By Mark McCourt: In only three weeks’ time we have what is sure to be a great match up between Adrien “The Problem” Broner (33-2, 24 Kos) and Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 Kos) on July 29 on Showtime Boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. What interests me is why is nobody talking about it? This is a fantastic matchup.
Garcia, 29, is one of the most exciting rising fighters around. His unfortunate inactivity has left him a little unappreciated for his talents. His last outing against Dejan Zlaticanin on January 28 was a devastating performance against an undefeated fighter. Garcia took Zlaticanin to school and KO’d him. It was a very good performance. Mikey has also shined against the likes of Orlando Salido, Juan Manuel Lopez and Roman “Rocky” Martinez. Garcia is no doubt a very skilled fighter that should not be underestimated. He has knockout power and a very refined style that tends to see him not only stop his opponents he thoroughly outclasses them too.
Broner. What can we say about Broner? His bizarre antics outside of the ring sometimes over shadow his boxing career. If he’s not being found in a shot up van or throwing money at homeless people, he’s saying distasteful things or clinging on to some minimal sort of fame like a Z-list celebrity of sorts. Perhaps that’s “The Problem.” We have a very talented fighter that initially looked unstoppable and was highly touted to become the next Floyd Mayweather. Broner, 27, was a 3-weight world champion at the age of 23. Let that soak in for a second. Unfortunately, his meteoric rise has since declined.
Broner’s career took a turn for the worse when he faced off against Marcos Maidana in 2013. Maidana dropped him on two occasions on his way to very memorable 12 round unanimous decision victory. Broner was defeated but the fight was closer than some people make out. Was Broner exposed is that fight or did his pursuit of fame get the better of him? Since then he has been riddled with weight problems and has suffered a further loss against Shawn Porter in June 2015, and whilst a glimpse of what he had shown early on in his career emerged in the closing minutes of the fight, he was out worked and beat.
The Garcia-Broner fight could be amazing. Will we see the continuation of the rise of Mikey Garcia or will we see a renaissance of Broner? Would the previous version of Broner even be enough to deal with Garcia? I seriously hope we get to find out. Either way this fight promises to be an exciting outing, and we should all be talking about it.
What are your thoughts?