By Scott Gilfoid: ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas sees WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s) having to completely destroy Gavin Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s) tonight in their fight in Atlantic City, New Jersey for Broner to be seen in the same money class as guys like Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Rees is a fighter that Broner is supposed to destroy if he’s to become a billion dollar fighter someday, and if Broner struggles, doesn’t look impressive, and fails to score a knockout, he may not be the real deal.
Atlas said to ESPN “[Broner needs] A knockout. He’s fighting a fighter who’s only lost by knockout. If he’s [Broner] the savior of boxing, and there is no savior of boxing. Boxing really doesn’t need a savior. It’s been around a long time and it’s doing good. [If it needs] someone to be excited about again, Broner can be that guy. He needs to knock him out, get rid of him, do it the right way, but get him out of there. Now you’re talking about getting to the mountain top, you want to make the big money. There’s Floyd [Mayweather Jr], the guy Broner looks up to and imitates, and he does a pretty good job of imitating him in his own way. He [Broner] wants to make the big money, but now you’ve got to shine when you get on the big stage. This is the big stage – go shine, go get rid of this guy. Anyway, no matter how many rounds it takes, do it the right way, do it with your skill level, with your consistency, but get rid of the guy. If you’re going to be one of those guys in a higher paid neighborhood, and that’s what he wants to be. If he’s going to be talking in huge ways about absurd money, then you really do got to go in there and do what people do when they get absurd money. Go destroy guys.”
It’s kind of interesting that even Atlas isn’t mentioning Rees’ by name. I wonder if that’s for the same reason Broner doesn’t mention his name? Broner does it because Rees isn’t a household name, and he’s someone considered well below his talent level, but I wonder why Atlas isn’t mentioning Rees by name as well. He’s calling him “Guy” instead of Rees. It just seems like Rees has become the equivalent of a sacrificial lamb for Broner to slaughter, and of course people aren’t going to bother to find out the name of the lamb because it’s unimportant.
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