By Allan Fox: Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios is picking WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) to beat unbeaten challenger Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s) this month in their fight on June 22nd at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Rios sees Malignaggi’s experience, mobility and even his power as being too much for the 23-year-old Broner.
Rios said to esnewsreporting.com “Broner hits hard; Malignaggi doesn’t. Malignaggi can box, he can move around and he can also throw punches back. We’re going to see what Broner can do. I’m going with Malignaggi because he’s older and more experienced. I’m not picking Malignaggi because I don’t like Broner. I just think he’s going to win.”
This is going to be a tough fight for Broner because he’s not used to fighting guys with movement and he doesn’t get around the ring well like his idol Floyd Mayweather Jr. If you watch Broner’s fighting style, he does a good job of imitating some of the things that Mayweather does but he’s not able to mimic his movement.
I don’t think Broner can move like Mayweather even if he wanted to. He’s got a different type of build than Mayweather, and he’s not limber enough on his feet to cut off the ring and circle like Floyd can. Broner has decent hand speed, but it’s not fast enough to give Malignaggi a lot of problems unless he stands in front of Broner for 12 rounds.
If all Malignaggi offers Broner is a jab in the face for 12 rounds, it’s going to be tough on Adrien. He needs Malignaggi to take chances in order to land his own power shots. If Malignaggi tries to throw power shots, Broner will then be able to counter him with his big punches.
If all he’s getting from Malignaggi is movement and a steady jab for 12 rounds, Broner might end up losing this fight because he’s kind of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in that he can’t fight on the move and he’ll be able to do that to beat Malignaggi.
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