Mayweather: I put Theophane in position to fight Broner

By Boxing News - 02/06/2016 - Comments

floyd5By Scott Gilfoid: It looks like WBA light welterweight champion Adrien Broner (31-2, 23 KOs) is going to carry forward with his first title defense being against 2nd tier fighter Ashley Theophane (39-6-1, 11 KOs) for his first title defense of his WBA 140lb belt rather than against one of the ranked contenders in the division. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is saying that Broner will be facing his fighter Theophane.

It’s unclear why Broner would want to be fighting Theophane other than for a favor to Mayweather. The problem with Broner fighting unknown 2nd tier fighters as a favor for Mayweather is that he could get stuck fighting Mayweather’s lower level fighters and that might not be a good career move for Broner.

Broner needs to be fighting at least recognizable opponents that the casual boxing fans have heard of in the U.S. Broner also needs to be thinking about fighting recognizable opponents so that he can bring in ratings for Showtime and for Premier Boxing Champions. Broner isn’t likely going to bring in good ratings if he faces Theophane, because he’s only known by hardcore boxing fans and I mean the really hardcore fans.

“I put Ashley Theophane in a position where he’s fighting for his first world title against a very tough and rugged Adrien Broner. It’s going to be a very good fight but we believe in our guy,” Mayweather said to skysports.com. “I want everyone from the UK to come over to the States and support this champion, because he will be champion.”

Theophane is 35-years-old and he was recently beaten by Pablo Cesar Cano and Darren Hamilton. Those weren’t fluke losses for Theophane. Those defeats were largely an indication of Theophane’s limited talent. Just last year, Theophane was almost beaten by a fighter named Mahonri Montes in April 2015. Theophane won a 10 round split decision in a fight that could have gone either way.

“I’m happy with where I’m at, believe me. The sport has been great to me and I feel I’ve done a lot for the sport, too. For me to come into a sport and keep 100 per cent of the revenue has never been done before,” Mayweather said.

Broner is coming off of a win over Khabib Allakhverdiev in his last fight. It doesn’t look like Broner is interested in raising the bar any by facing a better opponent. That suggests to me that he doesn’t want to take chances after he was beaten by Shawn Porter earlier last year. Fighting the likes of Theophane will surely be a good way of keeping Broner from taking additional losses.

Well, if Broner loses to Theophane, then I can see his career tanking big time. I mean, if Broner can’t even beat a fighter at that level, then it suggests to me that he’s kind of in a situation where he has nowhere to go unless he wants to move back down to the lower weight classes like lightweight, super featherweight or featherweight. I don’t know if Broner can make weight for those divisions at this point in his career.



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