By Scott Gilfoid: This Friday night, #9 WBA Ashley Theophane (39-6-1, 11 KOs) will be facing easily the best opponent of his 13-year pro career in WBA Super light welterweight champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner (31-2, 23 KOs) in their fight on Premier Boxing Champions on Spike.
Theophane, who looks like a lightweight in appearance rather than a light welterweight, says wants to win the fight because of the belief that his promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr. has in him. It’s nice inspiring story when you look at it.
Unfortunately, Theophane has next to no chance of winning the fight, and it doesn’t how much he wants to win the fight to please Mayweather. The basic reality is he’s facing a better fighter than himself in Broner, and he’s pretty much up against it in this fight.
Mayweather got the 35-year-old Theophane this title shot. Now it’s up to Theophane to show whether he can have his “Rocky” moment by pulling off a big upset on Friday night when he gets inside the ring with the bigger, stronger, faster and younger 26-year-old Broner. The size difference alone between them is probably going to make it all but impossible for Theophane to win. Broner looks like a huge welterweight right now, and Theophane might find himself outweighed by 15 to 20 pounds on fight night.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Broner misses the weight, because he looks as big as he did for his welterweight fight against Shawn Porter last June. Broner is going to have to need to take off a ton of weight this week to make the 140lb limit on Thursday. As big as Broner looked last week, I don’t know if he’ll be able to get the weight off unless he really dehydrates himself. This is one area that could give Theophane a chance.
If Broner is drained from making weight, he might not be able to fight hard for more than four rounds without weakening and fighting on fumes the last eight rounds. You’ll know that Broner is gassed if he spends a lot of time resting with his back against the ropes and not moving around the ring. This will allow Theophane to throw a lot of punches. He’s been saying that he’s going to try and outwork Broner. Well, this will be his big chance. I sort of doubt that Theophane will be able to beat even a weight drained Broner, because the size, power, youth, speed and talent difference between them.
“I am going to do it for me because I believe in me and I am going to do it for Floyd because he believes in me too,” said Theophane to skysports.com. “I don’t mind having people like Floyd Mayweather behind me – and not many British fans – because without him I wouldn’t be here fighting for a world title.”
Mayweather really did Theophane a favor in getting him this title shot against Broner. If not for Mayweather, Theophane would be just another languishing fringe contender waiting forever to get a title shot. I don’t think Theophane would have gotten a chance ever for a title shot if not for Mayweather, because his career has been moving at a snail’s pace, and he’s shown no sign of being able to beat the top fighters at 140.
I’m not even talking about the world champions. I’m just talking about all of the top 15 contenders in the division. I don’t think Theophane has the talent to beat any of them, not one. Here he is fighting for a world title against one of the better fighters in the division in Broner, and it just looks really bad for Theophane. I just hope that his trainer is ready to throw in the towel if this fight gets too one-sided because we don’t need Theophane staying out there soaking up punishment for the wrong reasons.
“I am a 12/1 underdog and I don’t mind that, but they are losing silly money because I am going to show them they’ve got it wrong,” said Theohane. “I am prepared for it to go for the full 12 rounds, so I hope he is. He’s said he is going to knock me out in four so he’s going to come at me but I am prepared – and ready – for a war,” said Theophane.
In looking at Theophane’s recent fights, I notice the guy holds constantly. I don’t know what’s up with that, but he might have stamina problems or something. Whatever it is, Theophane has a nasty habit of throwing one or two shots and immediately going into a clinch. He’s not going to beat a fighter Broner by holding all the time.
Theophane says he’s going to outwork Broner, but how in the heck is he going to be able to do that if he’s grabbing Broner in a clinch 24/7. If Theophane fights like that, then he’ll be giving the heavier Broner plenty of rest breaks.
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