By Allan Fox: This Saturday night on September 6th, Showtime will be televising a triple-header headlined by Adrien Broner (28-1, 22 KOs) vs. Emmanuel Taylor (18-2, 12 KOs) at the U.S Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. The fight card will start at 9:30 ET/PT on Showtime.
The other fights on the card are WBC Silver light welterweight champion Roberto Ortiz (31-0-1, 24 KOs) defending his title against #1 WBO, #2 WBC Lucas Matthysse (35-3, 33 KOs) in a 10 round fight, and former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-3, 22 KOs) making his comeback after shoulder surgery against Steven Upsher (24-3-1, 6 KOs).
Broner, 25, is being put in against a guy that he should be able to handle. It’s a step up from his last fight against Carlos Molina, but not much of one. Taylor isn’t a big puncher and he’s easy to hit. Broner should be able to either outpoint him or score a stoppage. His adviser Al Haymon is clearly looking to see if Broner can dominate in this weight class like he did at lightweight, because he was out of his league in his last fight against Marcos Maidana last December at welterweight.
Broner won the WBA welterweight title last year by beating Paulie Malignaggi by a close decision. Broner then lost his title in his first defense against Maidana in taking a 12 round beating by him. In moving down in weight, it’s hoped that Broner can be the same fighter he was at 130 and 135, where he held titles at one time.
If Broner struggles to beat Taylor or if he loses to him then Haymon and Broner are going to need to make a big decision whether to go ahead and stay at 140. If they stay, then there’s going to be a high probability that Broner will continue to lose each time Haymon takes him off of the soft diet to put him in with a real contender or champion instead of the soft jobs.
Matthysse has a lot of questions about whether he has the talent needed to ever win a world title. He was beaten last year by WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia by a 12 round decision. Garcia used a lot of movement, jabbing, clinching and low blows to get the win.
Matthysse rarely threw jabs and failed to adjust to the things that Garcia was doing in the ring. In Matthysse’s last fight against lightweight John Molina, Matthysse was knocked down twice in the process of knocking him out in the 11th in a very hard fight. The fact that Matthysse had to battle so hard to get a victory over a guy he was expected to blow out isn’t a good sign.
It suggests that Matthysse might not have the talent to become a champion, and if he win a belt, he’s going to have a hard time holding onto it for any length of time.
Matthysse should be able to get past Ortiz, because this is a fighter with 7 years of empty wins over weak opposition. He’s never fought anyone good before, and you can’t really consider him a top fighter given his weak opposition. Ortiz doesn’t look as good as his record. He just seems to be better than the 2nd tier fighters that he’s been matched up against his entire career. At 28, Ortiz is making a step up in competition at a ripe age as he should have stepped it up years ago.
Andre Berto needs a win against Steve Upsher to stay relevant. Berto has lost his last 2 fights and 3 out of his last 4 fights. He suffers injuries frequently, and no longer seems capable of fighting hard for more than 1 minute of every round.
Berto will likely fight with his back against the ropes in this fight because he doesn’t seem able to stay in the center of the ring any longer when he fights. He’s not only at 30, but he fights like he’s 10 years older than his 30 years. It wouldn’t be surprising if he loses this fight, and if he does then he should probably retire.
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