Greetings Breadman, I hope all is well with you and yours my man. Just to weigh in on the Crawford-Canelo fight coming up: I have very mixed feelings. In some ways, this fight reminds me of Michael Spinks versus Larry Holmes, in that both boxers are elite with one (the naturally bigger man in both cases) showing enough decline that the smaller man is emboldened to attempt exploiting that slippage. I don’t see Crawford attempting this one right after Canelo broke Billy Joe Saunder’s face, for instance. In other ways, it reminds me of De La Hoya-Pacquiao (De La Hoya having lost a split decision against Floyd, followed by win over Stevie Forbes – not shot by any means but not the Oscar that gave Trinidad a boxing lesson and got robbed versus Mosley). However, Bud is older than Canelo, let alone the far younger and fresher Pac Man who was just 31 when stepping up to fight De La Hoya. Comparisons and analogies are fun, though far from scientific. The more I think about it, I go back to the old saying: a good big man beats a good small man every time. While I concede Bud has some advantages skills-wise, ring IQ and mindset are dead even. This is not Sugar Ray moving up against Donny Lalonde. Canelo is far better than Lalonde. This would be more like SRL stepping up against Michael Spinks or Evander Holyfield so I’m going to resist making too much of Bud being an inch taller or longer and keep it simple: He’s never been in the ring with a natural 168-pound fighter (Canelo’s familiar weight class) and I think he’s going to be in for a very rude awakening when Canelo starts connecting wherever he can – arms, shoulders, etc. I’m taking Canelo by mid-late stoppage, perhaps BoMac saving Crawford from himself, but what the hell do I know? We shall see! May the best man win! On another note, something I’ve been meaning to ask you about is this: We all feel terrible for Miguel Cotto perhaps being a victim of Margarito’s loaded wraps one fight before getting caught, as it obviously impacted Cotto and his career afterwards, despite being stellar, we’ll never know how good he might’ve been if that didn’t happen to him. But I’m surprised less people bring up Kermit Citron and his two brutal beatdowns at the hands of Margarito and what those beatings did to his career. I don’t think we can over-estimate the psychological impact of getting beaten into submission while not knowing their opponent might have been using illegal hand wraps. Of course, we don’t know if Margarito’s hands were illegally wrapped those nights, but go back and watch those fights, and it’s easy to speculate. I know Cintron started late with boxing, but was a very hot prospect, eventual world champion, and last I heard, opened a gym in Allentown where he doesn’t like discussing his professional career as a boxer. What’s your thoughts on that Bread? Emanuel Steward wouldn’t have taken Citron on if he wasn’t “the goods” and that’s in part why I think the poor guy might have been a victim of illegal hand wraps ruining and shortening his career. To his credit, I’ve never heard Citron speak about it but I think the rest of us should. It takes such immense courage to step in the ring and do what these guys do, they shouldn’t need to worry about being assaulted with anything deadlier than the two fists of the boxer in the opposite corner. Thanks again for all you do, my brother. Keep punching and Muharam Karim! Sean, Atlantic City
