Theophane: Mayweather is helping me with my game plan for Broner

By Boxing News - 03/02/2016 - Comments

broner100(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/Mayweather Promotions) By Jeff Aranow: Ashley Theophane (39-6-1, 11 KOs) is a huge underdog for his fight next month against WBA light welterweight champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner (31-2, 23 KOs) on April 1 at the DC Armory in Washington, DC. The 35-year-old Theophane says he’s been receiving pointers from his promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr. in how to beat the 26-year-old Broner.

Maywether would know obviously because Broner’s boxing style is almost completely barrowed from Mayweather. Broner has adopted almost everything Mayweather does in the ring. It’s just that he does everything slower than Mayweather, and he’s not as mobile and probably never will be.

“Floyd, he’s like the mentor,” Theophane said to Fighthype. [It’s] “just motivational words. He’s helping me with the game plan and stuff. Floyd, as we all know, is one of the smartest, if not the smartest boxers ever. There’s knowledge he can give me,” said Theophane.

If you look at some of Broner’s fights, it seems pretty clear that the styles that give him the most problems are ones that involve pressure and a high work rate. Shawn Porter and Marcos Maidana both beat Broner with pressure and a high work rate in their fights in the past. The thing it’s hard to throw a lot of punches for 12 rounds against Broner because he’s hitting you back constantly, and he’s got decent punching power.

The betting line from Boada has Borner -5000 and Theophane +1400.

If Theophane can follow what his promoter Mayweather wants him to do against Broner, then there’s a real possibility that he could pull off an upset. Broner is very beatable, and he’s struggled even against guys like Emmanuel Taylor in the past. There’s not much out there on Theophane because he’s been fighting in the UK in low profile fights. He could catch Broner off guard on April 1 and get an upset win.

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One advantage that Theophane has is Broner will probably be keyed up to try hard to score a knockout in this fight because he’s facing one of Mayweather’s fighters. Broner will likely not fight with the same intelligence that he normally would if he were facing a guy not promoted by Mayweather.

“I’m representing Floyd Mayweather. He has my back and he believes in me. He believes I can win and that’s extra motivation,” said Theophane. “I want to be the best I’ve ever been. I want to fight the fight of my life on April 1. I don’t want to turn the clock back. I want this to be the best performance of my career.”

Theophane is going to be fighting with a lot of motivation in this fight because he’s got Mayweather behind him and helping him. When you stand on someone’s shoulders, you can see far. Theophane is getting a real career boost by Mayweather, and he’s not going to want to disappoint him. You can bet that Theophane will be fighting a very intelligent fight and following Mayweather’s instructions to the letter.

“I have to thank Floyd for giving me this chance. April 1 is going to be a war,” Theophane said. Adrien is a warrior and I know he has no quit in him. If you have a dream, you have to work hard to make it come true and that’s what I’m here to do.”

It would be a huge defeat for Broner if he were to lose to Theophane, because Broner has been touting himself lately as the replacement for Mayweather. If Broner can’t beat Theophane, then he can forget about being the replacement for Mayweather. Broner would have to take responsibility for his defeat, something he’s failed to do with his losses to Shawn Porter and Marcos Maidana.



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