By Allan Fox: WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner (27-0, 22 KO’s) turns 24 today on July 28th. As far as accomplishment goes, Broner has achieved more by this age compared to his hero Floyd Mayweather Jr. Broner has captured world titles in three different weight divisions and he possibly could be looking to capture a fourth at some point at 140 or even 154.
At the same age of 24, Mayweather had only captured the WBC super featherweight title, but then again he wasn’t really trying hard to win as many titles as possible in different weight divisions. He probably could have easily won world titles at lightweight and light welterweight by the age of 24 if he had so chosen.
Whether Broner continues to have the same kind of career that Mayweather has had will depend on a variety of factors such as talent, ambition and smart match-making. It might not be a good idea for the 24-year-old Broner to stay at 147 for too much longer with Keith Thurman now holding onto the interim WBA welterweight title.
Unless Broner can develop some of Mayweather’s hand speed and work on learning how to move the way that Mayweather did at 24, it might be in Broner’s best interest to avoid the fight with Thurman at all costs. Broner doesn’t have the power or size to win that fight. He could win if he had Mayweather’s complete attributes, but he doesn’t possess those.
Broner has Mayweather’s mannerisms and he mimics his fighting style to a point, but he can’t mimic his hand speed and ability to move. Without those things going for him, Broner will never be as good as Mayweather was when he was 24. Broner may have more titles, but he’s done a lot of that based on being bigger than the guys at super featherweight and lightweight rather than faster and better at moving.
Golden Boy Promotions are high on Broner and feel he’s the next big pay per view star along with the young 23-year-old Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. It’s possible Broner can accomplish that, but it’s probably not going to happen at welterweight.
He’s going to have to move back down in weight sooner or later because the WBA is going to request for him to fight Thurman at some point and that’s a fight where Broner could end up getting exposed.
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