By Duke Pahulu: The first loss of Adrien Broner’s career was an initial shock to me. I had Broner beating up Marcos Maidana going into the fight. I believed Broner would stay inside and mess him up with body shots and uppercuts ala Antonio Demarco. But then I took a second look at Broner’s last fight with Paulie Malignaggi.
What I took away from that fight was that if Broner had stopped talking smack and started throwing more, he would have taken Paulie out of there. But after the Maidana fight, I realized I had it all wrong. Broner didn’t carry his power with him to 147. And Broner didn’t make up for the lack of power. He fought the same way he did at 130 and 135.
Broner didn’t add more boxing or more punching into his fight plan to make up for fighter bigger men. And he didn’t do his homework in regards to Maidana. There were blueprints in how to beat Maidana with his bouts against Amir Khan and Devon Alexander. They both boxed circles around Maidana to clear decisions.
Broner didn’t take notes of the success that Josesito Lopez and Victor Ortiz had in taking the fight to Maidana. Broner’s lack of a jab and pulling straight back allowed Maidana to dictate distance to land those looping shots. Looping shots from most fighters don’t have a lot of sting on them but those shots are Maidana’s bread and butter.
I am not not offended by Broner’s out-the-ring antics. I don’t care what Borner along with every other boxer does in their free time. Most boxing people took it as Broner becoming the next Floyd. The difference between Floyd and Broner is that Floyd adjusted to fighting bigger fighters.
He boxed more as he came up in weight as opposed to being the offensive monster he was most times at 130. And Broner moved up too fast in weight. If he had stayed at 135 where he belongs, he would still be undefeated. But I believe Broner was feeding into his own hype and wanted the big fights that 147 has to offer.
I know lightweight has a shortage of star power but Broner had the time to really build his resume while Floyd plays out the final act of his career. Instead he wanted to take on the challengers left out of the Floyd sweepstakes to literally become the next man in line at 147 when Floyd is done. Too bad he went about it in a lazy way.
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