(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Allan Fox: WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s) has thus far been resistant to a fight against his friend and idol Floyd Mayweather Jr. despite many members in the media asking Broner to step up and face Floyd before he retires from the sport.
Broner says he won’t do because he wants Floyd to retire undefeated. However, Broner did give a hint in how he thinks he would do against Mayweather in fight when answering a question recently.
Broner said to Michael Woods at ESPN “My big brother got his legacy, I got mine. I want to see him retire undefeated. I don’t want to hand him a loss.”
I’m not sure if Broner is aware of it or not, but his comment seems to suggest that he thinks he would beat Mayweather if the two of them were to ever fight.
That’s kind of hard to believe because Broner is slower than Mayweather, and he doesn’t have the defense that Floyd has even at 36.
Broner is more or less in his prime right now, while Mayweather Jr. is coming down from his prime, but it’s pretty clear that Mayweather is still a lot better fighter than Broner is.
Broner wants to be boxing’s first billion dollar fighter. For him to do that, Broner is going to need a fight against someone like Mayweather to elevate him to the level of a pay per view attraction. It seems that even the popular fighters need to face at least one mega star to get them to the next level to make them a huge PPV attraction.
Mayweather needed Oscar De La Hoya to get to that level, and so did Manny Pacquiao. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is facing Mayweather to get to that level. Who does Broner have? If he’s not willing to face Mayweather then it might not ever happen unless Broner is okay with fighting Canelo at some point in time. It might be better for Broner to face Mayweather because at least he wouldn’t be out-weighed by a large margin.
Broner faces WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi this Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. That fight has attracted interest but it’s not going to take Broner to the level where he’s going to be ready to be a PPV fighter.
Malignaggi isn’t popular enough to make Broner a PPV star if he beats him.
If Broner wants to be boxing’s first billion fighter, then he’s going to have to be a lot smarter about the guys he’s facing because the likes of Malignaggi and Gavin Rees aren’t going to do that for him.
Broner needs Mayweather, Canelo and Manny Pacquiao. He needs at least one or more of them to get to the next level, and that’s what he should be pushing for. He’s not going to get to the billion level by fighting beatable guys that the boxing public don’t have a lot of interest in.
I think Mayweather’s unbeaten record would be safe in a fight with Broner. Mayweather would likely pick Broner off and beat him fairly easily.
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