The Daily Bread Mailbag returns with Stephen "Breadman" Edwards tackling topics such as Vasiliy Lomachenko's knockout victory over Luke Campbell, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev, Gervonta Davis moving up in weight, and more.

First off great call on Campbell being competitive and taking the over. Campbell did himself proud. How did you score the fight? Where do you rate Loma’s performance? How do you rate him currently and moving forward? Is he overrated or underrated?

Bread’s Response: Yes I felt strongly that Campbell would go late into the fight and be competitive. It’s very difficult to give up the size Loma did vs someone with Gold Medal pedigree and not have some competitive spots.

I thought Loma did very well. He wasn’t lights out but I didn’t expect him to be. The only way he could’ve been lights out vs Campbell is if he was a one punch ko artist. And he’s not. I say 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.

I thought Loma won his rounds cleaner and bigger. I thought he won between 7 and 9 rounds. There were some swing rounds that much didn’t happen that could have been Campbell’s.

I think Loma is one of the three best fighters in the world along with Inoue and Crawford. He has a better resume than both but they may be more at their absolute peaks. I wouldn’t argue with anyone who has either of the three at the top. You and mix and match them and you won’t be wrong. I personally have them 1a-1c. None have separated themselves from the others. Loma is fighting the best fighters, Inoue is scoring the most impressive wins and Crawford has a skill set that is just eye popping and he hasn’t come close to losing.

Moving forward I think Loma is in a DEEP division. Now with Gervanta Davis, Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney emerging as REAL threats and Richard Commey as a real title holder, I think Loma will most likely lose within the next 18 months. But that’s no BIG deal to me. The reason why he may take a loss is because he lines up killers and he wants the WORK. He knows these kids are hovering and he’s collecting belts knowing they will want their shots. Loma doesn’t have to UNIFY, he’s choosing to.

I think Loma is where Pernell Whitaker was in 95-97. He’s not shot by a long shot. But Roy Jones was taking over as the best fighter with the eye ball test. And Whitaker was having some harder nights vs Julio Cesar Vasquez, Wilfredo Rivera and Diabolys Hurtado. Despite what history will have you believe, Whitaker didn’t get ROBBED vs Oscar de La Hoya. The fight is on youtube. It was razor close and Oscar took the 12th round BIG in a fight that looked about even going into the 12th.

Loma has his Oscar in Devin Haney. I think Loma beats Commey in a WAR. Commey is a dog and he’s very strong. But I think Loma has underrated toughness and he’s a little too complex for Commey. I get an indifferent energy coming from Teofimo Lopez. I’m not sold that he beats Commey. I get the feeling that Lopez is going through some stuff mentally and he may not be ready for what is about to come. I didn’t like his comments or demeanor after his last fight. Style wise I also think that you can not attack Loma out of the shoulder roll. I can see Loma turning Lopez all night.

Davis is the wild card. He can definitely hurt anyone he hits clean. But he’s shorter than Loma and he has those short arms. Loma won’t have to wait a few rounds to get to him. I’m high on Davis but I don’t know how well he can BOX and adjust in a long hard fight.

Back to Devin Haney. This kid is long, his conditioning is excellent. He has great legs, reflexes and a jab. I’m calling it right now. He beats Loma by decision in a chess match. Mark it down.

I think Loma is already a HOF. What he’s doing now is pushing towards being an ATG. He has 13 straight title wins in 3 divisions. Not many fighters in history have won the title at 126 and 135. That’s a special jump.

Loma taking on Gary Russell in his 3rd fight, coming off of a loss, as the B side on Russell’s promoter’s card was the GUTIEST MOVE of the decade.

People say it’s so disrespectful to put Loma #1 P4P because he’s just 14-1. That’s so STUPID to me. Loma is 13-1 in world title fights. There are ALL TIME GRAT FIGHTERS who don’t have 13 title wins. Inoue and Crawford both have 13 title wins. Andre Ward a former P4P #1 for as great as he was only has 9. Mikey Garcia for as highly regarded as he is only has 8 title fights.

Boxing fans underrate Loma in this perspective. Boxing fans are by far the worst in any sport because they just repeat stupid comments based on ZERO research. Loma didn’t need to fight 25 fights before going for a title shot. You also have to factor in we have had many P4P #1 fighters who didn’t need 13 straight title wins in order to get their status. In fact not ONE was required to win 13 title fights. I wish these Know Nothing Fans would just shut up or learn to research.

Breadman

It's a pleasure reading your Mailbag every week; you never fail to entertain while educating at the same time. Kudos to you.

Now on to my question, Canelo is 29 years old and has progressively improved his boxing skills and added to his "toolbox" over the years. Do you think he can continue to do this and at what age do you think most boxers stop improving and start mainly relying on what has been successful for them in the past?

Soapbox time. When did boxing fans become so cynical and hateful? We now live in an age where the Lineal Middleweight Champion is "attacked" because  he's not attempting to fight the 1 of 4 Light Heavyweight Champions that some people will only accept as an opponent. I understand that Bivol is considered a greater threat than Kovalev but when in the history of boxing, except in today BOXER fan not BOXING fans age, could a Middleweight Champion "cherry pick" a Light Heavyweight Champion. Personally I'm giving full credit to any boxer that goes up 2 divisions to face a Champion with a Hall of Fame resume.

Thanks for your consideration,

Tray Nicholson

Bread’s Response: Canelo has improved a lot since I first saw him. Yes I think he can continue to improve. He has a young innovative trainer who teaches him well.

Most clean fighters in their mid 30s slow down physically. But they can keep their elite status by keeping their minds sharp and perfecting their skill sets.

I think Canelo does deserve credit for going after Kovalev. But honestly I do think Canelo sees some thing in Kovalev. But listen just because he thinks he sees something that doesn’t mean it’s there. How many times have we seen a fighter “targeted” then upset the plans. Let’s see what happens.

What do you think of Tank Davis moving up to 135lbs? Do you think he goes after Loma right away. Also what happened with the Tevin Farmer fight?

Bread’s Response: I think Davis’s body just wouldn’t allow him to make 130lbs anymore. He had some really good fights vs Leo Santa Cruz and Gary Russell at 130, that were in house fights that he had a BIG size advantage in. Davis moving up in my opinion was just a thing where he couldn’t make weight anymore.

I think he’s a player at 135lbs. But he’s going to have to prove himself. There are sharks at lightweight. No I don’t think he goes after Loma right away. We don’t usually see fighters go after HOF level fighters entering a new weight class when they don’t have to in their 1st fight.

I was hoping to see the Davis vs Farmer fight. It was a GOOD east coast fight. I assume they just couldn’t agree to terms. You have to have willing parties when you’re talking about unifications. That’s why unified champions are more highly regarded. I won’t get into who’s right or wrong because actually there is no right or wrong. The parties weren’t willing to give up their network power. The only way the fight would get made at that point is if the fighters themselves threatened to LEAVE or conceded to fighting on another network. Speaking of that I would like to give props to Jose Ramirez for going on DAZN and winning a unification in Mo Hooker’s hometown. That’s not a common thing in this era. Man that was BIG time. Ramirez is now one of my favorite guys in boxing. I know what that took and he has on the INSIDE in order to do that.

What do you think of the Spence vs Porter face off. I think Porter is angry and he’s going to let it all hang out. Spence made some good points about Porter struggling vs his better opponents but I don’t believe Spence when he says he didn’t want to knock Mikey Garcia out. Thoughts?

Bread’s Response: Errol Spence can be a lawyer after boxing. That kid can really argue and he does make great points. Porter does struggle to decisions vs his better opponents. He rarely wins clean and clear. But he does usually win. Some fighters are not dominant but they do get the job done. Porter is one of those fighters. Porter is not offensively or defensively dynamic. He’s not a one punch ko artist. He wins his fights on determination and conditioning. 8 or more clean rounds is usually the barometer for the elite special fighters. 116-112, 117-111, 118-110 is the dominant card for those type of fighters.

Porter is elite but he hasn’t proven to be special and it’s nothing wrong with that. In my opinion there are only about 10 special fighters in boxing at the top level and you don’t stay special forever.

I think Porter is going to fight Spence like an animal. I expect Porter to fight the fight of his life. I see something in his eyes. If Spence smokes Porter then he’s approaching that special place. I expect Errol Spence to win a clear but hard fought decision. I think his jab, balance and accurate punching will carry the fight. But I don’t think he blows Shawn out.

While I think Spence speaks well and could be a great Southern Attorney. I don’t believe him when he says he didn’t want to knock Mikey Garcia out. Spence has a high ko%, he’s a killer. He didn’t wait until his first PPV fight to not want to score a ko. He did a great job of boxing and listening to his coach. But if he could have stopped Mikey late then he would have. If you look at the fight close, there was a round late in the fight where he turned it up. Mikey was just able to survive. Mikey was not opening up and he has loads of experience. It’s hard to stop a guy fighting like that. Nevertheless I don’t believe for one minute that Errol didn’t want a stoppage. He could have proved his point by outboxing Mikey and showing his IQ and still get the late stoppage.

I’m really looking forward to this fight. It’s turning into a grudge match.

Hi Bread,

Always look forward to the weekly read.

Loma vs Pacman @ catchweight. Do you like this fight? Commey/Lopez winner, Gervonta Davis and a young Devin Haney waiting. What a minefield!

Respect to all fighters,

Luke

Bread’s Response: Loma vs Pac right now…or in their primes. I actually like Pac now because I think he would make Loma come up to 140+. Great fight both guys have the turn up factor. When you have a good round or score a good volley they turn it up.

Lightweight is STACKED! This can be a Golden Era but I won’t hold my breath. In this era of boxing we never get what we want.

At Super Middleweight we have 4 undefeated champions in their primes and none have fought each other.

Lightheavyweight is also stacked and we are getting one unification coming up.  That’s not bad.

At middleweight we have some great fighters. Andrade, Charlo, GGG, Canelo. Only GGG and Canelo have fought fighters in the RING top 10…..

At welterweight it looks stacked. But Crawford is being boxed out and Errol Spence just recently got big fights.

What Loma is doing at lightweight is commendable because he’s going after all of the belts. He’s making it so if you don’t fight him, you can’t be a REAL champion. I like that.

What up Bread? 

Hope you n J rock perform great again and still!!!! To my ? Lots of people say Loma lost a step or got exposed when what I saw was a great performance against a bigger gold medalist and when Luke started finding  his shots Loma smothered him with offense and took it up a notch. Do you think he is best suited to stay at 135 or go back down after he trys to unifie and has a champ ever unified more than One division?  Either way there are some SHARKS ln the water waiting on him. I read where someone said Floyd would smoke him big fan of both but I just can't call it Floyd was a master at hit a don't be hit but Floyd is bigger at 135 prime vs prime who u got? I lean to Floyd but might say Loma tomorrow there both master class!!!! Do you think we will ever get fighters to fight closer to there natural weight division don't you think we would get a better product overall? What is the name of your website? Hope all is well!!!
MM
Usyk vs Mike Tyson
Shakur Stevenson vs Leo santa Cruz
Ward vs GGG (really wish it got made)
Roy Jones vs Canleo
 
Travis N.C.

Bread’s Response: www.boxingpick.com

I thought Campbell fought a really good fight. When you consistently fight the best available fighter you will have tough fights. That’s what Loma is doing. I don’t think he got exposed.

I love Loma. But honestly he left food on the table at 130. I don’t know why he moved up. He looked to be at his APEX there and there were good fights and unifications to be made at 130. I know Loma’s dad is really on his game and maybe he felt like he didn’t want him to cut so much weight in his 30s.  I don’t know.

I think Loma is fine at 135. Just like Roy Jones was fine at 175. They are both still in their primes but not at their peak weights. I think Loma can float back and forth between both divisions.

Bernard Hopkins and Evander Holyfield unified two different divisions. I believe a few other fighters have also.

Special fighters once they get a little older like Mayweather, Pacquiao and Loma will stay closer to their natural weight because they can. They benefit from not cutting weight. And their skill and strength make up for the lack of size.

Tyson over Usyk. We don’t know enough about Usyk yet.

Stevenson over Santa Cruz by decision.

I would take Ward over GGG. But I would need to see it. GGG window to be able to beat Ward is smaller than Ward’s window to be able to beat GGG. Very similar to Frazier and Ali and Pacquaio and Mayweather. The aggressive smaller fighter has a smaller window to win those type of fights because they have to put out so much to win. Duran vs Leonard is another prime example.

Jones over Canelo big. Canelo would have NO shot to beat Roy Jones. Terrible style match up for him.

Whats up Breadman?

As always, I enjoy the mailbag. I love watching watching Lomachenko fight. However, Bob Arum (he's not the only one) isn't good for boxing. He is clearly setting it up so Lomachenko can duck Haney and keep all fights in house. Lomachenko is a Solid fighter but I just don't see special. I think it's very disrespectful to compare him to Mayweather, Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard like Arum does. Lomachenko just isn't in that same class. The only fights that Mayweather didn't make look easy were Maidana 1, Castillo 1, and Hatton 1 and he ended undefeated. Every time Lomachenko steps up in competition, he looks uncomfortable/has a rough time (Linares, Campbell), gets beat (Salido), makes a guy come up 2 weight classes (Rigo), or fights a guy coming off a long layoff (Walters). By the way, it wasn't his 2nd fight when he fought Salido (fought in boxing series). Not only do I NOT believe Lomachenko is P4P #1, he's not the best Lightweight. I think Haney beats Lomachenko if not stops him. Shakur Stevenson and Tank Davia also beat him. There are glaring weaknesses that I see in Lomachenko that are tailor made for those 3 guys. Would appreciate if you shared your thought. Sorry for such a long post.

Randy from NC

Bread’s Response: You won’t like my response but I think you’re a CLUELESS HATER. Vasyl Lomachenko is a GREAT fighter and a HOF already.

Bob Arum is his promoter. Of course promoter’s lie or over embellish it’s their jobs to PROMOTE their fighters. Lomachenko has special talent and I am curious as to what talent you have that has allowed you to excel in any field the way Loma has in boxing.

Loma is better than solid. Why can’t Arum compare Loma to Ali, Mayweather or Leonard? He’s 3 divisions and 5 titles in. It’s not like he’s a 6-0 novice fighter.

I don’t think Loma is better than Mayweather. But every fighter struggles. Every fighter also has spots in their resumes that can be criticized. Mayweather has misses. I would have loved to see him fight Stevie Johnston and Joel Casamayor. He also could have lost to Castillo and Maidana. Maidana is the same level guy that Salido is. Similar fights in my opinion. And Loma spotted Salido 3 pounds. You guys conveniently forget that. I don’t think Mayweather made the Augustus fight look easy. Augustus had tons of losses. You guys crack me up with the hyperbole. Just say you don’t like Loma. It would be more REAL.

I think Loma should have cleaned out 130 before moving up. I don’t think he was struggling to make 130lbs. And it shows in his physicality at 135lbs. But Linares is as highly skilled a fighter as you will see. He was RED HOT going into the Loma fight. He had a few good rounds and dropped Loma. Loma got up, turned into a dragon and kod him with one body shot and you’re critiquing the performance.

Campbell is a Gold Medalist. And he’s a legit 5’10. Fighters with his pedigree that has those size advantages will trouble anyone. Oscar De La Hoya at 34 troubled Floyd Mayweather. I know Oscar is better than Campbell but Oscar was a part time fighter in 2007. But he had a size and length advantage over Floyd. His pedigree allowed him to be highly competitive. Floyd knows the ins and outs of boxing. Floyd knows how good you have to be, to be an international champion in the amateurs. Oscar is the only one he faced as a pro. Again you just don’t know what you’re talking about.

He didn’t make Rigo move up. Loma told everyone that Rigo was too small for him and he would SMOKE him. Rigo kept calling him out and asking for the fight. Loma made him QUIT with skill not just size. It kills me to admit that because I believed that Rigo was blackballed and I felt he was the most “talented” fighter I a had seen since Roy Jones. I WANTED him to win. But he was actually outskilled. He wasn’t even beaten up that bad.

Nicholas Walters became inactive not because of Loma. He still hasn’t fought after Loma. He got dominated and quit in a fight he asked for. I don’t want to hear excuses.

The World Series of Boxing fights do not count on the pro record. It’s the rule not mines.

I agree with you that Haney beats Loma. But Haney is a UBER talent. He may be a P4P guy one day and he’s 10 years younger! You know how hard it is to beat someone that talented, bigger, longer and 10 years younger. Most great fighters don’t even fight guys that fit that bill. Ali and Leonard were CRAZY to fight Holmes and Norris. Are you crazy!

Shakur Stevenson may be better than Haney. Stevenson would beat any featherweight in the world right now in my opinion. But him and Loma are 2 divisions apart.

Tank Davis is the TRUTH. I’m a big fan. But let’s see if he wants the Loma fight. He’s going to be his mandatory. Let’s see if they enforce it. I think Tank has a chance but when the fight was brought up in the past, I got the feeling that Tank’s team thought he wasn’t ready yet. You have to remember that Tank is short with short arms. Loma won’t have to navigate through 4 inches of reach and size the way he would vs Haney and Stevenson. And had to against Linares and Campbell.

If you see so many weaknesses in Loma, go train a fighter his size to kick his ass! Easier said than done homie. That dude can BUMP. I don’t care what color he is. I hate it when black fighters have to go through crap to get recognition. And I also recognize when non black or non latino fighters get criticized for just being good. Guys like Loma, GGG, Calzaghe, Donaire and Pacman. Those dudes can rumble their asses off and they don’t shy away from fighting talented black fighters which is something that happens often and no one talks about it. You guys over do it with the criticism. Just enjoy greatness.

Hey breadman.

How special will it be if loma runs through commey/lopez, haney and then tank? Considering it's above his natural weight and he's in 30s now, will it be time to start talking about where he ranks all time if he manages to do it?

After all the hoopla over the Lewis/joshua spat I thought it would be nice if you could do a career appraisal on Lewis? Some people try and downplay his achievements by saying his two biggest wins were past their prime, what's your thoughts and where do you rank him historically at heavyweight?

All the best, Rob, Devon, England.

Bread’s Response: I don’t think Loma will get through Commey, Lopez, Haney and Tank. I don’t think any ex featherweight in history would get through that line up at 135 except Henry Armstrong and Manny Pacquiao. So if Loma were to do it, I think it would take him from a HOF to ATG. It would be a REAL accomplishment in an era of watered down achievements.

A side fighters in history with Loma’s backing usually wouldn’t even try to run through that line up at his age. I love GGG but that would be like him fighting Andrade, Charlo, Saunders and say Jrock. Man….

I think Haney is the kid Loma needs to be careful of. Loma can beat Lopez and Commey. Davis is not with the same promoter so I don’t expect that to happen until Loma is more ripe.

Send Questions to dabreadman25@hotmail.com