Broner-Rees seen by 1.4 million viewers on HBO

By Boxing News - 02/20/2013 - Comments

broner874By Scott Gilfoid: HBO may have lost Floyd Mayweather Jr. to Showtime/CBS this week, but they have a capable replacement with the talented WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s), who drew monster numbers for his fight against the UK’s Gavin Rees (37-2-1, 18 KO’s) last Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. Those numbers weren’t because of Rees that’s for sure because few U.S fans had ever heard of him. Rees was seen by many as just another lamb being led to the slaughter for Broner.

The Broner vs. Rees fight was viewed by an incredible 1.4 million viewers on HBO with a peak of 1.551 million, according to Steve Kim. Wow, that is very impressive. Broner is tentatively scheduled to fight on Mayweather’s undercard on May 4th. It’s unclear if that’s going to happen because Broner is fighting for HBO, so my guess is that’s going to keep him being able to fight on the card.

Broner is in the fast lane in terms of being on the path to pay per view riches. It took Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao years before they became PPV stars. Mayweather didn’t become a PPV attraction until he was in his 13th year as a pro, and Pacquiao didn’t until his 11th. Broner is in his 5th year as a pro, and he’s well ahead of the two.

It helps that Broner has the Mayweather fighting style because boxing fans really like this style. Broner’s cockiness and personality is perfect for making him a quick PPV star. The shy reserved types just don’t interest American boxing fans. You’ve got to have the personality and plus the talent to back it up for Americans to want to pay to see you. Broner has both, and he likely will be taking over for Mayweather with HBO PPV by the end of this year if not sooner.

What Broner needs is a decent opponent for him to fight so that he can interest fans. He’s kind of stuck in a bad place fighting at lightweight because the talent level in the division is so mediocre. Up until recently, the perceived best fighter in the division was Antonio DeMarco, and Broner obliterated him easily in November of last year in an 8th round stoppage win for the young talent. Now there’s just nobody left for Broner to whip.



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