By Graeme Campbell: After last Saturday night’s performance from Adrien Broner (27-0, 22 KO’s) in beating WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-5. 7 KO’s) by a 12 round split decision at the Barclay Centre in Brooklyn NY, much has been said about the lackluster manner in which ‘the future star of boxing’ went about his business.’The problem did just about enough to win the fight with his conservative low output strategy.
I believe most people would accept that AB landed the cleaner shots with more venom, However what must concern the newly crowned WBA welterweight champ is the fact that he was completely outworked by an 11-1 underdog. Despite being the challenger and fighting in Malignaggi’s home town the expectation was that Paulie would be ‘easy money’ for the Cincinnati kid.
You have to ask why AB adopted this strategy against an opponent who simply can’t punch. Perhaps the reason for this might be a lack of durability due to a lack of dedication which boxing fans have taken note of from the well publicized party antics of Broner and his new fling Jessica.
Another possible explanation could be that AB was protecting something. Could it be that the rumors of a sparring session knockout at the hands of novice pro Errol Spence are in fact true? If this is true which many insiders believe that it is as news travels like wildfire in pro gyms then’ the problem’ has a serious problem. Was he shook up so bad that he even feared Malignaggi’s fists of fury. It kind of looked that way to the casual fan.
Only time will tell if Broner can improve enough to achieve the super stardom he so craves. But what I can tell you is that had a fight been put together with an elite fighter like WBO lightweight boss Ricky Burns the question we would be asking now is can Broner come back from a loss. My reasoning for this is very simple. ‘The Rickster’ has been described as a machine by many in the profession. His dedication to training and his craft are second to none and he is as tough as they come. Burns managed to break Gonzalez hands with his iron-like chiseled face. (Note that in 2011 Joseph Layrea also cited the same reasons as Gonzalez for his failure to get up from his stool.)
If Broner was to adopt a similar low output strategy against Burns he would get absolutely hammered. He would literally be on the end of the Scotsman’s jab all night long until ‘The Rickster’ decides to show mercy to the American buy setting a pace that the youngster would be unable to handle and get him out of there. We know that Broner does not possess the power to trouble Burns especially after the Malignaggi fight. It really would only be a matter of time before Broner was either KO’d or quit.
So if Richard Schaefer is intent on building a superstar then the hard hitting Scotsman should be carefully navigated around. Broner’s lifeline here might be the emergence of his countryman Terrance Crawford who has been vocal in calling out the champion. This would represent a more evenly matched and entertaining fight for the fans even although Burns would have to be the favouite with the bookmakers in this one too.
Where Broner goes from here I really don’t know but he needs to avoid just about everyone at 147 including the challengers such as Kell Brook and Marcos Maidana.
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