In a titanic Mailbag, the one and only Stephen “Breadman” Edwards dissects the scorecards that this time favoured Dmitry Bivol over Artur Beterbiev, casts his eye over the rest of the bill and makes a stong case for Meldrick Taylor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Greetings Breadman. I hope you, your family and your boxing tribe are doing well. 

I scored the Bivol-Beterbiev as follows:

R1 10-9 Bivol

R2 10-9 Bivol

R3 10-9 Beterbiev

R4 10-9 Beterbiev

R5 10-9 Beterbiev

R6 10-9 Beterbiev

R7 10-9 Beterbiev (swing round)

R8 10-9 Bivol

R9 10-9 Bivol

R10 10-9 Bivol (swing round)

R11 10-9 Bivol

R12 10-9 Beterbiev

Final score was 114-114 but 115-113 either way would have sufficed but strongly felt the fight was a draw. Be that as it may, in your opinion, how would either fighter have fared against, (at their peaks) and why: 1. Bob Foster 2. John Conteh 3. Victor Galindez?

Keep 'em coming! Llewellin RG Jegels PhD. 

Bread’s response: If my memory serves me correctly. I had rounds 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 and 12 for Beterbiev and rounds 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 11 for Bivol. I have watched these two fight twice and neither time did I know who won when it was over. I’m sure there were a couple of swing rounds but what’s bizarre is people make it seem like Beterbiev lost the 1st and 12th rounds. I didn’t see that - and I think that’s where the controversy comes in at. 

Both Beterbiev and Bivol would beat Conteh and Galindez. I don’t know about Foster… I think Foster is 50/50 with both.

Bread, In response to comments made in last week's mailbag about Amanda Serrano's fundamental flaws. Since you'd rather not elaborate since they might fight again, I'd like to try if I may: Amanda Serrano is a highly skilled and accomplished fighter, but when it comes to her two losses against Katie Taylor, there are a few key aspects that might have hindered her performance and prevented her from surpassing Taylor.

1. Pacing and Endurance: One of the issues Serrano has faced, especially in her first fight with Taylor, was pacing over the course of the 10 rounds. Serrano has incredible power and is known for being aggressive, but sometimes her explosive style can lead her to gas out a bit, especially when trying to sustain that pace over the full distance. Taylor, on the other hand, is known for her excellent conditioning and ability to manage her energy across the rounds.

2. Defensive Adjustments: While Serrano is very offensive-minded, her defense could be considered less refined when compared to Taylor’s. Serrano has a tendency to take risks in exchanges, which can leave her open to counters. Taylor's movement, head movement, and ability to avoid taking big shots is something that really helped her in their first bout. In their second meeting, Serrano showed improvement in defense but still struggled with Taylor's ability to move in and out, control the center of the ring, and avoid getting caught by Serrano's biggest punches. Taylor’s defensive craftiness allowed her to frustrate Serrano in the later rounds, which is key in maintaining control.

These two factors are the main elements that contributed to her struggles against Katie Taylor. How close am I to what you're thinking are her two fundamental flaws over 20 rounds fought with Katie Taylor? NewYoRican 

Bread’s response: Thanks for giving it a go. But you’re not close at all. Serrano has good endurance. Her defense is also adequate for her style. 

Serrano is making a technical and tactical mistake when she engages Taylor and in 20 rounds of them sharing the ring, she hasn’t adjusted the issue yet. She may not even know it, hence why she keeps doing it over and over. If she makes this adjustment, I’m relatively certain she stops Taylor. 

Breadman, I want to just point out how great of a fighter Meldrick Taylor was. Mexico has a great history of champions and many say Chavez Snr was the greatest fighter from Mexico. He recently did an interview stating that his toughest fight was against Meldrick Taylor. That he was near death and felt like dying. That he had to be superhuman to will his way to the end of the fight. For all the greats he fought - Roger Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya, Kosta Tszyu...the list goes on - none took him to the brink of death except Taylor! My point is that Meldrick should've been given that victory. That should be one of the greatest fights and victories for an American and with that performance alone he should be in the Hall of Fame. He was an all-time great amateur boxer and robbed of one of the biggest victories in boxing. Can we give the man his flowers before he becomes a tragedy like Israel Vasquez who I also think should've been inducted into the Hall of Fame before he passed away.

On a more positive note, there are several great fights this weekend and regardless of who wins, the fans will be the real winners because so many are true 50/50 fights. Blessings my brother! Richard K, Oregon.

Bread’s response: I just watched James Toney vs Vasily Jirov. It was a great fight. Toney knocked Jirov down towards the end of last round… Jirov regained his feet and by the time Toney got over to him, the bell rang and the fight was over. Jirov was in much worse shape than Taylor as far as punishment taken to cause the knockdown. I haven’t heard one person say that Toney vs Jirov should’ve been stopped. Not one!

But now 30 plus years later, you have people say that Chavez vs Taylor should’ve been stopped because Taylor could’ve been seriously injured. How? You get injured by getting hit. Taylor would not have been hit again. So, the fear of injury for Taylor, is non-existent. 

I’m going to go deep in this. It just sounds good to say you fear injury for Taylor. But what that really means in my opinion, is you wanted Chavez to win and you’re glad he got the benefit of the call. 

I will die on this hill. …The Chavez vs Taylor stoppage was a corrupt call. The establishment wanted to preserve the great Chavez’s perfect record. If you need more evidence watch the Pernell Whitaker fight, it’s not possible from objective eyes , to score that fight a draw. 

Read the scorecards of Chavez vs Randall 1, Randall scored a knockdown and Chavez got points deducted for low blows twice and a judge still scored it for him. Watch the Chavez vs Randall rematch when Chavez won on an obscure rule. 

Read the scorecards of Chavez vs Taylor 1, it should not have been a split decision if it went to the scorecards. Most Chavez’s fans acknowledge Taylor was winning their first fight. Yet one judge had Chavez up at the time of the stoppage and the other two had Taylor up 5 and 7 points going into the last round…. Taylor had won nine out of eleven rounds.

Chavez is one of the greatest fighters I have ever seen with my own two eyes. But there have been too many questionable calls that he benefited from, to turn a blind eye on the Taylor stoppage, and dismiss it as a random judgment call.

I want to preface my next statement about Buddy McGirt. I love McGirt and I have no issue with him being a HOFer. Buddy won titles at 140 and 147. He was considered a top P4P in the early 90s. But Taylor won titles at 140 and 147. He was considered a top P4P guy in the late 80s and early 90s. And Taylor stopped McGirt in the 12th round when they fought in their primes. If McGirt is in the Hall of Fame, Taylor should be in. They had similar careers but Taylor beat him decisively head to head. I don’t know how they quantify keeping Taylor out but putting McGirt in. Both should be in.

Hello Breadman, Your recent point about boxers not giving their trainers due acknowledgement after fights has me looking out for it. It was nice to see Joseph Parker do it just now after his fight with Bakole. Cheers!

Bread’s response: Good for Parker. Andy Lee deserves it. I never understood why fighters slight their trainers. The person who is most responsible in their preparation gets devalued the most. There is a saying that my mom used to say: It’s not always what you say, sometimes it’s what you don’t say. 

Hi Breadman, Finished the Saudi card and it was very interesting, a mixed bag and it would be great to get your thoughts, mine are these: Buatsi vs Smith - I wrote in before and said Smith was all wrong for Buatsi, you mentioned not being able to see the style issue immediately. I stand by my statement, what I didn't realise was how much Buatsi could take, which made it far more competitive than I thought. Smith was connecting with some serious shots that would have stopped a number of LHW world champions I have seen in the recent times, huge respect to both, fight of the night in my opinion. Zhang vs Kabayel - I really couldn't see anyway Zhang could be stopped, however Kabayel has ripped up the script and stopped 3 opponents in a row with more prominent names than his. He took Zhang's renowned power, getting dropped, yet still came forward with relentless pressure and did what he needed to do. Kabayel is a strange one to me, where even after this, I match him up against the main HW players, and I can't see him winning, but I also said that against each of his last 3 big scalps, what are your thoughts? I still think Zhang can be a big problem for many of the top HWs, when matched correctly. Ortiz vs Madrimov - The majority of the fight was the bull vs the matador, until Madrimov bit down and started trading, with a lot of success, Ortiz just seemed so much bigger, which I strongly attribute to his win. Not quite sure where Madrimov goes next, even though I think he is a tremendous talent, this fight maybe showed his power is a notch below some of the killers in this weight division. Sheeraz vs Adames - I'm sorry, but this was a 'hometown' robbery, make of that what you will. Sheeraz was meant to be the Saudi poster boy but he lost that fight clean. I was watching this with someone who asked me about the blueprint of beating a tall lanky puncher, and I mentioned Hager vs Hearns. This fight reminded me of a much lesser version of that. Strange thing is I think Sheeraz could have won this handily if he wanted it, I'm not sure if this is the first time he has felt genuine power and just wilted. Shakur vs Padley - The level of heart Padley showed was quite incredible considering the discrepancy in quality, experience and preparation. For Shakur it's another day at the office, for Padley, he deserves an investment from a promoter that can match him correctly with sufficient preparation, and allow him to become a serious domestic contender, and see where it takes him. [Ed’s Note: Eddie Hearn has since signed Padley]. Parker vs Bakole - If this fight was on an even keel, I would have been all in on Bakole and he looked like he might do the business at times. He ended up getting stopped by one of the strangest headshots I've ever seen. This is very difficult to judge considering he was not even in camp, arrived in a foreign country 24 hours earlier and was clearly unfit and disoriented. I still believe Bakole would have had this with sufficient training and time. If you were his trainer would you recommend he take this fight, on career high pay, considering the constraints? Bivol vs Beterbiev - What an incredible showing of skill, will, determination and pride from each men, not dissimilar to the first one, where I personally had Beterbiev a little ahead, and this one I saw closer. These two fighters are clearly exceptional, given what they have done to their contemporaries, without being able to clearly differentiate from each other. I could watch these two fight every week, and I do not see anyone at this moment, including Benavidez, who could enhance this.

Bread’s response: If you made the right call on Smith vs Buatsi, good job. I thought Buatsi would win. I felt like Buatsi should’ve won that fight.

I called Kabayel vs Zhang. Kabayel is undervalued. He doesn’t have an imposing aura about him, but he can really fight. And for the hundredth time. It’s not an advantage to be Zhang’s size after 4 rounds. 

I picked Ortiz and he did a fantastic job of staying patient, not reaching and running Madrimov hot. I saw improvement in Ortiz from the Bohachuk fight.

I thought Sheeraz was outboxing Adames then around the 5th round he shelled up, stood flatfooted and invited Adames back in the fight. Adames’ confidence grew as the fight went on. He went from a guy who was a little tepid early, to a guy who was mocking Sheeraz. 

Adames was the underdog in Sheeraz’s realm. Sheeraz had everything lined up for him. This performance may come back to bite him. I don’t know if Sheeraz got a gift because the uneventful rounds count and he won them in my opinion. But Sheeraz definitely underperformed.

Shakur did what he was supposed to do and Padley deserves another big shot with a proper training camp.

I can’t even assess Parker vs Bakole. Bakole caught a fight the same day and fought at 310lbs. When you’re in the air for over two hours, the body get dehydrated. I hope Bakole was paid a King’s ransom for sacrificing his career momentum and record for this fight.

I thought Bivol vs Beterbiev was either a draw or Beterbiev. But it was razor close and there is no room for complaining. Two special fighters.

Hey Bread, hope all is well with the family and you. Loaded question, but I'll try to keep it as concise as possible. Not trying to be a smart ass, but are you still high on Boots as you once were? I think he'd be wise to take his time moving up to 154, if he beats Stannoinis, I'd focus on Norman next and not move up until 2026. They did Adames dirty, I'd love to see him vs Kyrone or perhaps Caleb. I like Virgil, but his style has burnout written all over it. Kinda like a better version of Mike Alvarado or Brandon Rios. I'd really like to see Parker get a shot vs Usyk next considering Dubois already had a chance. Lastly, I'd like to see Bivol vs Benavidez next, I wanna see a fresh match up. Bivol wins that and he may go down as top 2 or 3 ever at 175. Lastly, I think it's over for the 76ers with Embid and PG is a shell of himself and a poor contract. That Toronto lost in 2019 was the beginning of the end as they never recovered and kept Tobias over Jimmy Butler. Anyways I appreciate you as always bro. 

Bread’s response: Yes the Sixers are done this season but Tyrese Maxey is the truth. 

I am still very high on Boots Ennis. I don’t think he has to take his time moving up. I think he’s very big at 147 and moving up will give him 7 more pounds of energy to burn. Just because Ortiz performed well vs Madrimov doesn’t mean Boots has to take his time moving up. 

I would love to see Adames fight Kyrone Davis also but Kyrone has to go other routes to get a big shot. As for Caleb vs Adames, that’s a great fight. 

Vergil Ortiz looked good to me. I was impressed by him. I saw great improvement and he seemed more relaxed. Let’s see if he can maintain this form….

Parker deserves a big shot, hopefully gets it.

I would love to see Bivol vs Benavidez. Great match up.

The Joseph Parker-Martin Bakole fight was essentially a criminal act. Martin Bakole comes from poverty that none of us could imagine. He was offered an amount of money that almost anyone would do almost anything to get. He travelled for a long time and arrived the morning of the fight. He didn’t spar, he didn’t train. He probably barely slept. Everyone knew he couldn’t win. He was being paid to get knocked out. The WBO didn’t stop it because they wanted a sanctioning fee. Bakole’s promoter pushed for it because he was making a lot of money for doing a few hours of work. The other promoters wanted their show to go on as planned. That’s enough for the British Board of Boxing Control. They aren’t standing in the way of all those promoters when they’re essentially invited guests in Riyadh. It should also be said that all those parties mentioned, while risking Bakole’s health and well-being, enable other boxers to enrich themselves for taking fights that don’t present any risk at all. I think this situation would clearly be unacceptable in any other professional sport. Especially a sport as dangerous as boxing. So here’s my question: how does boxing get adults in the room who have the power to say “no” to all these different entities? That fight was clearly unacceptable and unsafe, but went forward because everyone was being paid. Thank you for the answer!

Bread’s response: I don’t have an answer for your question but I wanted to post it because your question was profound. I will just it here and let someone smarter and more influential than me read it.

Good day Brother Bread. If you a true boxing nerd then the Bivol-Beterbiev 2 card was a fight fans dream. I thoroughly enjoyed every fight. There were no duds for me. Outside the typical Ali-Frazier, Morales-Barrera, Pacquiao-Marquez what are some lesser known/forgotten fighters that were so evenly matched (across multiple fights) that neither fighter's stock really dropped in defeat. Regardless of outcome both guys are top 5 ever at 175 to me. I think 130-135 & 168-175 are the hardest weight classes to definitively rank the top 5 of all-time. Can you think of some instances where, if a fighter had just made 1 or 2 different career choices, their career would be held in higher esteem? Recent examples: Kell Brook arguably top 147 guy around 2016 and takes an unnecessary fight vs prime GGG. Goes on to be broken down by Spence and Crawford years later. Adrien Broner rushes and moves up to 147 to fight Marcos Maidana. Had he stayed the course/disciplined he had a Crawford like trajectory and of course Fernando Vargas, 25 fights in and the dude fought Winky Wright, Oscar, Trinidad and Quartey. They moved him way too fast and he was done by 30. Lastly Tank is kinda "recession proof". He's built such a hardcore following that he will do numbers regardless and more power to him, but I'm just not excited at all for this Roach fight. For a fighter of his talent and capabilities I find his matchmaking to be underwhelming. No Haney, Teo, Loma (when he was up for it) Shakur, dismissive of Keyshawn, maybe Andy Cruz one day. Terrific fighter with all the skill, but I'm tired of it. It's like watching someone with an IQ of 200 get a B- on a test every time. What's the point. Anyways much love and blessings.

Bread’s response: I enjoyed Bivol vs Beterbiev myself. I don’t know if they’re both top 5 ever at light heavyweight. But I do think both go to the HOF and crack the top 15, maybe even the top 10 but I would have to look at the rankings forensically. 

I think Chocolatito vs Estrada was an evenly matched series where the outcome was debated but their stocks never really dropped.

Roy Jones comes to mind as a fighter who made one bad career move that cost him the most. Giving Antonio Tarver a rematch actually cost Roy the GOAT status. No one else in history had been that close and lost so much by taking a rematch in a fight they didn’t have to take in the first place.

Kell Brook, yes looking back that was not the best decision for fight GGG after a few UK middleweights didn’t want the smoke. Brook was on a good run at 147 and his career never recovered.

I also agree about Broner because he went from 135 to 147 without stopping at 140. Then afterwards he went back to 140 but never regained his old form. Broner looked sensational at 135 vs Antonio DeMarco, I thought he was ascending to the P4P list.

However, I disagree about Vargas. Vargas was an elite amateur and he won a world title within about two years as a pro. His title shot was a little early for 154lbs but he was, passing the test. During the time you speak of Vargas beat Raul Marquez, Yuri Boy Campas, Winky Wright and Ike Quartey. Wright and Quartey are HOF level fighters.

So Tito Trinidad moves up to 154 and Vargas fights him in a unification after 5 title defenses. Vargas was only 23 but he was an experienced fighter by the time he fought Tito. Tito had been dropped by several welterweights and Vargas believed in himself and put up a great fight. I’m not so sure Vargas was being rushed as much as some have said. Just because Vargas burned out early and didn’t win all of his big fights it doesn’t mean he was rushed. 

I’m on the borderline with Vargas being rushed because elite fighters are supposed to take on tough competition. And he took on the top guys that were available and he was winning. Felix Trinidad is an ATG and he beat a lot of excellent fighters – not having the perfect career, is not always an indictment on how you were moved. Maybe Vargas slipped because of genetics or outside of the ring activity. I don’t know but I think Main Events did a good job with him.

I just like to see Tank operate. I feel like we are in the middle of a special peak. Let’s see how the rest of the year plays out.

What’s up Bread? Hope all is well and let’s get to it: Do you think the criticism of Shakur’s most recent performance is fair? For example, people wanted to see Shakur win by stoppage and he did that, yet critics predictably moved the goalposts to “but it took him nine rounds”. Personally I think he did what he had to do and there was no point where the outcome was in doubt. I’m curious to hear your thoughts William in West Palm 

Bread’s response: I don’t like to use the word fair in boxing. But I will say the criticism was misplaced. Shakur Stevenson has less than a 50 per cent KO ratio. He rarely scores knockdowns let alone knockouts. He also has serious hand issues. The critics, they criticize his power and they make fun of his hand issues. My question is what were they expecting? I expected a late stoppage myself. I surely didn’t expect a first or second round ko. 

I found it strange that a fighter who is criticized for lacking ko power. Stopped a replacement opponent late in a fight, yet he gets criticized for doing exactly what everyone expected. Did anyone expect Shakur Stevenson to turn into Edwin Valero because the opponent took the fight on short notice?

Good morning Bread, Hope all is good. How did you see the Bivol-Beterbiev II fight? Is there a need for a third? Personally I didn't see the whole fight, just the highlights but looks like Bivol did his thing. I remember you mentioning in one the previous mailbags that Beterbiev might come out the second time and KO Bivol. I am thinking because he already had familiarity with him, and also because of the fact that Bivol will need to (had to) take more chances in the second fight be more active, and stay in the pocket to score more. I think Bivol was thinking the same, but to his advantage. When I watched the weigh-ins I saw him in a better shape than the first fight, he was leaner and by the way he trains looked like he continued with his progression and was faster more explosive and more confident the factor that carried over from the first fight. I saw some bits of post-fight interviews after and Beterebiev not shaking Bivol's hand afterwards is funny, like Bivol said himself they are not 16-year-old kids but 40-year-old professional men that should be able to handle these things, but boxing is an emotional sport and like everybody knows it bring out your true colors. Bivol lost the first fight and didn't complain, even though he had room to, gave all the respect to Beterbiev and did what he had to do in the second. Nothing too important but just shows a little immaturity on part of Beterbiev, that comes from his background and pride. Me, being familiar with that region of the world the former Soviet States, Beterbiev represents the image of a hardcore, tough, prideful, little bit of a bully type, that you don't want to cross, and that pride is what is making it hard for him to swallow the loss and more so to a person like Bivol and everything he represents and stands for, which goes against Beterbiev's traditional beliefs. Even though they are considered Russians, they are from the same Muslim background where Beterbiev is a rigid practicing Muslim from Dagestan and Bivol has more of a cultural Muslim background with his parents being part Kazakh and being raised in Kyrgyzstan but he is more modernized and progressive. By Bivol beating him it is double hard on him because in his mind he can't lose to a person like him, because in Beterbiev's eye he sees Bivol as somewhat soft  and less of a man than him (on the imaginary scales of manhood in Beterbiev's head) – again because of his belief structure and cultural background, trust me it’s just the way it works. It's a hard pill for him to swallow, that is why he didn't shake his hand.

Cutting to the chase, Is Bivol HOF worthy at this point? Does he need to beat Benavidez to get there? Where does Bivol go after that? There are not too many contenders left. I don't think they need a third fight with Beterbiev right away or maybe never, that's it. Beterbiev is on his way out and maybe it would be better for him to move up in weight and try cruiser. Fantasy match ups: Bivol vs. Ward, Bivol vs. Jones, I want to put Spinks on there too, but he was a monster at that weight and I think it's too much of a mismatch for anybody. For me Ward finds a way to smother him and prime Jones would be a handful as well?

A few more rapid fire questions - Adames-Sheeraz, how did you have it? Is Keyshawn Davis too much for Tank? And how long can Keyshawn continue to stay at that weight with his frame? Keyshawn also mentions Loma, but I think Loma will not take that fight at this point and with more reason since Keyshawn is all wrong for him. When will Tank step up? In my personal opinion Tank needs to stop wasting time talking about retirement and how he looks at others fighter's fights and compares them to his and downgrades them and just fight those fighters, it might be just as easy as he says, because he is really the goods, but like they say fights are won in the ring not on paper. He is in the driver’s seat, those fights can be made. Vergil Ortiz Jnr got a good win, where does he go? Boots needs to step up here maybe and take a risk, hopefully it can get made. I think that Boots is young he can jump up and back down if he wants to. If not Tszyu? Will the IBF champ Murtazaliev be avoided? Crawford is focused on riding out to the sunset so I won't even mention him- Can you please comment on Joseph Parker and that looping right hand, he seemed to have perfected it in camp. It's been showing up his last 3-4 fight with great success. It's amazing how Andy Lee and the whole camp transformed him to more of a boxer and now to a mean boxer-puncher. Hopefully the match up with Dubois happens, it will be a show of looping shots.

Your opinion on Farmer getting another crack at Zepeda? Who do you think will challenge the now upgraded WBC lightweight champion Puello? Matias looks like a good match but after he wins the next one, maybe? Hitchins to unify? What fights would you personally like to be made this year? Thank you, Bread, for your time, really appreciate all the knowledge you bestow in such a generous fashion. Stay well! RJ

Bread’s response: You have an interesting take on the dynamics of the relationship between Bivol and Beterbiev. For example, I didn’t know Bivol was Muslim. So I can’t speak on how Beterbiev views him in that sense. 

If you just watched the highlights, then from the highlights I saw, you watched Bivol do good work and you didn’t see much of the Beterbiev highlights. For their 24 rounds of fighting to be considered even, it seems that Bivol has double the highlights of what Beterbiev has.

The WBC just ruled for Bivol to fight Benavidez. Let’s see what happens. 

I don’t view Beterbiev as a bully. I view him as a humble, hard man who doesn’t speak much. 

I believe Bivol is already a HOF. If he beats Benavidez he’s an ATG.

Bivol vs Ward is a pick ‘em fight. I slightly favor Ward because of his inside tactics but I wouldn’t bet.

Bivol vs Roy is interesting. I have never seen Roy outboxed. Not once. But Bivol is as pure and as disciplined of a boxer as I’ve seen. Roy had a little trouble with patient stalkers, who had a threatening stance. See Tarver. Bivol is patient but he’s not a stalker who can deliver a kill shot. I would pick Roy but Bivol has fooled me before.

I didn’t really score Sheeraz vs Adames but I felt like Sheeraz was wining the fight at first. He did well for the first 5 rounds. Then he sort of lost control of his purpose. It was strange because I thought he was in control. Then Adames’ confidence grew. He realized that Sheeraz wasn’t what was being advertised. And that’s no shade towards Sheeraz. But that’s what I saw. A fighter in Adames who gained confidence as the Sheeraz quelled his attack. I thought the fight was close. I wasn’t scoring it.... Naked eye, I would say Adames won. But a draw wasn’t a horrible scorecard because I thought Sheeraz won the early uneventful rounds and he may have won a couple of the late close rounds also. 

The reason people think Sheeraz got a gift draw, was because he didn’t do anything for about 5 rounds straight and people score momentum, instead of each round individually.

Is Keyshawn Davis too much for Tank Davis? I don’t know, they would have to fight. But Tank Davis would be the betting favorite.

Lomachenko doesn’t seem to be all the way in with boxing right now.

Hopefully Tank fights Shakur Stevenson this year in the biggest lightweight fight of all time.

Vergil Ortiz did just get a good win. His career-best win, actually. But why does Boots need to step up to 154? Do you realize Boots is fighting Stanios in a unification fight for the IBF and WBA world titles at 147lbs.

I don’t believe Bahkram will be avoided. He beat Tszyu but that just happened. Let’s see who he defends the title against.

I’m very impressed with Joseph Parker. He’s really turned his career around with some nice wins. His overhand right is a great shot and he has seemed to perfect it. 

Very happy for Tevin Farmer. Not too often does a B side fighter, get a rematch in a close loss. I think the key to Zepeda vs Farmer II is simple. Whoever adjust the best. That’s always the key to a rematch. I think Farmer can score a ko in the rematch believe it or not.

Puello can box his butt off. I would pick him to beat Mathias. I can’t call Puello vs Hitchins. Very close fight.

Fights made this year: Bivol vs Benavidez; Tank vs Shakur; Boots vs Norman; Usyk vs Japetai; Junto vs Bam/Inoue; Bud vs Canelo; Plant vs Charlo/Berlanga; Kyrone Davis vs a Middleweight Champion.

Complements of the New Year Mr Edwards! Thank you for your commitment in the mailbag. I don’t know why most people criticize your views on “Boots” not fighting Ortiz and you picking Crawford over Canelo, since everyone views life and boxing from his own perspective and your perspective and picks being 92 per cent correct. I don’t wanna send a long mail. Props to Vergil Ortiz and his team over his win to Madrimov, haters may hate Boots is a level above Ortiz when that fight happen Boots will school Ortiz into a stoppage. You once wrote that Boots toughest fight at 147 will be Stanionis - how do you see the matchup? I like Shakur as we boxed together during our amateur days, I don’t see him winning against Tank. I know he doesn’t have to make it exciting he just needs to win but Tank is a natural counter-puncher so I doubt he may attack Shakur like how people think, your views on that matchup? A masterclass from Bivol and one of the greatest game plans I ever witnessed, Beterbiev wanted the knockout or stoppage after watching their first fight, and Bivol capitalized on that but a good fight though very tactical. What’s next for Beterbiev? I think he should hang them up there’s nothing left for him to prove cause fatherhood might catch up with him. Mneli from Eswatini

Bread’s response: They can criticize me all they want. As long as they keep tuning in and making the algorithm go up.

I am not sure what style Boots will fight. I don’t know if he will attack or box. He can do both equally but they will create different types of fights. I do however pick Boots to win by late stoppage.

Tank vs Shakur is an evenly matched fight. But I don’t think judges in this era appreciate Shakur’s style. I am not certain he can get a decision over Tank with his style. I also don’t think he can fight aggressively vs Tank because Tank is a master counter puncher with dynamite in his hands. 

Coach, I saw your interview on Millcity about Beterbiev-Bivol 2, and had to say I agree with everything you said and actually got a little emotional with how this whole thing is set up against certain fighters. I scored the fight a draw, but had no problem with Bivol decision. My problem was the commentary sticking to a pre-conceived narrative and not calling everything that was actually occurring. It was almost like a foregone conclusion that Bivol was going to win for them. With that said, I don’t necessarily agree that Bivol will 100% win the 3rd fight. He is younger and fresher, but has also taken some hard shots from Beterbiev. Maybe not killer shots, but even glancing blows from Beterbiev hurt. Look at his bruised eyes in first fight and cut in 2nd one. Don’t underestimate the toll these 24 rounds have taken on 35-year-old Bivol.

Bread’s response: I didn’t recognize the voices of the commentators on the feed I was watching. But they were clearly pro Bivol. So much to a point, when Beterbiev went on a roll in the 4th, 5th and 6th rounds they made an excuse for Bivol that he hurt his hand. Then when he landed a nice right hand in the 7th, they sort of gave him medical clearance to throw it again. 

I didn’t like to hear that, but it’s the game we love.

If I said that Bivol will win the rubber match 100%, I misspoke but I don’t remember saying that. However, I favor Bivol to win the rubber match, but I wouldn’t count Beterbiev out. I have never seen him clearly beaten. I didn’t see him lose either fight.

Hi Bread, I've been reading a book called "thinking, fast and slow" and it spoke about a concept called "regression to the mean" that made me think of something you have spoken about in the past which is that when a boxer has a special performance they normally come back down to earth in the next one. People talk about all sorts of reasons for this such as a fighter gets overconfident, complacent, performing that well taking something out of them physically or even overrating their next opponent after the fact. This concept means that none of those have to be true for us to expect a fighter to do worse in their next fight. It states that when there is an element of randomness to some performance, after an extreme performance the next performance is likely to be much closer to average. The author demonstrates it by having a room full of people take turns throwing a coin at a target blindfolded. Everybody then measures how close they were to the target. They then all try again. According to regression to the mean, everybody who did very well in the first throw is likely to do worse on the second throw, and everybody who did badly is likely to do better on the second throw. I was thinking of this in relation to two fights in particular; Crawford vs Madrimov and Duran vs Leonard 2. In Crawford vs Madrimov, because of the Spence fight most people expected Madrimov to be way out of his depth and after the fact everybody rated him much higher. After Duran vs Leonard 2 people spoke about Duran not having time to prepare (even though he did as you have pointed out) or being complacent. It's possible that the explanation is much simpler; Crawford and Duran did unusually well in the Spence and first Leonard fights.Of course, boxing performances aren't completely random like throwing a coin blindfolded and boxers age/improve so the concept doesn't apply 100 per cent, but my question is should we all be mindful of this idea when making predictions/assessments of unusually good performances? I think I will personally put less weight on unusually good/bad performances when making predictions in the future. Apologies for the long email. If you found it interesting there are other ideas in this book that I think are relevant to boxing, especially about hindsight and how people adjust what they think they thought was going to happen in an event after the fact when the event didn't play out as they expected. Thanks, Sam

Bread’s response: I find your comment more than interesting. It was awesome. One of the best I have ever had. 

When I was no more than 9 years old, my grandfather introduced the term “over his head” to me. He explained to me that when the Villanova men’s basketball team beat the Georgetown Hoyas, that Villanova were over their head. He told me being over your head, simply means being better than you usually are. I never forgot that. 

Later in life I would observe outcomes closely. I was a basketball player. So when I would wait to get on the court as the next 5, I would see who was playing the best. That’s the person I would guard because I wanted to see if he could play that well again.

I once played in a basketball tournament called Hoop It Up. I was out of my mind one game when I scored 14 of my team's 16 points by ones!! It was the hottest I had ever been up to that point.  Needless to say, I struggled in the very next game. So, these early life lessons taught me something. 

As time went on and I got into boxing I never understood the excuse that the public gave Duran. I could vividly remember the promotion and spectacles of the fight. Ray Leonard was my all time favorite fighter. I did book reports on his life. One of the things I recalled was they did the promotion for Duran vs Leonard II in the late summer of 1980.  I said to myself if the fight was in November and there was promotion running in August, Duran had plenty of time to train. 

Then I read a Ray Arcel quote saying Duran had 12 weeks to lose 40lbs. Well 12 weeks is 3 months. So while Duran did get heavy, the notion that 12 weeks is short notice is hog wash. Especially considering they had just fought in June. I never bought into the excuses. I always went back to what my grand pop told me. I came up with the conclusion that Duran fought over his head and he came back down to earth in the rematch. The proper term is “Regression to mean”.

Thank you very much for this comment. Keep them coming.

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