Taylor, who was picked out by Broner’s adviser to be the B-side, was none too happy to be grabbed around the throat by Broner and embarrassed. Broner and Taylor will be fighting this Saturday night in a 12 round bout at light welterweight at the U.S Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Broner, 25, is looking to capture his second win following his 12 round decision loss to Marcos Maidana last December. Broner wants to look good and score an impressive knockout. The fight card will be televised by Showtime at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.
#2 WBC light welterweight contender Lucas Matthysse (35-3, 33 KOs) faces undefeated and untested WBC Silver light welterweight champion Roberto Ortiz (31-0-1, 24 KOs) in a 12-round fight.
The first fight on the card will be former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-3, 22 KOs) in a make or break fight against Steve Upsher (24-3-1, 6 KOs). The Berto-Upsher fight is scheduled for 10 rounds. It’s kind of a toss-up fight because Berto is someone that you can’t really know what he’s going to do in his fights at this point in his career. He’s lost his last two fights to Robert Guerrero and Jesus Soto Karass and taken a beating in both fights.
Broner said “I really don’t know how to say it. I could say it in English, I could say it in Bronish – I’m just going to kick your (expletive). You know you’re not going to win. He’s not coming to win; he’s just coming to not get stopped. I’m going to stop this guy. He’s shaking right now. He already knows what’s up.”
Broner could have gotten his point across without having to resort to grabbing Taylor around the throat. When you’ve got a guy that comes in and he’s just the B-side like Taylor clearly is here, it just seems a little disturbing to see Broner abusing the guy.
If this was Maidana or Matthysse Broner was fighting, then you could understand him wanting to go over the top with the fighter, because he’d be fighting someone with a good chance of beating him. But to do this with Taylor, a fighter that was easily beaten by Chris Algieri earlier this year, it just seems wrong.
“For the record, Broner – you’re not knocking me out,” Taylor said. “I’m not going to let a 135-pound fighter who’s been fighting midgets his whole career knock me out. It’s not happening.”
Broner failed to knockout 5’6” Carlos Molina last May in their 10-round fight. Molina is the same guy that Amir Khan destroyed in 10 rounds in 2012, and Molina hadn’t fought since his loss to Khan. Molina was able to take Broner’s best shots all night long without getting hurt. He was also able to connect with some clean shots on Broner’s chin.
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