Can Broner lure Mayweather out of retirement?

By alclassico - 04/12/2016 - Comments

Floyd Mayweather JrBy Al Classico: It’s no secret in the boxing world that there is a public feud going on between the sports ‘retired’ pay-per-view king Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jnr and one of the sports top stars in Adrien ‘About Billions’ Broner. Whether this is a legitimate disagreement or a staged publicity campaign to generate interest in a potential fight between the two remains to be seen.

What is as clear as day is that ‘Money’ Mayweather is a numbers man and Adrien Broner certainly delivered those numbers in his latest fight against Ashley Theophane last Friday night. The Broner- Theophane headline fight reportedly generated an average of 1.013 Million viewers indicating that Broner’s star still shines bright when it comes to drawing big crowds, even after suffering 2 high-profile losses in recent years. 

It’s hard to say how much of these numbers were due to Broner’s star-power versus how much interest was generated from the fight sub-plot, given that Theophane is on team Mayweather, the man with whom Broner has ‘beef’. Ranked 46th before the fight, it’s hard to believe that Theophane himself brought in a massive following, but rather his connection with Mayweather  and the free airing of the event was what really drove fans and the public to tune in and see the fight.

In terms of attracting viewers and generating revenue, a Mayweather-Broner fight would be a massive event! The combined star power between the two and the additional bad blood between them would create an event that would sell like hotcakes. Both can sell a fight fight on their own; Broner with his antics and trash talking and Mayweather simply with his name, which by now is a household brand around the globe. In terms of numbers and money making potential alone, this fight is a no-brainer. Mayweather has proven everything he needs to prove in terms of boxing ability and cementing his spot as one of the best ever so one last big money fight against a low risk- high reward opponent would make sense for him and a chance to go to a 50-0 record for an easy night’s work may be too tempting to refuse.

It’s obvious that from a financial standpoint, the fight would make complete sense but what’s also intriguing is how the fight would actually pan out if they squared up in the ring. Although both share many similarities in their personas outside of the ring, inside of the ring they are worlds apart. It appears that Adrien Broner genuinely lives the ‘party-boy’ lifestyle whereas for Mayweather, his arrogant ‘Money’  lifestyle is mostly an act designed to sell fights but behind closed doors ha is very focused and probably more humble that he appears to be. They both tend to talk a lot of trash in the build up to a fight, however Mayweather  has also demonstrated that he trains twice as hard as he talks where Broner may not be quiet so focused in training.

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They are both very talented fighters but as we all know, talent alone is not enough at the elite level. Mayweather has made the most of his natural talent with ‘hard work and dedication’ and is known for his extreme worth ethic in the gym and his disciplined lifestyle of avoiding alcohol and drugs. Broner on the other hand appears to not have had the same mental focus on his boxing and therefore has not made the most of his talent. This is clear when you look at his fights over the last several years, where he simply has not improved that much and still tends to rely on his sharp reflexes and athletic ability to get the win which against the top guys, is not enough. Mayweather has no clear weaknesses whereas Broner certainly does. He lacks footwork,  conditioning and is simply not busy enough. This was first exposed by the light hitting, but highly intelligent Paulie Malignaggi in their 2013 fight where Malignaggi clearly outworked Broner but Broner received the controversial win simply because he was able to land heavier shots even though he seldom threw them. He was later exposed in more devastating fashion by the hard hitting Marcos Maidana where he was dropped several times and by the equally physical Shawn Porter, his lone two losses. Although all three of these guys are top level fighters who were able to expose Broner, one can only imagine how much Mayweather would be able to pick Broner’s game apart. The cold hard truth is that it would be an easy nights work for Mayweather. The phrase ‘styles make fights’ applies to most fights, but not Mayweathers. He is on a level above everyone else and is able to exploit every opponents weaknesses whilst not showing any vulnerabilities himself. Broner simply does not have the arsenal nor more importantly the intelligence required to break down some one like Mayweather.

The questions then remains: Broner deserve a fight against Floyd? In short, absolutely not! Broner is no doubt very talented but he simply does not work hard enough nor has he beaten any top quality opponents to warrant a shot at the best Welterweight. Broner has fought two top tiered opponents in Maidana and Porter and wilted under the pressure each time. He certainly showed heart in the Maidana fight and hung in there against a very physical and aggressive Porter but in neither fight did he show any intentions of trying to win the fight. He did not try to impose his own game plan in either fight and really put up disappointing performances. It’s easy to criticize a fighter when you’re not in the ring but at the end of the day these are high profile athletes, earning massive dollars so the criticism and praise come with the territory. Broner is no doubt very talented but he is not professional enough and at this stage of his career, he would struggle against any top 140 or 147 pounder. Unfortunately and sadly it looks as if Broner is another very talented athlete destined to never quiet reach his potential.



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