By Scott Gilfoid: This Saturday night Adrien Broner (24-0, 20 KO’s) will get a real test on HBO against WBC lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco (28-2-1, 21 KO’s) in what could be a signal of whether the 23-year-old Broner can carry boxing for the next 10 years to take over for the aging warhorses that aren’t performing like they once did. Broner seems like the real deal, but he’s still untested really quality opposition.
He’s been fighting in a weak division at super featherweight and he really didn’t have anyone down there that could test how good he is. This is one of the reasons why Broner is moving up in weight to lightweight to take on DeMarco for his World Boxing Council title. If Broner can handle DeMarco without struggling badly, we could see him quickly moving up in weight to light welterweight to look for even bigger tests.
DeMarco has proven himself in three fights to be the best fighter at lightweight in defeating John Molina, Jorge Linares and Miguel Roman. DeMarco looked really good in all three fights and showed that he’s a cut above the other lightweights in the division like Miguel Vazquez, Mercito Gesta, Ricky Burns and Sergio Thompson.
Now it’s DeMarco’s turn to show that he can beat a newcomer to the lightweight division in the blazing fast and ultra-talented Broner. If DeMarco can deal Broner a defeat he’ll raise his own stock in doing so because Broner is considered a can’t miss future pay per view attraction. Right now you can’t protect a future like that for DeMarco because he’s not really flashy at all, as there’s nothing that really stands out about him.
Broner wants to defeat DeMarco and then look to possibly get a unification bout against WBO champ Burns in early 2013. That’s a fight that could prove very difficult for Broner to land because he had no luck in getting Burns to fight him last time he wanted to set up a fight with the Brit last year. Burns moved up in weight leaving Broner to take his belt from him after he had vacated it. Would Burns vacate a second time in order to avoid facing Broner? I don’t know, but I sure hope not.
Also on the card will be the following fights:
Johnathon Banks vs. Seth Mitchell
Demetrius Hopkins vs. TBA
Phil Lo Greco vs. Humberto Toledo
Julian Williams vs. Jonel Tapia
Thomas Williams Jr vs. TBA
Zachary Ochoa vs. Michael Salcido
Terron Grant vs. Abraham Esquivel
Patryk Szymanski vs. TBA
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