(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: If Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s) gets past WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) later tonight, he’ll have 15 days to make a decision about which of his titles – the WBC lightweight or WBA welterweight – to keep, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.
If Broner loses to Malignaggi, then he’ll still have his WBC lightweight title to fall back on. A loss to Malignaggi would be a huge blow to Broner’s career no doubt and a clear sign that he doesn’t have what it takes to fight against welterweights.
At least he would still have his 135 lb. belt that he could go back to, and he was one of the best fighters in that weight class. I couldn’t see that changing just because he loses to Malignaggi. However, a loss to Malignaggi would be a pretty good sign that Broner shouldn’t bother trying to fight any other welterweights and probably not even some of the light welterweights because many of them are just as big as Malignaggi is and they definitely hit harder than him.
Broner will be faced with a big decision if he does beat Malignaggi. If Broner holds onto the WBA title he’s going to have to defend it eventually against a lot of potentially dangerous fighters like Marcos Maidana and Keith Thurman for starters. Broner won’t be able to hold onto the WBA title for long without having to face one or both of those guys.
The Maidana fight will be tough, but winnable for Broner. Facing Thurman would be a whole different experience for Broner because he would be facing his first opponent of his career with a big weight and height advantage over him.
Thurman is like a middleweight fighting at welterweight. He’s really huge for the weight class and at 5’9”,he would have a two inch height advantage over Broner along with his weight and likely power advantage.
Will Golden Boy Promotions like Broner fight Thurman? I doubt it. I think they’re going to protect Broner like a parent would for an offspring. Putting Broner in with Thurman would likely be a brutal fight for Broner, and he’s probably not ready for that kind of experience.
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