Mayweather: Adrien Broner is fighting Ashley Theophane next

By Boxing News - 12/21/2015 - Comments

Floyd MayweatherBy Chris Williams: It looks like promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr. and WBA light welterweight champion Adrien Broner could wind up bumping heads in the near future about the course that Broner wants to take in his career.

Mayweather is saying that Broner is STILL going to be fighting his guy 35-year-old Ashley Theophane (39-6-1, 11 KOs) next. Someone might need to break the news to Mayweather gently that Broner could be facing Filipino star Manny Pacquiao next instead of Theophane.

That’s a fight that Broner, says he will absolutely take next if he can get it rather than face Theophane, who isn’t even ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies at this time. Of course, the rankings can change overnight and it’s quite possible that Britain’s Theophane can suddenly find himself ranked in the top 15 with the World Boxing Association, but it doesn’t change the fact that Broner-Theophane doesn’t compare to a fight like Broner vs. Pacquiao.

”I would love to fight Ashley Theophane, because the buildup to the fight would be so big, but if Pacquiao wants me to be his last fight, then of course I will do it,” Broner said to Fighthype.

It’s a no-brainer for Broner to take the Pacquiao fight. I’m sure Broner would love to do Mayweather a favor by helping out his Mayweather Promotions stable by fighting the little known journeyman level Theophane, but it doesn’t make any sense for Broner to fight him if he can get big bank fighting Pacquiao in a fight that could see Broner making many millions.

It’s unclear whether Mayweather would want to subsidize Broner by paying him the difference in money lost for fighting Theophane from fighting Pacquiao. My guess is it would be far too much money for Mayweather to pay Broner to make up the difference in the amount of money he would lose if he were to take the fight with Theophane rather than the much higher paying fight against Pacquiao.

“Yes, Adrien Broner is fighting Ashley,” Mayweather said to the boxing media. ”I do my job. My thing is this; For Christmas, I want to make sure all my fighters are able to do for their family and loved ones. That’s what is important,” Mayweather said.

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That sounds good about Mayweather wanting to provide for his promotional team by putting them in big fights, but the timing is all wrong for Broner to be fighting Theophane. If Broner had no other real interesting fights on the table right now, then a throwaway stay busy fight against little known Theophane would be a good option for him.

This isn’t the time though for a Theophane fight; not if Broner can get a much bigger money fight against Pacquiao. You have to look at it from Broner’s perspective. Since he’s not going to likely ever get a big money fight against Mayweather, a fight against Pacquiao could be Broner’s only real shot of getting a tremendous payday before he leaves the sport one day.

We don’t know what the future holds for Brorner. He could take more losses like the ones that he suffered against Shawn Porter and Marcos Maidana, and his career could really tank in a dramatic way. That’s why Broner NEEDS to take the Pacquiao fight if he has the chance to get it.

You have to wonder whether Mayweather is okay with Broner getting a fight against Pacquiao right after he himself got a fight against him. Perhaps Mayweather is conflicted and not sure whether he wants to come back and fight Pacquiao himself for a second time.

By seeing Broner step up and potentially get a fight that would see him make big bank, it might be something Mayweather has a problem with. Mayweather is obviously still making money doing this and that with his investments, but he’s definitely not going to make the kind of money he could make in one lump sum if he were to come out of retirement and fight Pacquiao for a second time. Broner doesn’t have any qualms about fighting Pacquiao.

There’s nothing holding him back like retirement. Broner wants the fight with Pacquiao, and it makes all the sense in the world that he should fight him rather than Theophane. There’s no comparison. Pacquiao vs. Broner is a pay-per-view worthy fight on HBO. Broner vs. Theophane would be a fight that more like regular Showtime or regular HBO.

In other words, it would be non-PPV, because you couldn’t sell Broner-Theophane to boxing fans now or ever. It’s just a bad fight. Even if Pacquiao wasn’t available for a potential fight against Broner, it’s still a really bad fight for Broner to be fighting Theophane.

There are any number of contenders in the 140lb division right now that would likely help Broner bring in bigger ratings and bigger money than someone like Theophane. That’s not a knock on Theophane. It just tells you that his career isn’t going so well right now, given his lack of quality wins during his career.



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