Former champ Adrien Broner was today released from prison having served his 30-day sentence, the one he got for turning up in court either drunk or hung-over; his trial for alleged assault and robbery set to begin. Now a free man again (for now, at least) “The Problem” is of course expected to do what he does best aside from get into trouble – fight. Broner remains a big name, a fighter who can attract fans with his bad guy, or man you love to hate image, and there could be big fights out there for him still.
RingTV.com spoke briefly with Broner’s trainer Mike Stafford, and he said that while it’s obviously way too early to have anything approaching set yet, there is a chance the four-weight titlist could box as soon as October – against a “Ricky Burns type” of opponent. This doesn’t mean it will be Burns next for Broner, but the Scottish hero, who recently rejuvenated his own career by winning another major belt, was supposed to fight Broner a while back and this fight still has a decent look to it. Burns enjoyed boxing in the U.S when he gave Omar Figueroa a great battle in Texas last May, and he would possibly look at returning to America to finally get it on with Broner.
There are other good fights out there for a focused and properly motivated Broner, down at 140-pounds, which is probably his best weight to fight at these days, welterweight being too high for the 27-year-old. Broner against the likes of Ruslan Provodnikov (if he decides to carry on with his career), Mikey Garcia or even (although unlikely) Terence Crawford would be excellent match-ups. If Broner can stay out of trouble, if he can keep his ego in check and if he can keep his weight down, there could be further glory for him yet.
But these three ifs may well prove to be big ones for Broner. Amazing to think that just three short years ago, when he was boxing as a lightweight, Broner was being looked at as the sport’s next superstar.