He really should be focusing on the task in hand rather than looking beyond it – but Adrien Broner, who fights Shawn Porter on June 20th as part of Al Haymon’s PBC brand from The MGM Grand, Las Vegas, has spoken out to Sky Sports in the UK to say that he has his sights set on a clash with Amir Khan once he is done with his American opponent – a potentially dangerous move that could make Broner look very foolish in my opinion. Porter certainly isn’t a gimme.
There may be a catchweight of 145 for Porter to boil down to, which is the main advantage Team Broner has going into the fight, but Shawn’s father and trainer Kenny has previously insisted that this will be no problem for them and many out there are tipping the stronger, more marauding and bullying style of “Showtime” to triumph on the night.
So it certainly is odd that Broner’s talk is all about Khan and a couple others at 140-147 rather than his upcoming opponent, insisting there were other names that he wanted for the fight – however Porter was the only one to take the opportunity presented.
“Porter wasn’t the only option out there. He was just the one that took the fight. I wanted Amir Khan, Danny Garcia, Maidana (again), Lucas Matthysse.”
Broner certainly knows how to talk a good game and seeing as he is nothing but an extremely poor man’s Floyd Mayweather and Amir Khan has been pathetically and desperately chasing Mayweather in public for two odd years, maybe it isn’t such a bad fight after all?
“I want to fight them all but right now we have Shawn Porter in front of us and we gonna take care of business and then see what’s next. They say he’s strong and he comes at you like a bulldozer but whatever they try to bring to the table on June 20, I’m ready.”
I can see Broner taking a bit of a Maidana style hammering in this one. Provided Porter is relentless with his aggression and cuts the ring down, I can see him achieving a lot of success with Adrien backed up in the corner or on the ropes.
It’s even possible he could stop him late in my eyes, as even with the catchweight, Broner isn’t big or strong enough at the weight and is far more effective down at 135 or 140 where his speed and power better translate.
I can’t help but comparing the contrasting performances of both men against Paulie Malignaggi and I can also imagine Porter giving Maidana a far more torrid time than anything Adrien was able to do to him during his limited moments of success.
It’s possible we may even see some of Broner’s hilarious theatrics, a la when he threw himself on the floor in a pathetic attempt at gaining sympathy via his delayed reactions to the Maidana head butt.
When it isn’t going all his own way, Broner doesn’t cope too well with the pressure.
And I expect him to be under a lot of it on Saturday.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison