Here's the number for the Jersey Commission...

That Paul Williams-Erislandy Lara decision was ridiculous. [Williams was given an immensely unpopular decision]. I called the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board [Editor's note: the telephone number of this government office is 609-292-0317 if anyone else wishes to call and register an official complaint] today and voiced my opinion and left my name and number and hoping the supervisior Aaron Davis will call me back so I can tell him what a joke he will look like if these judges are not suspended for at least 5 years to life. I really don't think that punishment is to harsh. We will see what happens. This is the worst decision in New Jersey since they decided to unjustly fire Larry Hazzard and replace him with a guy who was the boxing commissioner in the state of KANSAS. Yes I said KANSAS... As a boxing fan call and complain and then write HBO and threaten to cancel my subscribtion. There is really nothing else I can do. So anyway here are some mythical match ups I wanted to run by you and see what you think. 1. Mark "2 Sharp" Johnson(1998) vs Ricardo Lopez(1998) 2. Nonito Donaire(Now) vs Johnny Tapia(1999) 3. Michael Nunn(1989) vs Bernard Hopkins(2001) 4. Mike Tyson(1988) vs Lennox Lewis (2002) 5. Manny (Now) vs Felix Trinidad (1999) 6. Roy Jones Jr (1997) vs Joe Calzaghe (2005) 7. Ray Leonard (1980) vs Floyd Mayweather (2007) 8. Marvin Hagler (Prime) vs Bernard Hopkins (2001) 9. Pernell Whitaker (prime) vs Floyd Mayweather (prime)


Bread’s Response: Good for you my man. You took a valid stand. More fans should be like you. Johnson, Donaire, Hopkins, 50/50, Tito, Jones, Leonard, Hagler, Floyd.

 

I hadn’t watched much of Erislandy Lara prior to the Paul Williams fight last weekend, maybe just a first round knockout or two, but I think it was when I read a mailbag of yours with you heaping much praise on the guy as a future champion I made sure to watch his next fight more closely. Unfortunately that next fight was against Carlos Molina, where I thought Lara looked terrible and was the recipient of a gift decision [a draw] much like Paul Williams this past weekend. With high expectations, I thought in the Molina fight that the lack of combination punching and looking for one big left hand was just indication that Lara must have been having a bad night. But I think he did the same thing against PWill. Do you agree and do you still think he has big things coming? I mean PWill is no slouch by any means and Molina had just proven he is no push over on the weekend also, but Lara only seemed to be looking to land his left hand with one punch at a time and I think had no good stamina in both fights. It was only his 16th and 17thpro fight, but bloke is 28 years old with over 300 amateur fights and he may be quite set in his ways. One thing’s for sure, without that head gear padding his head he made the most of using it to inflict some damage. Cheers, Brad, Australia

Bread’s Response: I think Lara has a chance to be a world titlist, but he may have leveled off. We shall see, I don’t want to discredit the kid too much off of an excellent performance in his first time on HBO. But Lara could have really pushed Williams off the brink if he would have done some more things. For example Williams is not a cerebral fighter. Lara could have layed inside and took a rest, and just caught and parried as Williams throws his usually vollies. I wasn’t in there taking the punches but from what I saw, Williams was not sitting on his shots, he looked to be slapping and not getting max leverage. After Lara got his breather, he should have exploded in combinations, not just one left hand. If you can hit somebody that clean once, you can do it in combination. If Lara would have punched in combinations, we wouldn’t be talking about the bad decision, they would have carried Williams out of there. That’s why guys like Aaron Pryor and Manny Pacquiao got/get so many late brutal stoppages, because they punch in combination when they have a wounded fighter in front of them.

All in all, I think Lara is very very good. He will have to be moved very carefully from this point on. I wouldn’t make any 154 pounder more than an 8 to 5 favorite over him. He is almost 50/50 with anybody at that weight. But I have to see him in against another elite level guy before I make a total assessment. Most sharp punching fighters, with some staying power can take advantage of Williams at this point.

 
After watching the fight I wanted to send an email in regards to the Williams/Lara fight. But I decided to watch the fight a second time to give you my observations. First off I thought that Williams had lost the fight but not by the wide margins that the HBO commentators had it. I thought that a lot of Paul’s body work was over-shadowed by everyone’s focus on the big lefts that Lara was landing. Although he landed that punch consistently, he did not follow up with a right hook or put any combinations together. I also thought that Williams took a lot of the middle rounds until Lara got his second wind and won down the stretch. The thing that bothered me the most is Williams’ trainer’s attitude in regards to Paul’s need to make adjustments or a style change. In fact, all other fighters should stay as far from him as possible. He will end up getting Paul seriously hurt or worst. Even Stevie Wonder could see where Paul needs to improve. It really urked me when Paul’s trainer basically said that nothing needs to change he just needs to fight harder. I was pissed after watching the pre and post fight interviews with Max Kellerman. And I think judging from his body language he was feeling the same way. With that said, I don’t think that Paul is finished. I do think that his style make’s him extremely vulnerable when facing another lefty. He would still have a lot of success against most right handed fighters. Also, one other thing that people need to realize is that Martinez is not on Lara’s level when it comes to technique. Early in Martinez's career he relied mostly on his physical talents and improved technically as his career went on. Lastly, I disagree with the notion that Paul can not be successful fighting tall and using a snapping jab. I took Kung Fu for many years and the first thing that I had to learn before anything else was stance, positioning and distance. When you control these three things you don’t have to rely on your reflexes as much. In Paul’s case, by fighting at a distance with a snapping jab and straight punches his opponents would have to take chances to close the distance and Paul would be able to increase his chances of delivering one-punch KO type of power. But the biggest question is that even if he and/or his trainer do decide to modify his style will it help to undo years of HORRIBLE training. Maybe you should print every email that anyone has written to you about Paul and hand them to him and his trainer so they can get a wakeup call.
Columbus,
Tampa
Bread’s Response: I didn’t say Williams COULDN’T be successful from the outside, I said he is better on the inside. First off he is not a sharp shooter, he doesn’t snap a jab, he flicks it. The only shot that Paul really turns over is his right hook to the body, look at him close. He has to throw that shot from the inside. Paul also does not have superior handspeed or power like Tommy Hearns. People think because he is built like Hearns, he has to fight like Hearns. I don’t. All Williams and Hearns have in common is their build and heart. Williams is a volume puncher, Hearns is a one punch ko artist.


All I’m suggesting is Williams to tweak his style and become more mindful of defense. Look at this, Sandy Saddler is arguably the best pressure fighter ever. He was a 5’9 featherweight. He enjoyed some of the same advantages over featherweights that Williams has over junior middles. Nobody told him to fight from the outside.  Williams sees the world(ring) differently than we expect him to. Riddick Bowe did also. I remember him clearly beating Holyfield up on the inside. Bernard Hopkins is also a tall inside fighter when he wants to be. I really believe Paul should change a few things defensively but he is just not comfortable fighting on the outside for long stretches because of how he is wired.


I don’t think it would have mattered if that shot was coming from a left hander or right hander. A right hand is the best punch against a southpaw. If Williams could slip or block that long left hand that he knew was coming, he wouldn’t be able to block a long straight right hand either. Williams just has poor defensive reflexes. Top fighters will always find a way to hit him.

 


Bread!! whats good my man can you tell me why exactly is Paul Williams done as you proclaimed in your mail bag I know he wasnt getting out of the way of the left hands but is it more than that? I mean before the Sergio Martinez rematch, no one was saying Williams is done but after the knockout, everyone is writing his boxing eulogy. I mean Bread why isnt it that Williams was somewhat Rusty? why isnt it that he was in with a young fighter who will be a world champ soon?, why isnt it that WIlliams needs a new trainer? I mean cotto has taken more vicious beatings and if ask me he didnt look that great against Mayorga AND Paul fought a much better fighter in my opinion in Lara than Cotto has with Foreman and Mayorga after watching last nights fight I may pick Lara over Cotto in a head to head match up so whats with the END OF PAUL WILLIAMS TALK? years ago Bread guys loosing didnt seem to take as much out of a fighter are the guys today just weaker mentally?
Bread’s Response; I personally never said Williams was done after he lost to Carlos Quintana or Martinez. But this fight was something different. Williams was already talking about retirement before this fight. He said out of his own mouth that he wanted the Martinez trilogy fight then to ride off into the sunset. From what I saw the other night, he does not need Martinez in his life. Martinez seems to be punching harder these days. He hurt Williams in both fights, he hit Cintron so hard he thought it was a head butt, he hurt Pavlik and he tore Dzinziruk to pieces. In my opinion Martinez is going to seriously hurt Paul if they fight again. I won’t call it rust. Most top fighters only twice a year anyway. I actually believe that losses get held against fighters too much these days. But in this case it wasn’t the loss it was the performance. Actually technically Williams didn’t lose. But to my eye, he looked terrible and he is waiting to be knocked out brutally again. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am.


Lara may be a little better that Yuri Foreman, but not by as much as you would think. Foreman may be done right now, but at one time he had decent boxing skills. Cotto has taken some beatings, but I have never seen Cotto hit so often by such a predictable shot. Cotto is also slightly on the downside, but he is performing better than Williams is these days, because he thinks more. Cotto is 8 inches shorter but he  is a much better boxer than Paul and he actually has a much better JAB. Tell me if I’m wrong. When you have an excellent jab you can preserve your existence in this game. For whatever reason, Paul just doesn’t have a good one.

It’s one thing for a fighter to lose, it’s another thing for a fighter to chance himself at being seriously hurt. I don’t mind a guy taking some L’s, but Williams will get seriously hurt very soon if he is not matched softer. Mark my words, seriously hurt. 

 

B I just wanted to share a problem that I see more and more in boxing and that is the father like trainers in the corner of professional athletes. That guy who takes the 13 year old kid and starts training him in his spare time building that father like bound along the way. A couple of these trainers that I think about right of the top of my head are Ozell Nelson (Jermaine Taylor), Kevin Cunningham (Devon Alexander), Jack Lowe (Kelly Pavlik), George Peterson (Paul Williams) etc…. These guys remind me of the ministers in today’s church who say that they have a calling from God but only if you take me off my fulltime job and put me up in a big house with a Cadillac in the drive way. This is a conflict of interest that I believe keeps the fighters from reaching their full potential. Don’t get me wrong because I know a lot of these guys dedicate a lot of their time to bring these guys along but I think the problem is once I get you to the point where you are making real money I get my 10% (I assume this is standard for a trainer) of lets say 500K, that’s 50K which is more than I was making in a full year on my fulltime. Right. Even though I realize that I have taken you as far as I can I still don’t want to let you go or bring someone else in because it’s going to take away from my cut or in the case of Ozell Nelson I might bring someone in just as long as your relationship does not get to close hence the reason Pat Burns was replaced after Jermaine’s second Hopkins fight. Then you have fighters like Williams and Alexander who have all the makings of a world class fighter but continue to make rookie mistake because in my opinion they have too much loyalty to their coach and the coach is showing a lack of loyalty to the career of the athlete. I always place myself in the other person shoes. I have 3 boys and I am involved in every aspect of their lives. I coach AAU ball and if one of my boys turns out to be good enough to play any kind of ball then I will be involved but here is the difference I know what I am capable of and I know how far I can take them. I feel like if these young men are truly like son’s to these coaches then they owe it to them to bring someone in or replace themselves completely with a trainer who can take them to the next level. There is no way George Peterson should stay in William’s corner as head trainer after watching this fight. I think that it’s all about the dollars B. No one wants to give up the cash cow and go back to work. My question is do you think its such thing as too much loyalty? Also what keeps some of these guys from doing the right thing and bringing someone else in because in most of the fighters I have named there where clear signs that something was broken and needed to be fixed before they lost.
It’s funny because this same thing happens in other professional sports. I am not trying to be racist with this comment but you have the Caucasian family who takes in the young black sports athlete (Sorry but see the Michael Oher story) with the hard background to “help him out”. Although this same family passed about 150 other struggling black kids the rising star athlete touch their heart. They send him to the private school with the good sports program and then help him get to college in hopes of helping him get to the league. This is their “son”. It just makes me wonder about the intentions of people. Sorry to ramble but after watching Paul the other night I couldn’t understand for the life of me why Peterson was still in the corner. Gully

Bread’s Response: Great comment Gully! I don’t want to group everybody in the same category. I want to be fair. There are too many variables. But I wholeheartedly agree that there is a problem. I will give the boxers a little pass. It’s very difficult to fire a man, who has fed you, paid large % of your amateur expenses, and pretty much has been a father to you. Very tough for a fighter to do. While the fighter does have some blame, I place the larger % on the coach. A lot of coaches are very stubborn. They believe they are the best. They believe it’s their way or no way. They also don’t want new people coming in, because they believe that the new people will steal the fighter away. I have personally seen this up close and personal.
Then you have the variables. The biggest one is, just because you change does not mean you will change for the better. Also sometimes fighters just level off. Everybody is not meant to be Sugar Ray Robinson. It’s really a tough call.


I think the best way to figure things out, is if you have a humble trainer. Someone who does not mind asking for help. Boxing is such an individual sport, where some trainers don’t want help. But in football the head coach brings in all kinds of guys for help. If the head trainer is smart enough to bring somebody else in, he should get FULL credit for making the correct move. Often times you will see a trainer, do the same dam routine, everday in the gym. After years of this, fighters get stale. I personally try to change it up as much as possible, I also try to learn as much as I can in every aspect so my fighter does not feel he is being shortchanged in any area. Everybody does not think like I do.


The second way you can correct this, is if the fighter takes the stand. This usually ends in an ugly split but sometimes it has to happen. I personally think if a fighter hires someone new, without firing his trainer who brought him up, there is nothing wrong with that. Zab Judah did not fire his dad, he just brought in Whitaker. I wish I had a better answer for you but I don’t. Because I have seen the other side to this also, where fighters panic and leave their coach the 1st time something goes wrong. It’s not always the trainer’s fault and it’s not always the fighter’s fault…..

  

To Matt Goldstein- In your notes you mentioned that, out of 20 ringside journalists, two had the fight for Williams and one had it even. Coincidentally enough, that same night, officially judging the fight there were also two other people in the world that had Williams winning and one other that had it a draw. I doubt you would throw them out to the wolves, but I must try… Which three journalists scored the fight in such a horrifically absurd manner? I often hear the analogy that judging a fight is like judging a beauty contest, but to say that Williams won the fight is like saying Sara Jessica Parker is prettier than Aishwara Rai**. I also saw a poll on fightnews.com that 7% of respondents thought Williams won and 7% thought it was a draw. This simple fact confirms to me that no fewer than 14% of the human race is made up of absolute assholes. Unfortunately, I can’t see the sample size, but everybody that didn’t vote for Lara winning should be permanently banned from that, and all other, boxing sites. The poll probably should have been phrased in the following manner: “Did Lara win the fight, or are you an asshole?”
Breadman- I don’t know if that’s Matt’s email, or just the general boxingtalk email… But if Matt doesn’t see this, the world definitely needs to know who the three journalists were, so we can bash them relentlessly as only internet respondents are capable of doing. BTW, I had one some cake on all of the fights, winning on Bute by KO, Rios by KO (I shit the bed on picking the early KO as my gut told me to do), won nice on Cintron losing to my boy (an emotional bet when I placed it, but it played out how I thought it would)… BUT, I lost 65% of my winnings as the largest wager I placed this weekend was Lara- I caught him at +165 and put $500 on there. I had to apologize to the wife for head butting the dog after I heard the first scorecard say 114-114. That single, violent decision cost me the other 35% of the winnings as I had to take her out for dinner. Stay real fellas.

Bread’s Response: It’s a shame when you bet on a fight, where there was a blatant robbery. I actually feel bad for winning money on the fight. Not that bad, because I didn’t bet a person, I bet an online casino lol.

You know I never really get into what other people think, once I have my mind made up. I had someone come up to me last month and tell me Hagler beat Leonard 8-4. I swear it really happened. I just looked at them. Leonard-Hagler is no where near the outrageous decision this fight was ,but you get what I’m saying. I won’t call whoever scored the fight for Williams an asshole but I will say they should learn properly how to score a fight. If you call yourself a boxing person and you thought Williams won, then you simply are incompetent in scoring a fight correctly.


I freaking love Paul Williams and I hate that a fighter with as much moxy as Williams is getting this kind of harsh criticism. It’s not Williams fault that the judges did that. Nevertheless Williams did NOT win that fight.
Listen man, some people have weird , off base opinions. If you survey enough people about obvious travesties where the majority will have similar thoughts, there will always be a small %, who think otherwise. It’s just the way it is. 

 

I like that you think that Paul Williams is done. He never had much in the way of defense anyway, but his offence is not the same (the point you made about the snap on his punches is right on) thus his opponents seem to be able to get off a little better. My question to you is what if any effect do you think Paul’s going up and down in weight played in him burning out so young? Maybe if he had just let himself mature naturally into middle or maybe even a super middleweight could it have possibly made a different? I guess hanging around for the Manny or Floyd payday could have really hurt his career. Brandon Rios is looking really good at 135, how do you see him at 140 against the likes of Maidana, Bradley, and Khan? Keep up the good work my man.
Rich from DC.
Bread’s Response: I don’t think the weight had anything to do with. Williams style burned him out. Jumping up and down in weight ruined his marketability, not his body per say. Williams fought Martinez at middleweight, while Martinez was champ at 154 for no title. Then he fought him at 157 in a catchweight fight for the middleweight title. I just never understood that. All he had to do was rule 154 and clear out the division, he was trying to jump to 160 before he established himself as the best 154 pounder. Look at how hot 154 is right now, with Alvarez, Kirkland, Martirosyan, Lara and Angulo. If Williams fought at super middleweight he would get seriously hurt. He takes punches too clean and there is a distinct difference between getting hit by a 154lb man and a 168lb man.

 
Me and my brother were talking about good future fights to keep the fan interest going and after last nights fights I suggested rios vs the winner of maidana-guerrero and then he suggested chavez jr vs paul williams for the middleweight title which I thought stylewise would be a great fight for fans. that fight has high contact written all over it and they would be in each others face going to war and moving forward. who do you like in these fights and why? hope this makes the mailbag would like your opinion on it. --David P
 
Bread’s Response; You are a good matchmaker. Chavez is the right kind of guy for Williams. That would be a helluva fight. Rios vs Maidana would be disgusting in a good way. I think I may favor Rios but let think about it a little more. I don’t know about Williams/Chavez. I may go with Chavez because he appears to punch harder and with more snap. I can see the judges awarding him in a war because it will appear he is doing more damage.

 


 
Hey Bread, I agree with your David Haye analysis. In Haye’s defense I will say that the broken toe did affect him but they should’ve used it as a positive, they should’ve announced it right after it happened and said that it wouldn’t affect anything, that the fight was going forwards as planned. Haye did better than everyone else and had Wladimir very cautious, Haye was able to surprise and hurt Wladdy (in the 11th round) with those right hands he was throwing but like you said he was tentative himself on the inside, when it was apparent that Wladdy had a hard time hitting him on the inside because of his bobbing and weaving, and making Wladdy miss a lot. The only thing they didn’t practice was countering off of Wladdy misses and there were a LOT of opportunities that Haye blew to counter after making Wladdy miss. Haye also needed to feint the right hand and step in with the left hook to the body or head. Haye’s balance after throwing the right hand was also VERY bad. Haye’s loss was due to not having the ‘seasoning’ like Wladdy has attained under Emanuel Steward. Haye can say that his trainer is 1st class but he isn’t or he would have prepared Haye better. Haye needs to come to the States and train with an American trainer, Roach would be good for him.
I think Floyd gets rejuvenated after his long layoffs, and this will be the case against Ortiz even though I’m not counting Ortiz out. Roger will prepare Floyd very well and with Floyd Sr there consulting I don’t see Floyd having too many problems except at the beginning of the fight. I don’t think Miss Jackson will make Floyd weak, because Floyd ain’t gonna let her call no shots as far as his boxing is concerned – like Shane Mosley did with Jin and now Bella Gonzalez.
Another thing I’m very glad about is James Kirkland returning to Austin Texas to train with his mentor Ann Wolfe, even though his last opponent was a tomato can you could see the aggressiveness and viciousness back in his game, it will take another 2 or 3 fights before Kirkland is back in his zone like he was before being incarcerated.
I was watching Paul Williams on Saturday he lost that fight big time to Lara!! I really watched to see what Paul was doing wrong and it was damn near everything, his footwork, balance and punch selection is all wrong!! He leaned in with every punch he threw. He threw a straight left when Lara was moving to Williams right instead of throwing a right hook or side stepping to his own right and cutting Lara off and then throwing the left hand. He was catching those left hands from Lara because he was leaning in with all his punches. The funny thing about that was that his coach said they weren’t going to change anything and he was right they didn’t change anything. It’s time for Paul to get a new trainer or he’s gonna get hurt bad!! I also don’t think that Paul sparred with enough southpaws for his fights against southpaws because he doesn’t seem to have many problems with traditional fighters.
Bread’s Response: Rob Jackson we agree again. The only thing I disagree on, is Williams vs left handers. Mark my words, he will fight again. And if it’s against a right hander, he will still get hit cleanly. He just can’t slip punches. When your eyes are dead, they are dead. A big right hand puncher down the pike, will hit Paul all night.


I am really looking forward to Mayweather/Ortiz. I think it’s going to be an excellent fight. Floyd is never in great fights, but this one will be good. I just hope Victor doesn’t tease us. I hope he fights with the same maniacal intensity he did against Berto.

G

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