By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) says he’s hearing that WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s) is having issues with their June 22nd fight taking place in Malignaggi’s home city of New York at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Malignaggi, 32, says he’s starting to think the 23-year-old Broner is scared to fight him in New York.
Malignaggi said on his social medial site, “I am starting to hear RUMORS @adrienbroner is a bit scared to come to fight me in NY; this boxing s*** ain’t always FREE MONEY.”
The last part of Malignaggi’s comment was directed at some of the soft opposition that Broner has faced in his 5-year pro career. Some of his opponents haven’t exactly been what you could call dangerous. But that’s more of a product of how weak the super middleweight and lightweight divisions have been during Broner’s time in those weight classes.
Broner beat the best fighter in the lightweight division in Antonio DeMarco, and he’s been unable to lure Ricky Burns into fighting him while at super featherweight and now at lightweight. You can’t really blame Broner’s soft opposition on his promoters purposely trying to put him in with soft opponents, because that’s not the case.
If you compare the guys that Broner has been fighting at 23 to the kinds of fighters that Malignaggi was fighting at a similar age 9 years ago, it’s painfully obvious that Broner is facing much, much, much better opposition at the same age. Malignaggi was fighting weak opponents, whereas Broner is fighting champions and top contenders.
It’s doubtful that Broner will have any problems facing Malignaggi in New York. The fight likely won’t make it to the cards unless Malignaggi chooses to box Broner and circle away all night long. If he elects to trade with him, he’s going to take a beating in this fight. Based on how Malignaggi looked in his last fight against 23-year-old Pablo Cesar Cano last October, I think it’s fair to say that Malignaggi will be hitting the canvas at least two or three times in this fight against Broner.
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