Broner vs. DeMarco & Mitchell vs. Banks on Saturday on HBO

By Boxing News - 11/12/2012 - Comments

Image: Broner vs. DeMarco & Mitchell vs. Banks on Saturday on HBOBy Scott Gilfoid: This Saturday night on HBO in an card packed with two good fights, unbeaten Adrien Broner (24-0, 20 KO’s) will be looking to prove his worth against WBC lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco (28-1-1, 18 KO’s). Also on the card will be unbeaten heavyweight contender Seth Mitchell (25-0-1, 19 KO’s) will be fighting Johnathon Banks (28-1-1, 18 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

Broner, 23, is the real story on this card because he’s on the verge of becoming a huge bankable pay per view star that could potentially rival the fading stars Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Broner is pretty much the replacement for those guys and he could be the guy that be the biggest PPV attraction in the U.S in a very short period of time. There is perhaps one competitor and that’s WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez who could be an even bigger PPV star than Broner, but the jury is still out on Alvarez because his fights aren’t all that exiting due to his flat-footed, slow pace of fighting and his unassuming personality.

Broner is a lot more interesting to watch both in and out of the ring. However, none of that will mean anything if Broner can’t get by DeMarco on Saturday and look good in doing so. He’s got to win first of all, but he’s also got to do it with ease for him to have a good chance of being able to move up to the weight divisions that boxing fans actually care about.

If Broner stays at lightweight he’ll be limiting his future popularity because the division isn’t one that gets a lot of attention from casual boxing fans. That’s why Broner needs to take care of business in style and then get the heck out of the division to light welterweight and then finally welterweight as fast as possible. It goes without saying that there’s a ton of pressure on Broner to win this fight and shine in doing so this Saturday.

The undercard fight between Banks and Mitchell matches the skill and experience of the 30-year-old Banks against the raw power and size of the 30-year-old Mitchell. Banks, 6’2″, is going to have a problem in this fight because he doesn’t have the power needed to slow down Michell or make him back off. Mitchell is going to be able to walk through anything that Banks throws and get close enough to land his big power shots. Mitchell can be hurt as we saw in his fight against Chazz Witherpoon last April when Mitchell was badly staggered by the 6’4″ Witherspoon in the 2nd round. However, Banks doesn’t have Witherspoons’ size or power, so it’s going to be difficult for him to do the same thing against Mitchell.



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