In this week’s mailbag, Coach Breadman fields questions about the aftermath of the heavyweight clash between Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua, looks at the bout between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan and takes you behind the scenes with how he manages his time to give his fighters the best chance.
Sup Breadman, My question is in regards to training. As a trainer is there a certain type/style of fighter that you believe you are more inclined to have success with or have a preference to a certain style? How do you approach training different style of fighters? Do certain styles require training that “boost” certain attributes? For example, does a pressure fighter require more conditioning? Does a pure boxer require more roadwork? How do you feel about changing a fighter’s styles or teaching certain skills to a fighter that generally don’t go with their style? I recall Marcos Maidana adding a jab after training with Robert Garcia and finding some success with it despite being labelled as a “brawler”.
Hope you and yours are doing well, thank you.
Bread’s Response: Good question. I prefer a certain personality over a certain style. I also prefer a certain body type over a certain style. A style can be enhanced. But a body style really can’t. And the personality has to be compliant. I can’t argue with a fighter everyday about something I’m trying to teach him.
I also have my core principles but you can’t train two fighters exactly the same. Yes, certain styles require certain boosts. If you’re a quick-twitch sharp fighter, you need explosive and reactive training. You don’t need to run 5 miles everyday to get in shape. It will slow down your approach.
If you’re a pressure fighter you need extra sparring and endurance work because you’re grinding fighters down to win. I don’t like changing a fighter’s style. But I do believe in doing something to win a fight, even if it’s not the fighter’s natural style. I had Kyrone Davis fighting on a bounce vs Anthony Dirrell because I thought a bounce would surprise Dirrell more so than Kyrone pressing him trying to walk him down. And recently I had Caleb Plant go inside vs Trevor McCumby because I didn’t want McCumby to get momentum with his step in power.
Davis is not a bounce and move fighter. And Plant is not naturally an inside fighter. But I’ve seen both do it in the gym, so I was comfortable training them to do those things and asking them to do it in fights.
Robert Garcia did an excellent job with Marcos Maidana. He had Maidana on his best career run and he gave Floyd fits with that jab. Maidana had a real case for winning six or seven rounds vs Mayweather in their first fight. But that’s not changing of a style. That’s adding a simple tactic that enhances a style. Maidana is a wild looping puncher and he puts hard pressure on his opponents. But a strong jab made him highly competitive vs his generation’s best fighter.
Great question.
Hi Breadman,
Question on the Dubois Vs Joshua fight. I saw you tweet about Joshua’s problem where when he gets hurt he stays hurt. The question relates to how you can come back from a beatdown like that both from a fighters and trainers perspective. You obviously recognized this issue with Joshua that he was hurt and would have trouble coming back, so what would you have done as his trainer, throw in the towel after the 1st round? How can you channel a fighter to respond to a situation where you can see the writing is on the wall? It must be so difficult to be responsible for making these calls.
The same question applies to how you can overcome this in a potential rematch. In my opinion, it was different with Ruiz, where Ruiz was clearly smaller and containable whereas Dubois appears to have both the physical, and now, the mental advantage. Can you tell me any examples of when an older fighter has taken a serious beating and come back to win a rematch? Thanks,
Bread’s Response: I did, but Joshua has only been stopped 2x. So I don’t want to over exaggerate his demise. It’s just that when the great heavyweights get hurt, which they all do, they recover on the average a lot faster than Joshua. He seems to stay hurt for several rounds. Even against Klitschko, in a fight he won. He seemed hurt for several rounds and the only reason Wlad didn’t stop him was because Wald is overly conservative and careful. Wlad is a great fighter and great puncher but by the time he fought Joshua, he was not a killer.
Coming back from beatdown is all about self esteem and humility. You can’t lose your self esteem and lessen yourself because you lost a fight. But at the same time you have to recognize what went wrong. Joshua’s personality is very peculiar in my opinion but he has done well in rematches his entire career. So that’s something to consider.
I don’t want to question Ben Davison. I’m sure he’s going through some things after taking a tough loss. So heck no, I wouldn’t have stopped that fight in the 1st round!! It’s boxing. And just because Anthony doesn’t have great recovery powers, it doesn’t mean you stop a fight in the 1st round because he got hurt. He actually came back and hurt Dubois right before he was KOd.
As painful as it is to the fighter, you have to talk about what they need to do when they’re hurt. It’s a must. Obviously you can’t punch them in the face, hurt them, then practise how to recover. But it’s something that needs to be talked about and discussed. You also have to help them recover in the corner between rounds.
In a rematch where a fighter previously KOd, you have to give the fighter a scenario on which he can win the rematch. You have to point out the opportunities he had to win even though he didn’t. You have to also explain to him that just because a fighter had his night on THAT particular night, it doesn’t mean he can beat him every fight.
Lennox Lewis was KOd really bad vs Hasim Rahman. And he came back in an immediate rematch to ko Rahman. Tony Zale and Rocky Graziano took turns KOing each other in 3 fights. So both came back. As did Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez. So it’s not impossible. Joshua has something to draw from because he actually did it vs Andy Ruiz. But I agree, this will be a harder task than Ruiz. Dubois is not as easy to outbox. His jab is better than Ruiz’s. And I don’t get the impression he’s going to come in out of shape in the rematch.
Hey Bread, hope all is well.
AJ has a bad habit of fighting the wrong fights and looking like a deer in headlights when things aren’t going his way. In Ruiz I guess he was stunned/maybe concussed after that huge hit. Usyk 1 he tries to outbox a master boxer, Dubois he doesn’t throw an assertive jab/right hand or fight from a high guard/duck his chin and keep his hands up. Doesn’t set his shots up. He got assertive, but sloppy that last round and it cost him. He reminds me of a new age Frank Bruno. That Ruiz fight forever changed him. I wonder how his career would turn out had he won. Seeing AJ-Fury/Wilder never happen (at least prime anyways) sucks.
168 may be my favorite division outside 154 now, it’s some serious smoke there. Idk who is the second best guy there outta Plant, Berlanga and Munguia. I hope all three guys fight each other at some point next year. 135-140 there’s a lot of meat on the bone. Namely Teo as he never fought the other three (Tank, Devin or Garcia). Lastly, there’s an underrated card on Friday, Mikalea Mayer vs Sandy Ryan is a scrap. It’s like once you lose once in boxing your promoters aren’t as afraid to throw in more tough fights. She lost to Baumgardner and has been in tough fights since. Speaking of Baumgardner it’s a shame she’s not fighting on DAZN/main TV Friday. Eddie Hearn moves shaky with American fighters after a loss/drama as Baumgardner had the steroid accusations. Thanks as always.
Bread’s Response: I don’t think Joshua so much fights the wrong fights, I think he has counterproductive tactics. But we may be saying the same thing. A half of dozen… Or six….
I think Joshua changed after Klitschko hurt him. But that’s a story for another day. What I notice about Joshua is he doesn’t make good in-fight adjustments. But he does make good adjustments in the next fight. Against Ruiz he was caught in the mid-range with a big left hook. In the rematch he humbled himself and boxed and moved and got his title back. Against Usyk he tried to box in the 1st fight. In the rematch, he attacked more and went to Usyk’s body and did better in a SD loss. I can see a more improved Joshua in the Dubois rematch.
168 is an excellent division. Hopefully they all fight each other, but politics in boxing are a real thing.
135-140 is even more stacked. I hate how slow it’s taking for the superfights to manifest. But that’s today’s boxing for you.
I saw Mayer getting ready for Ryan in Vegas. Mayer looked like she was having a great camp. I’ve only seen Ryan fight once, so it’s hard to say who’s going to win. It could be very close… I wouldn’t rule out a draw.
Yes, promoters aren’t as careful with a record that has a loss as they are with a record without one. For the record, I thought Mayer beat Jonas. That decision was a home cooked meal.
And I don’t think Eddie Hearn is putting Baumgardner on an undercard because of steroid/ped accusations. That’s not how boxing works. There have been several fighters that have had ped issues who headlined shows. I won’t claim to know what’s going between Hearn and Baumgardner. I didn’t know who the headliner was on her card. But I don’t believe if there is an issue, it’s because of PEDs.
When Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury retire, do you expect Daniel Dubois to take over the heavyweight division? It seems like he’s clearly the next guy up. Thank you!
Bread’s Response: I expect Dubois to be a player in the division when Usyk and Fury retire. But I can’t say he would take over just yet. I need to see more of him.
Now that Dubois has knocked out Joshua, I’m sure you’ll be getting emails asking you if AJ should retire or press on and if you think he’s permanently lost his mojo. I’m wondering those things myself, but I want to ask you something different. I just stumbled across a post on my Facebook feed. It reads, “Wilder v Joshua was supposed to happen but Wilder got KO’d by Zhang. Joshua v Fury was supposed to happen but Fury lost to Usyk. Now Joshua has been KO’d by Dubois. This era of heavyweight boxing has been a disaster.” I feel like that’s overblown, but what do you think? I think you could argue that it’s maybe been a bit underwhelming but not a disaster. And maybe seismic shifts like this can be good for boxing, and some folks in the comments said so as pushback on the disaster claim. One even suggested breaking up a monopoly of cherrypickers is the opposite of a disaster. I feel like the cherrypicker claim is a little overblown too, so I think my opinion splits the difference. I’m actually excited by these changes in the heavyweight division and curious to see where we go from here. What are your thoughts on the heavyweight landscape as it stands? Is it a disaster in your eyes or are you seeing upside?
Bread’s Response: I think this era of heavyweight boxing has been very good. Just because we missed some big fights. It doesn’t mean the era was a disaster. We got Usyk vs Joshua 2x, Dubois and Fury. We got AJ vs Klitshcko, Dubois and Parker. And we got Fury vs Klitshcko and Wilder 3x. This has been a solid era of heavyweight boxing.
Hi Bread, Thanks for your mailbag, I read it every Saturday. I have 2 questions. First, how can it be legal for Ryan Garcia to return to boxing after a one year suspension? He could have seriously hurt Devin Haney. I know you are very against PEDS. It seems like in combat sports the penalty should be more severe than it is. Bad enough to keep fighters from using PEDs. My second question is about jabs. I’m not an expert, but I like to watch boxing. I took my 16 year old son to an amateur/pro boxing event recently. Lots of fun. I noticed that most of the boxers didn’t use the jab that much. A lot of them barely used it. Isn’t the jab the most important punch? The main event ended in a brutal knockout. The guy who got knocked out was much taller than the champ, Dante Ettore, but he didn’t use his reach. It could have been because the champ was so quick, but I was surprised that the jab wasn’t used more. The knockout happened with two seconds left in the round.
Also, my son started going to a boxing gym over the summer and he loves it. He’s learning a lot, getting in shape, gaining confidence in his body and strength.
Thanks for your knowledge each week.
Ben in Columbus
Bread’s Response: It’s legal for Garcia to return to boxing because he served his suspension. If his suspension was 12 months then after 12 months he can fight. No one is suspended indefinitely on their first offense. So 12 months is about the norm.
Overall the PED rules in boxing are a joke. But what happens is rules make themselves. A fighter will get killed or seriously harmed by a PED user in a big fight. At that point the punishment will become more strict and then you will see a fighter get made an example of. Until then we will all witness fake outrage to PEDS.
The reason why the jab is the most important punch in boxing is because it’s the closest punch to the opponent and it travels in the most direct fashion. But fighters are not taught how to fight in the order they once were. Fighters today are doing fancy padwork routines before they master their footwork and a simple jab. So when you see them fight, they rely on what they were taught. A jab will seem boring and useless to a fighter who has memorized a 15 second flow drill routine before he learned to master the variance of his jab. So there you have it.
I just heard an announcement that David Benavidez vs Jesse Hart is slated for December. I know you pay attention to the fighters in your fighter’s division. Do you think Hart has a chance? And what is your prediction?
Bread’s Response: Benavidez did fight Plant but that was at 168. He’s since moved up to 175.
Of course Hart has a chance. Everyone at the top level has a chance if they are having “their” night. But let’s see if the news is official. I don’t want to comment on a fight that has not been announced by the promotional company. So let’s see if PBC announces Benavidez vs Hart. Let’s see what the weight limit will be and what will be at stake. It’s more to making a fight than people talking on social media. I’ve been around this game too long to comment on internet rumors.
PBC has a few more dates left. And I’m assuming Tank Davis and David Benavidez will both fight before 2025. But who their opponents will be, is a different story. So let’s wait and see before we start with predictions.
Bread, Going to my previous question. Well, I’ve trained boxing on and off for about 12 years and have competed on a small, local level, but I feel that it’s starting to take its toll on my body physically. I was thinking of getting involved in coaching, judging, or refereeing. I just want to make the sport a part of my life and give back to a sport that has given me a purpose. What kind of steps would it take to get involved in something like that? Do I just need to ask my coach to talk to someone for me?
Also being involved in the sport as a boxer. I understand the things that boxers go through, which is why I don’t like to bash or bad mouth boxers because they are warriors in every sense of the word. Boxers are the athletes that other athletes aspire to. It’s the hardest and the greatest sport in the world. The sacrifice is immense. The time and commitment it takes to get to a certain level, most don’t understand which is why I always respected you and your boxers from Williams to Plant, I think you’ve done phenomenal work. Which is why I wanted your thoughts on this.
Bread’s Response: I’ve said this a few times, getting involved in boxing is not hard. Succeeding in boxing and earning a living off of it, is. If you want to be involved as an official, call your State Athletic Commission or go online and apply. If you want to get involved as a trainer, you need to make yourself available to fighters. Then prove your worth.
I would suggest to start out with one, and concentrate on him before you start to take more fighters on. My first three years as a trainer, I only trained one fighter. I concentrated solely on him and no one else. So by the time I took on another fighter, I had my program down.
There seems to be some real bad blood between Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer. From what I’ve read, Ryan was working with Mayer’s trainers but she didn’t want to fight Mayer. Mayer took it personal and wanted to fight Ryan. With you training fighters in weight divisions that are close, how do you navigate that and would you train two fighters in the same exact division? What’s your prediction on the fight and do you think Ryan has an advantage because she has Mayer’s coaches.
Bread’s Response: This is a good but tough question that has many layers. Julian Williams and Kyrone Davis have both fought in the same division. But Julian is older so they were at different stages of their careers. One of the things that most top trainers do, is train fighters in or close to the same divisions so you can have in-house sparring.
But the issue is if the fighters are at the same career stages. I wouldn’t train fighters at the same stages if there was a strong chance they could fight. For example I wouldn’t train Jaime Munguia because there is too strong of a chance he could fight Caleb Plant. But I would train an up and coming super middleweight because by the time he made it to the top, Caleb would be retired. So context is important.
I also want to go on record and say I don’t know the details of what happened with Mayer and her trainers. I mind my business with this stuff. Because this is a business and some trainers are not in the position to turn down jobs. And with trainers not having any binding agreements with fighters, some trainers are just not willing to turn down money. And I’m not going to judge anyone for that just because I haven’t done it.
Ryan vs Mayer is a toss up type of fight and the betting lines illustrate it. But I haven’t seen enough of either to make a definitive pick. I’ve seen more of Mayer. She’s dog tough. She has solid fundamentals. But she’s not overly athletic. She doesn’t possess elite speed or quickness from what I’ve seen. Mayer grinds down fighters and she does better in the second half of fights. But with 2 minute rounds it’s tough vs elite fighter. She came on vs Baumgardner in the 2nd half. And I thought she beat Jonas and was robbed. But there is a pattern there. She’s not dynamic athletically so it takes her some time to warm up to the task.
I saw Sandy Ryan vs McCaskill and she won that fight. It shouldn’t have been a draw in my opinion. Ryan seems a little faster and quicker but she also seems to fight a little tight. So let’s see if she can fight a little more relaxed on the big stage. Both women will have to check their emotions. Mayer’s old trainers do know Mayer. But Mayer knows them also and she knows what instructions they give. So we just have to see how it plays out. It’s one thing to know. It’s something different to execute what you know.
Breadman, you’re doing your thing. I saw your prospect JYD in Instagram. He seems huge for middleweight. Kyrone Davis is in line for a title shot. Caleb Plant just showed an inside game that everyone said he didn’t have. And I’m sure JRock will get one last shot. How do you manage it all? I’m sure you have big names knocking. Is there a job in particular that you want?
Bread’s Response: Thanks. Actually training is not hard to me. It’s something I enjoy. The hard part is traveling away for camp because I have a business and a family to maintain. Other than that, the actual training is my passion. I love the sport of boxing. What I don’t love is the politics and business side.
Kyrone Davis earned a big fight with a top contender or a title shot. Elijah Garcia was ranked #1 after just 16 fights. Kyrone beat him convincingly and he’s not ranked in the top 5… Kyrone will most likely have to be a mandatory to get a title shot. Which I’m fine with.
JRock does have another shot coming up. I can’t say against who, but it should be in the first quarter of next year.
Caleb just wrote himself a big check with his last performance.
And Erron Peterson aka JYD is doing great. He’s 7-0 with 6 KOs. I’m starting to garner interest from some big promoters.
Time management is my main focus. All I ask for is the promoters to not schedule Caleb’s fight to conflict my other guys. That’s it. Because he’s the only fighter I go away for camp for, so their fights have to be at least eight weeks apart.. Other than that I just schedule our gym times accordingly and we work. It’s fun to me actually.
I don’t ask fighters to train them. But I do see a few fighters that I know for a fact that I can help. One I believe I could turn him into the P4P #1 fighter in the world. He’s still in his 20s and fights around 135 to 140.
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