By Michael Byrne: Last Saturday night the welterweight division saw some big action at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Marcos Maidana’s domination of WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KO’s) is capturing all of the headlines, and understandably so.
In a quick ‘something to think about’ before the fight, I offered the suggestion that if lightweight Gavin Rees was able to find Broner’s chin in their fight earlier this year in February, then the similar-but-wildly-superior Maidana would be able to do the same. However, whether you were one of the few who expected Maidana to become champion again or not, I think pretty much everyone was surprised by just how badly Broner was dominated.
Broner’s been humbled, his mouth has been shut (even broken), and he needs to go back to the drawing board and draw a lot of maps on it. In detail. Does Broner belong at 147? Probably not. He was at super-feather only last year (in February against Eloy Perez, having missed weight in July for the Vincente Escobedo fight), and after two fights at 135, he’s jumped up to 147.
Broner got lucky against Paulie Malignaggi last June, and then got ruined by Maidana last Saturday. Broner probably couldn’t get back down to 135, but he should be able to make 140. He could fight someone like a Selcuk Aydin, move on to a Mike Alvarado, and maybe chase Lamont Peterson for the IBF title if he still has it.
The other title holders at 140, Ruslan Provodnikov and Danny Garcia, are too dangerous/talented for Broner to even consider at this point. What is more important than at what weight he fights, or even who he fights is that he needs to accept that he’s not the superstar that he told everyone he was, He needs to put some effort in at the gym, keep his head down, and concentrate. He needs to learn some respect and maybe people will slowly begin to respect him in return. Somehow, it seems unlikely. Somehow, Broner’s bandwagon has most likely crashed, and whatever he does to get it back on the road, it’s never going to fill up to its old capacity again.
Maidana, on the other hand, looked incredible. He hasn’t lost anything of his come-forward, relentless, brutal approach. He has, however, gained a jab, some movement, and some general pugilistic prowess. He failed to pick up a round against Devon Alexander, and then all of a sudden came out of the blocks against Jesus Soto Karass and tried to jab his way inside. It was crude, and the fight was close for the first half. However, his trainer Robert Garcia and Maidana have persevered and now ‘El Chino’ is both a brutal puncher and a competent aggressive boxer. His win on Saturday means he is now a world champion again and might be in a position to call some shots. Or he might not: his mandatory, and indeed the WBA interim champ, was the main undercard attraction on Saturday night.
WBA interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman did as he proposed to do: what most expected him to do, and schooled the tough gatekeeper Jesus Soto Karass. Thurman looks like a genuine contender. People criticize him for having no big scalps on his resume, but how is he supposed to acquire these scalps if he isn’t given a chance at a big fight? He retired Carlos Quintana, took every round off Jan Zaveck, knocked out an unbeaten, albeit untested, Diego Gabriel Chaves, and now he’s took out Soto Karass. Those are decent names, they’re the best fights he can get, he’s the WBA interim champ, and now he deserves a shot at the title: he deserves a chance at a real name. Maidana should, by some idea of morality or something like that, be obliged to fight Thurman.
However, Paulie Malignaggi is trying his best to stay relevant in this discussion. Malignaggi wanted a rematch against Broner after his narrow, but not necessarily controversial, split decision loss. However, Broner moved on and didn’t give him one, so Malignaggi entered and dominated the ‘Battle of Brooklyn’ against Zab Judah, proving he is still a game fighter. Broner is now demanding a rematch from Maidana after his wide points loss, even though he wouldn’t give Paulie one after a split. He doesn’t deserve one and he most likely won’t get one. Poor Adrien. Malignaggi, to some extent, deserved the rematch but he didn’t get it so let’s not cry over spilt milk, Paulie. He’s ranked right behind Thurman, so realistically he deserves the winner of Maidana-Thurman. Nothing more, nothing less. In the meantime, he should stay active in the best winnable fight he can get. His options are somewhat limited. Maybe he could talk his way into a big American showdown with the heavily-protected Jessie Vargas. He once mentioned that his favourite city in the world is Liverpool. A thriving fight city which often holds big UK fight cards, maybe he could travel and gain some more exposure, and take Frankie Gavin’s unbeaten record (ranked 5th by the WBA, behind Luis Collazo who is tied-up: scheduled to fight Victor Ortiz in January). Whatever he does, he doesn’t deserve a title crack right now.
So final thoughts: Maidana needs to give Thurman his shot, Broner needs to try and get his feet back on the same planet as the rest of us, and Paulie needs to pick up another win or two and bide his time. Tim Bradley and Shawn Porter are the other champions in the division (and, of course, Floyd Mayweather Jr, who cares little for titles anymore), and Manny Pacquiao, Robert Guerrero, Amir Khan, Kell Brook, and a few more are all dangerous contenders with points to prove at this stage in their careers. Ultimately, we as the boxing public would doubtless like to see names fight names: champions fighting dangerous contenders and even champions fighting champions. Let’s see what 2014 holds.
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