Mayweather still wants Broner and Khan to fight on his undercard on May 3rd

By Boxing News - 03/09/2014 - Comments

mayweather6778By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. still hasn’t given up on the hope that Amir Khan and Adrien Broner end up fighting on his Showtime undercard on May 3rd against each other. Mayweather dropped a big hint during an interview with Showtime last Saturday night that Broner needs to take advantage of big fight opportunities offered to him.

It’s unclear whether Mayweather was hinting that Broner had turned down the Khan fight or what, but that’s the impression that I got from what Mayweather said. He’d like for Broner to step up and face Khan on his undercard of his fight against Marcos Maidana, because he sees them adding a lot to the event.

“Is Amir Khan is still in the lottery drawing? Absolutely,” Mayweather said to Showtime. “Hopefully, Amir Khan and Adrien Broner both fight on my undercard to make the card that much more explosive…Adrien Broner needs to focus more on the sport of boxing…When you have certain opportunities put in front of you, you have to take advantage of these opportunities because they might not be in front of you ever again.”

That sounds like Mayweather is hinting that Broner decided to take a pass on a big fight that Mayweather feels he should be taking. The only fight that Broner has been offered that might interest Mayweather right now is the Khan fight. Hopefully, Broner doesn’t turn down the Khan fight because that would look bad and send a message that he’s ducking Khan. If Broner doesn’t have the confidence to fight Khan then it’s difficult to see him doing much with his career. Without confidence in his ability, Broner won’t go far in the sport. It’s possible that Broner’s loss to Maidana might have gotten into his head and undermined his own confidence, unless he’s being advised by his manager Al Haymon or Golden Boy Promotions not to take the fight against Khan. It shouldn’t matter to Golden Boy if Adrien takes the risky fight against Khan, because they’ll come out ahead either way due to them promoting both fighters.

Mayweather wouldn’t ask Broner to face Khan if he didn’t believe that he has a good chance of beating him. But for Broner to have a good chance of beating Khan, he’ll need to improve dramatically from his performance against Maidana. Broner might need to make a big move in switching trainers to learn how to become more mobile. Mayweather noted that Broner, before his loss to Maidana, he had fought mostly against stationary guys that allowed him to pick his opponents apart. He couldn’t do that with Maidana, because he turned it into a war.

“Adrien Broner is used to fighting just a stationary target where he can pick a guy apart. With Maidana, it’s an all-out war. He’s coming straight ahead. No matter what you’re throwing, he’s throwing back. If he’s fighting Floyd Mayweather, it’s a totally different look.”

Broner would need to learn how to fight mobile guys before getting in the ring against Khan on May 3rd. It’s possible that Broner could learn how to defeat that style of fighting with one crash course of mobile guys during a training camp, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to take the risk. Broner is being mentioned as fighting either John Molina or Humberto Soto next, and both guys are more or less small versions of Marcos Maidana. Soto is a highly skilled guy, and he’ll give Broner different looks, but he’s also older fighter who was recently destroyed by Lucas Matthysse. He’s not an opponent that will give Broner much of a boost in his status if he beats him. There won’t be redemption if Broner defeats an old guy like Soto or a mediocre slugger like Molina.



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