Broner defeats Theophane, calls out Mayweather

By Boxing News - 04/01/2016 - Comments

http://youtu.be/ZeOieTXV938

By Allan Fox: In less than an impressive performance, former WBA 140lb champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner (32-2, 24 KOs) was able to use a low blow to hurt Ashley Theophane (39-7-1, 11 KOs) and get a 9th round stoppage on Friday night when the referee blew a call by stopping the fight at the DC Armory in Washington, DC. The Broner-Theophane was televised by Premier Boxing Champions on Spike TV.

The vacant WBA Super light welterweight title was up for grabs for the fight. This was Broner’s belt that he lost on Thursday when he failed to make weight. With Theophane getting stopped, the WBA title will now likely be fought over by Ricky Burns in his fight against Michele Di Rocco on May 21. It’s hard to picture the winner of that contest being a Super WBA champion.

Broner hurt Theophane with a right uppercut in the 9th, and then hit him hard with a left hand that was clearly low. When Theophane tried to alert referee Luis Pabon that he had been hit low, Pabon became confused and thought that Theophane was telling him he wanted the fight to be stopped. The fight was then halted by the confused referee after at 1:10.

You have to feel a little sorry for Theophane right about now. This was probably the only chance that he ever will get to fight for a world title. The way he was stopped with the referee blowing a call leaves a lot to be desired.

Broner hurt Theophane with a big right uppercut in the 4th round that had the British fighter moving for the last 20 seconds of the round to survive. Broner was too slow-footed to corner Theophane to finish him off.

After the fight, Broner called out Floyd Mayweather Jr., saying “He’s got to see me. I don’t care if we spar or fight.”

Mayweather was in the audience and mainly clapped and smiled while listening to Broner call him out. This would be too easy for Mayweather if he did come back in search of his 50th win. Broner looked awful tonight, and I could see him losing to at least three top light welterweights in the division if he could even make weight. Theophane was little more than a fringe contender, who was only ranked in the top 15 by one sanctioning body. Theophane gave Broner all kinds of problems in this fight.

I had Theophane ahead five rounds to three at the time of the stoppage. Broner was cut over his right eye in the 8th round. Both eyes looked bruised at the end. Theophane’s eyes were bruised as well.

“I did what I had to do to get the victory,” Broner said after the fight. “He definitely came with his A-game. His A-game wasn’t enough. I knocked his [expletive] out as usual though.”

I don’t know if Mayweather is going to bother throwing a bone to Broner by giving him a fight. I do think that Al Haymon, who manages Broner, is going to need to be careful with his match-making, because this guy would likely lose badly to fighters like WBC champ Viktor Postol and WBO champion Terence Crawford. Those are Top Rank fighters, so Broner has a built in excuse for not having to fight him.

As far as a Mayweather-Broner fight goes, it’s not a fight that would sell in a big way. Broner is only two fights removed from his loss to Shawn Porter last June. For a fight between Mayweather and Broner to be a big deal, Broner would need to get some solid wins under his belt against quality opposition, not against weak fringe contenders like Theophane and Khabib Allakhverdiev.

Broner revealed after the fight that he plans on moving up to the welterweight division. It’s an obvious move because he couldn’t make weight for the Theophane fight. Broner has been ballooning up in weight between fights, and it’s now become too hard for him to make the 140lb limit. Besides Broner’s problems making weight, the bigger fights are at 147. If Broner stays at light welterweight, he’ll have zero big fights, and it’ll only be a matter of time before he gets beaten by someone. If Broner can’t get a fight against Mayweather, then his adviser Al Haymon will surely set him up with a title shot against WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia. He’s one of Haymon’s fighters, and it’s an easy fight to make.



Comments are closed.