. Let?s say Floyd brought in a total of 40 mill with the Mosley fight. I heard he made more with other things but lets just estimate the boxing. If Floyd paid 30% on that he would have 28 mill left, paying 12mill in taxes. If he fought Manny and made a projected 60 mill which would bring him to 100 mill for the year. If he paid 30% on taxes with that he would have 70 mill left. It?s beyond me how him not fighting could be because of taxes. I also want to point out. Let?s say he and Manny fought next year in 2011, would Floyd then wait until 2012 to fight the rematch if it was warranted. My goodness this logic is really disturbing. All I can say is Floyd really has some strong supporters.
Yo Breadman, This weekend it was very frustrating watching the fight between Pascal and Dawson. No disrespect to Pascal but I have never been impress with him as a fighter. In fact I thought that Carl Froch much really suck if he was in a competetive fight with Pascal. In this fight I was impressed at how well prepared he was and stuck with his game plan. But whenever Dawson mounted any real offence Pascal appeared to not have an answer. I just didn’t understand why he would just back off and at times would not pull the trigger. Two things from Pascal that gave Dawson the most problems was his movement and he appeared to be faster than I have seen him in previous fights. Maybe the should injury affected him in that area because I did not see this in his previous fights. For Dawson, comming off of fights against Tarver and Johnson, this type of fight was big switch and appeared to have had a big impact mentally. Despite Pascal’s preparation and the problems that he presented I still thought that and think that that Dawson is much better technically. I also feel that had he press the action from the opening bell like he did in the 11th found Chad would have been able to put Pascal away within 4 rounds. I also didn’t care too much about the response Chad gave to Larry Merchant about him fighting his game. Hopefully he will come to realize that his game plan was loosing him the fight. I like Chad but I’m not a huge fan and I am not hating on Jean. But my question to you is am I the only one that saw it as I had mentioned and how do you think that a rematch would play out
Bread?s Response: Chad?s response to Merchant was disturbing to me also. I will give him a break because he was in the heat of the moment after his 1st loss. I think if the rematch is fought in the US, Chad will beat his butt. If it?s fought up there in Canada it will be another tough close fight. I think Gary Shaw should try to persuade Pascal to come here to the states. Maybe come to a region of a large Haitian community like South Florida. Or a region of strong French heritage like New Orleans. That crowd up there in Canada is off the hook and go crazy every time Pascal does anything. It?s tough to beat him up there.
Sup bread, Man Pascal is the most explosive fighter I?ve seen in a long time. I must admit that I?ve never watched him before and I expected him to be a little bit better than a scrub. I was watching the fight with my girl and we were shocked at that initial lunging explosion of punches. I thought if he can keep this up this is going to be a fight. You were exactly right about the Winky Wright defense for Chad. That would have ate up the xplosion space and put the fight distance where Chad needed it to be. But fighters can only be who they are. Chad is a semi-aggressive boxer puncher who has SOME dog in him. It showed when he would get hit with 4 or 5 punches in a row, he would immediately come back and with his hands say ?ok I you back we are even, now let?s go back to regular boxing?. He should have turned that into Southeast street fight. Great fight although I don?t think the better man one. I think Pascal implemented his game better and succeeded but I expect the rematch to be different. Common sense is always the factor that I used to determine things that I don?t have credible info on. I say that to say that Arum knows something about Margarito being ?out of it? for this fight with Pac. Never in a million years would a competent promoter put their golden goose on the line in a life or death struggle which it seemingly will be unless they knew that maybe it won?t be a life or death struggle. Arum or Roach know something and they ain?t tellin.
Bread?s Response: I may sound like a hater but Pascal is no where near the most explosive fighter I have seen in a while. He fights amateurish to me. The guy is fast and he?s strong but man I think you made an overstatement.. Remember we are in the era of Manny Pacquiao, David Haye, Arthur Abraham, Yuriorkas Gamboa. I could go on and on with more explosive fighters than Pascal. He wasn?t the better fighter vs. Dawson but he fought the best fight that night. You make a good point about Margarito. I always think about that when fights are made. But matching a fighter is not an exact science. Sometimes the fighter the Promoter would like to see win does not win.
Hi Bread, How you doing? A couple of questions if I may. Don’t know whether you saw it reported, but Angulo turned down a shot at THE middleweight title against Martinez at a 155-156 catchweight by asking for a ridiculous purse of $1 million and turning down the $750k that was offered. I’m probably being naiive to the “business” of boxing, but could you believe this? The guy is 20-1, lost a wide decision to Cintron, beats a couple of C+ fighters then gets this incredible offer. Both Gary Shaw and his manager couldn’t believe it. Angulo thinks if the fight is in the Staples Centre he’ll be the draw and deserves the money. Angulo may have lost the fiight, but surely the benefits would outweigh the negatives? Is this how business is done or am I being naiive to think a $750k payday for a boxer of Angulo’s current achievements is good money? Picking up on a recent mailbag comment , you’re of the opinion that the ideal heavyweight should be 6″3 and 220 pounds. Funny that, those happen to be David Haye’s stats! Unfortunatly here in the UK, SKY TV are really pushing for Haye to fight Harrison in November. Every boxing fan in the world knows this is an utter waste of time, but SKY are thinking about the numbers it would draw. Haye Vs Valuev did 1 million ppv’s, Haye Vs Ruiz did well apparantly and Haye Vs Harrison would do much better. Up until recently the UK didn’t really follow the US business model, but it appears TV execs rule the boxing world now. Such a shame. As always, keep the best mail bag real.
Bread?s Response: I really don?t know the whole deal about Angulo. Angulo may not feel he can win the fight. He may feel that if he is going to take a loss he needs to be paid more. I?m not sure where he was coming from. I?m curious to hear his explanation. I like Angulo and I think he?s beast. To be fair to him, we would have to know the total budget of the overall fight before we can say he was being unreasonable to ask for a mill. He doesn?t speak English but I will try to interview him. From a boxing point of view. Martinez is a bad match up for Angulo. I think he is a little to mobile for him.
