BOXINGTALK'S RUNNING CIRCLES AROUND BREADMAN MAILBAG
By G. Leon

whats good time for fantasy matchups.what are your predictions assuming everyone is in there prime, roy jones at 175 v. evander holyfield at crusierweight, shane mosley  vs. hector camacho at 135, roberto duran vs tito trindad at 147, oscar del la hoya vs cotto at 147, floyd mayweather vs kostya tszyu at 140, erik morales vs acelino freitas at 130, shane mosley vs deigo corrales at 135, james toney vs joe calzaghe at 168, zab judah vs shamba mitchell at 140, pac man vs meldrick taylor, the late davey moore vs. andre berto.what do you think would be the outcome.

Leon's Response: Roy Jones. Shane Mosley. Roberto Duran. Oscar De La Hoya. Floyd Mayweather Jr. Shane Mosley. Joe Calzaghe. Zab Judah. Manny Pacquiao. Andre Berto.


Greg, Since Breadman hasn't the balls or brains (or both) to answer my question like a man lets see if you do. First off I am a man of color who loves the sport of boxing and I have no racial issues of any kind for any reason but I was recently dining at a Italian restaurant so right after I ate my pasta  I looked on the wall and saw a picture of Primo Carnera, an 6'4 265lb sideshow slash D-rated fighter that got smashed on by joe louis, Max baer and other notable fighters from the 1930's. After my night was done, I went online and did a little research about the big Italian oaf and uncovered that though he had 14 losses and never been champ his earnings topped joe louis,jack johnson and floyd patterson combined. At first I welted in disgust but I quickly realized that this was back in the good ole days when crackers were up and niggers were down but now lets fast forward  to the 21st century where we still have talented african American fighters like allan green, jermaine taylor and andre dirrell who struggle to get a 7 figure payday and you have overrated d class white fighters john duddy and kelly pavlik who call their own shots when it comes to mega paydays and pay-per views at will. What's up with that? and why do you trash fighters like floyd and b-hop when they make a business decision.

Leon's Response: Bread gets a ton of emails, and I don't think your subject it too taboo for me, so I'm sure my young paddawon overlooked it. Fast forwarding to current times; I know for a fact that Irish Ropes promoted the hell out of Duddy by visiting every Irish bar in NYC, thus turning him into a ticket seller. Pavlik isn't the kind of ticket seller Duddy is and he was never the A side of ANY of his HBO fights until he became champion. I don't have the stats, but I'm sure some of it has to do with white people might be more inclined to spend top dollar for tickets than African-American and Hispanics. When have I trashed B-hop? I don't trash fighters, I explain my views of what's going on. You've never heard a fighter say something bad about me publicly so I don't know where your question stems from.

G – First, comment, I think Vitali is the Heavyweight Champion of the World and the toughest of the two brothers.  Just wanted to get your thoughts / feedback within your circle.   Second, are these layoffs really that bad for fighters.  I’m thinking that Floyd, given his position in the sport, can let his body rest and then crank it up for 8 – 10 weeks in preparation for his fights.  He doesn’t appear to balloon up to 180 between fights and so forth.  So long as he doesn’t get injured during training he makes 30 million for a fight with “whoever” and shuts it down again for 10-12 months.  Seems like he can milk that kind of plan for another 5 years or so.  Maybe squeeze in a couple 700K PPV’s here and there.

Leon's Response: I definitely think Vitali is the better Klitschko and the more difficult Klitschko to defeate. I think layoffs are bad for fighters because fighters with the discipline of a Floyd Mayweather Jr are few and far between. Floyd keeps himself in shape, doing what he has been taught to. Stay ready to keep from getting ready. Floyd is in a great position right now and I'm happy for him, but pretty soon the fans are going to want him to step up to the plate for Pacquiao or retire.

I just got finished reading the article on Al Haymon and Bob Arum. I think both sides are to blame I really think that Arum should take most of it. Its clear to me at least Arum is thinking  like this "I hate both those guys (Haymon and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.) so why would I risk my cash cow (Manny Pacquiao) being beat by those guys when I can match Manny up against my other two stars" SMH sure its good for him because he wins both ways but sucks for us Boxing fans. Greg, I'm curious what  Arum's responses are  when you tell him that the fans are not happy with him pushing this Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito fight on to us? Is he just like "whatever I dont listen to fans"? I think margarito will beat pacquaio to me it comes down to margarito being physically strong and he's big and tall for a welter weight ridiculous chin good power and great body attack I think style wise its a bad match up for manny I dont think manny is strong enough to move margarito around the ring the same way shane was I dont think manny is as hard a puncher as mosley. Secondly I didnt really care about this Toney vs Cotoure UFC match up until I read a new article about Dana White still screaming that BS "Boxing is dead" crap and then I really got pissed when I saw the commercial for the PPV event and they are promoting the Fight between Cotoure and Toney as BOXING VS UFC!!!! my question is  is James Toney being used and manipulated by Dana White and the UFC?  If Toney loses ( which he probably will) dose it prove anyhting in this MMA vs Boxing debate? I  would think no but on the flip side if James Toney beats Randy Couture what will it say about MMA? also I think we will see more boxers go over to MMA for money when there boxing career is done and something tells me some will have success as many already have but Greg will we ever see an MMA Fighter make it to top level boxer status? ( I dont think so)-- B from Philly


Leon's Response: Glad you enjoyed the article. They should all share the blame as equally as they were looking to share the money. Arum is ready, willing and able to take the blame and move forward with lesser fights. Mayweather fighting Paul Williams or Andre Berto would be a lesser fight, but far more acceptable than Margarito for Pacquiao. My guess is we don't see Mayweather in the ring until May 2011. Margarito should not be written off, but I think Pacquiao stops or beats him badly. Dana White is a genius in total control. He should enjoy his monopoly while it lasts, because it won't last forever. The words MMA and UFC are on the verge of getting replaced with "not as good as boxing" on this website, much like the word  boxingtalk turns into ******** on Boxingscene.com's forum.
 

Hey Greg Two mailbags in one day damn thats good for us junkies(or fans lol)Anyway i see all the big commotion about Manny fighting Margarito and I UNDERSTAND WHY! But since your doing big things in the world of boxing I know you know it is the business part that makes more sense for this fight to happen.(we got some story lines ,controversy,good vs evil)I can see why Arum would make this fight.I think deep down Manny wanted to make the fight with Mayweather I am not so sure about Floyd.Pac vs Bradley as a boxing fan I would love to see Manny go to 140 and get it on ,Berto at 147 hell yeah!Paul Williams..Nah nah nah hold up P Will is to tall!!!From a buisness aspect I can understand they havent really done enough yet to get those Pac vs Margarito numbers you feel me ESE! ANDALE ANDALE(just kidding Bori)Hopefully we get a good fight and 2011 we get that match up everyone wants to see.In the mean time Bradley and Berto got to knock off the competition so the demand really get's overwhelming. peace Rio

Leon's Response: The third one is a charm and makes me feel like I'm running circles aroud young Skywalker Edwards. No matter how you slice it the fight is a disgrace. Pacquiao does not need controversy to sell as evidenced by the PPV #s he did with Clottey, who was coming off a loss and from a promotional standpoint, Clottey is as useful as a rock. The only fight I want to see Bradley in is Devon Alexander. If there's one thing we learned about Bradley the other night, it's that he's a much better at junior welterweight than welterweight.

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