It wasn’t all that long ago that boxing people were calling a brash, unbeaten lightweight titlist , “The New Floyd Mayweather Junior.” That was back in 2012, and a lot has happened in the career of Adrien Broner, who is known as “The Problem,” since then. Most troublesome for the trash-talking 26-year-old from Cincinnati, was his brutally exposing beating at the hands of Marcos Maidana just 11 days before Christmas in 2013.
The two knockdown humiliation Broner suffered was an early festive present to many, especially to those people who had said all along that Broner was more of a hype-job than a successor to Floyd; even more so to those who hated/still hate Broner’s at times offensive (occasionally articulate) mouth. But Broner, 31-2(23) was able to bounce back from the Maidana loss, and then from a subsequent loss; this one to Shawn Porter, also at welterweight (a poundage that is simply too high for Broner, the experts say) and he is now the proud wearer of a third “world” title (Broner having also captured a super-featherweight title during his never dull career).
Broner, after losing nearly every round against Porter in June of last year (only really springing to life in the final round, when he decked a complacent Porter in the very last round), dropped down a few pounds and picked up the vacant WBA 140-pound strap with a win over Khabib Allakhverdiev four months later. Now, as a defending champion, Broner will meet the Mayweather-backed Ashley Theophane – 39-6-1(11) and never stopped – on April 1st in Washington.
It hasn’t taken too long for fans to point out how this fight will be played out on April Fool’s Day, and the critics of this “world” title fight are many. Indeed, the sole intrigue going into this fight (aside from British interest, with fans rooting for the likeable and hardworking “Treasure”) is the Mayweather factor: with Floyd promoting Theophane, but still being a fan, we think, of Broner.
Can Mayweather’s magic rub off, and if so, in favour of which fighter? Just who does Floyd think will win on April 1st? Who does “Money” actually want to win?
The upcoming fight is not a big one. The fallout of it might prove to be.