by Fionnlough: Some people hate Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KO’s), because he is loud mouthed. And so his loss to Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) last night by a 12 round unanimous decision in San Antonio, Texas has been particularly satisfying for many boxing fans. I enjoy watching Broner, I will put that out there, but will still try to be fair in this article.
We learnt (confirmed for some) that the cockiness that made Broner a star on TV is also a weakness
Many will say this is an excuse, but Broner has fallen victim to success. He should not be spending his off-time on rap tours. Fighting is an all year round game, and you can’t cram for it like you would a test. Every week you let yourself go will take something away from you at your peak, be it reflexes or your fast twitch muscle fibers. He may work hard in camp, but the weeks of drinking, partying, eating and sleeping with dancers rather than keeping himself strong will take something out of him. And the more tours he does the worse his ‘peak’ will be. My trainer always said you needed to have both hard work and talent to be a boxing pro, but if you can’t have both you’d better choose hard work. We learnt from this fight that Broner has chosen talent; he believes he can turn up to camp and this will allow him to beat his opponent on the night. Perhaps Maidana has taught him that hard work will beat talent every time.
We learnt that Maidana will never be a star
Maidana won, I’m not writing to dispute that (though I did have it closer than the judges, though as already admitted, I am a Broner fan) but almost all the articles I have read have had the same two themes:
1. Broner is not as good as his hype
2. Broner has not been training hard enough.
I know my own first paragraph spoke about the latter, but this proves that Maidana will not get the recognition he wants after this fight. When George Groves took Carl Froch to task all writers agreed Groves was better than we all thought. For Maidana, it’s that Broner wasn’t good enough, not that Maidana was better than we gave him credit for.
I think Maidana will forever be the person matched with the up-and-coming star whose promoters want to put a big name on their record. He will never be seen as an elite fighter in his own right.
We learnt that apart from the Philly Shell, Broner fights nothing like Floyd Mayweather Jr.
What would Mayweather have done last night? He would have popped Maidana and moved away. If he got to the ropes he would have rolled a few shots and got out of there or tied-up Chino. All this would have been done one theme: on the back foot.
Broner may use the Philly Shell, but he uses it very differently. Broner is aggressive with it, forcing his opponent backwards. Broner won his rounds last night when Maidana was tired and Adrien was thus able to come forwards. But when Maidana stood his ground, we learnt that Broner cannot fight going backwards; his footwork isn’t there for it.
So what happens? He leans back to get away from shots, dropping his right hand to allow himself to get further back. And then what happens? Maidana catches him twice as he leans back with no right hand next to his chin. And Broner is twice on his arse.
We wouldn’t have seen this with Mayweather (if by some miracle he was dropped by a left); he’s smarter than Broner. Broner could not seem to understand why he was being hit with the left hook. There was no adjustment from ‘the Can-Man’ and that right hand dropped through the whole fight. He kept leaning back and he kept being hit. Broner is either not a Boxing tactician of any degree, or there’s another reason. Perhaps a reason that may be more detrimental to his career.
Adrien Broner gets scared
I truly believe this played a part in why he couldn’t keep that right hand up. Broner got dropped in the second round yes, but Maidana came cracking from the first bell. Finally Broner was in front of someone who could move him round the ring, and could punch too (unlike Paulie Malignaggi) . People accuse Floyd of running, but I’ve never seen him lose composure as he’s moving around. In those first two rounds, Broner was literally trying to keep Maidana at arms length, tying up and turning his back to get away.
The fifth round Broner managed to calm down somewhat and win some rounds, but he gave up the first 4 rounds when he froze; keeping away from punishment at the cost of actually throwing anything himself. In the corner you could see him panicking, shouting at his corner to calm down and that ‘we ok!’. But they weren’t ok, they weren’t ok for the rest of the night.
Maidana has personality too (not all of it good)
I’ve always seen Maidana as a Julio Chavez, Micky Ward fighter. Great in the ring but a bit boring outside. Saying the right things and going through the motions for the press. But in this fight we saw a bit of him come out. Some may think it was crass, but when Broner turned his back and Maidana humped him it made me laugh. The message was clear; I’ve made this boxing ‘prodigy’ my b****.
Unfortunately his nastier side also came out in the form of a little head-butt. I’m not someone who turns against a fighter for being a bit dirty, but what annoyed me was how stupid it was; he’d literally just knocked Broner down and got a 10-8 round. Straight away he lost himself that extra point by getting frustrated.
As an extra bit to this section I have to admit I was disgusted my Broner and his diving antics. Again I think this might have been fear; Broner was panicking that he’d been dropped in a round he was doing well in, just as he’d started to grow in confidence and get into the fight.
What will we find out now?
We need to see how Broner responds. I have read he wants a rematch straight away, and we’ll have to see if that’s true. But I wonder if Broner will stay at this weight. Broner fights best coming forward, but when he is forced to go backwards he loses rounds. So Broner needs to be able to force his opponent back, and against someone your own size this isn’t always possible. And whenever it isn’t possible Broner will sacrifice rounds and sacrifice decisions at welterweight if it goes the full 12.
Will Maidana fight him again? Or go looking for more lucrative fights? The welterweight division is packed with big fighters, and Maidana could set his sights on the big goal: Money May.
After all his fights, he probably deserves it more than the bookies front-runner, Khan.
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