By Jim Dower: WBO super featherweight champion Adrien Broner (23-0, 19 KO’s) would wind up facing fringe super featherweight contender Monty Meza Clay (32-3, 21 KO’s) for the 22-year-old Broner’s optional defense on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dan Rafael reports that the name he’s been hearing for Broner right now is the 5’2″, 31-year-old Meza Clay.
Clay isn’t ranked in the top 15 by the World Boxing Organization, but he is ranked #12 by the WBA and #15 by the IBF. He could make for a slightly interesting opponent, but not much more than that. Clay hasn’t done a whole lot since being beaten in back to back fights by Jorge Solis in an IBF featherweight title eliminator bout in January 2009, and Fernando Beltran. Solis stopped Clay in the 5th, while Beltran defeated him by a 12 round unanimous decision in June 2009. Clay has also lost to Edner Cherry by a 11th round TKO in May 2006.
I don’t really care for a mismatch between Broner and Clay because the size and power differences between the two of them would be staggering. Broner is 5’7″, while Clay is only 5’2′. That may not mean a lot to some boxing fans but when you add in the fact that Broner is so much faster and stronger than Clay, it has the makings of a terrible mismatch.
Just seeing the two of them in the same right might make some boxing fans wonder why Broner is picking on such a smaller guy, especially if he wipes him out quickly like he did his last opponent Eloy Perez last February in a 4th round TKO win. I’d prefer to see Broner matched up at least with someone roughly the same height as him and preferably someone ranked at least at the 10 spot. Dipping into the rankings to find a short guy for Broner is a little off putting. I’d rather see Broner go over old ground than see him wipe out a guy like Meza Clay who is five inches shorter than him.
Comments are closed.