By Jason Kim: One thing is apparent from watching WBO supper featherweight champion Adrien Broner (23-0, 19 KO’s) make short work of #1 WBO contender Eloy Perez (23-1-2, 7 KO’s) last Saturday night in Saint Louis, is that the 22-year-old Broner needs bigger challenges than what he’s been facing.
It’s not good enough that he’s beating guys like Daniel Ponce De Leon, Jason Litzau and Perez, he needs better opposition than this to be really challenged. Broner destroyed Perez last night by an easy 4th round TKO after landing a short right hand to the head that badly hurt Perez. While Perez was on his way down, Broner connected with a chopping right hand to the side of the head that basically finished the matter, as Perez hit the canvas face first and was unable to get back to his feet on two attempts.
After the fight, HBO analyst Max Kellerman asked Broner “How do you prove that you’re elite at 130 pounds when there aren’t other elite fighters in the division?” Broner responded with “Time will tell? Like I said, I’m the best at 130. I can go up to 135, whatever weight. Whoever wants to fight me I’ll fight. Listen, Man, they call me ‘The Problem,’ but you can call me the ‘Can Man,’ because anybody can get it – AfriCans, AmeriCans, DominiCans, MexiCans; anybody Can get it! Max, I should have fought with my jewelry on because I don’t think I got hit.” Kellerman then said “I don’t think you did either.”
It’s interesting to think of Broner taking on the best at lightweight, because there really isn’t anyone at super featherweight for him to fight anymore. The only guy left is Takashi Uchiyama, the WBA champion, and it’s doubtful boxing fans in the United States would give two figs about seeing Broner destroy that guy. It would be nice to see Broner unify the titles but it’s probably not worth the wasted time. Broner is better off moving up to lightweight and going after the following fighters: Ricky Burns, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Brandon Rios, Antonio DeMarco, Juan Manuel Marquez, Jorge Linares, Miguel Vazquez, and Kevin Mitchell.
Some of those names would likely never face a guy like Broner because of the difficulties in arranging a fight due to Broner fighting for Golden Boy. I’m talking about Top Rank fighters Gamboa and Rios. It’s doubtful that Top Rank president Bob Arum would allow those guys to fight Broner. Additionally, a fight with Marquez would also be next to impossible to put together because he’s moved up in weight and is only looking at big names right now, and Broner is still on his way up in terms becoming a huge star. That’s the one issue that Broner may have. Sure, Broner can move up in weight to go after the big names, but if he has to settle for guys like Burns, Vazquez and Mitchell, then why bother? Those aren’t fights for him.
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