Broner interested in Pacquiao or Garcia-Thurman winner

By Boxing News - 02/19/2017 - Comments

Image: Broner interested in Pacquiao or Garcia-Thurman winner

By Jim Dower: Adrien Broner (33-2, 24 KOs) says he’s done fishing after beating Adrian Granados (18-5-2, 12 KOs) by a 10 round split decision last Saturday night, and he’s now open to fighting Manny Pacquiao or the winner of the Danny Garcia vs. Keith Thurman fight. Broner says that he’s capable of competing with the best fighters in the 147 lb. division, although he says he broke his left hand in beating Granados at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. If the hand is broken, it’s going to take time for Broner to heal and come back from the injury.

It was thought that Broner, 27, would try and get back down to the 140 lb. division for his next fight, because he did not shine in defeating Granados. But it appears that Broner plans on fighting at welterweight in his next fight if he can get a fight against one of the top fighters.

Some boxing fans might see Broner’s interest in facing Pacquiao or the Thurman-Garcia winner as an indication that Broner is cashing out of the sport in the biggest payday he can get. It’s hard to know what’s going on in Broner’s mind. But did say in the post—fight press conference last Saturday night that he’s looking to get out of boxing. Assuming that’s it’s true that Broner plans on getting out of the sport, then it makes all the sense in the world for him to want to fight Pacquiao or the winner of the Garcia-Thurman fight.

Broner would likely lose to all three of those fighters. Pacquiao looks pretty shot at this point in his career, so it’s possible that Broner beats him. Broner should probably stay away from Garcia or Thurman, because those guys are both solid welterweights. Broner hasn’t proven himself capable of beating good opposition from the 147lb division. It might be better for Broner to beat a lower level welterweight first, and then work his way up to fighting the good fighters from that division before facing the tier guys.

“After I landed my first left hand, I broke my left hand again,” said Broner about his fight against Granados. “I had to fight another nine rounds with a very, very tough competitor. I just want to pat myself on the back for that. I did what I had to do to get my victory. When I hurt my hand, I couldn’t jab like I wanted to. So every time I landed a flush jab, I had to wait another 45 seconds. So that’s why I was fighting on the inside. I had to do what I had to go to get the victory. Until I see the fight, I can say to myself whether I got an ‘A’ or ‘B’ or a ‘C.’ Overall, I give myself an ‘E’ for effort. We got more to come in 2017. I hurt him for sure. I hurt him plenty times. But I’m going to be honest, he hurt me one time, and I’m very good at keeping it in disguise. A lot of people didn’t know I hurt my hand in the 1st round. I did what I had to do. He stayed tough. I stuck to my game plan. I had to make adjustments,” said Broner.

Broner was still using his left hand all throughout the fight last night. He hasn’t shown the boxing world an X-ray of his hand injury, so it’s impossible to verify the injury at this time. Broner was using his left hand the entire fight. Broner’s problem appeared not to be his hand injury, but the fact that he couldn’t keep up with the fast pace of Granados. The fight looked like a replay of Broner’s match with Marcos Maidana in 2013. Granados outworked Broner just like Maidana and Shawn Porter both did.

When asked if he believes he can compete in the 147lb division, Broner said, “Most definitely. I know I was hurting him. I could hear him. I’m not going to lie. He hurt me with some good shots, but this is boxing. I’m not someone that is going to say he didn’t hurt me and I didn’t get hit with a good shot. I know I had to be at the top of my game or I’d be another Amir Imam. The decision, I’ve got to take the bitter with the sweet. I’ve seen worst.

Until I go home and critique the fight for myself, I’m done fishing right now. I’m going to come back in eight weeks because right now I just have to look back at the fight and say, Coach Mike, let’s go fishing. I got a big fishing rod. I put the bait on the hook, and I caught his [expletive]. It’s another fish in the bucket. I’m going to move on to the next one. Anybody can get it. I did just [expletive] up another Mexican. Anybody can get it at 147. It’s all wars out there at 147. We’ve got some big fights coming up. Danny Garcia-Keith Thurman. Of course, I’d take that one. It’s whatever makes the best sense for me. Right now my focus is to get out of boxing,” said Broner.

When asked about a possible fight against Manny Pacquiao, Broner said, “What’s up, Bob [Arum]. We just got off the phone not too long ago. Not too many people know about that. Like I told them, as long as the numbers are right, we’re going to have one hell of a fight,” said Broner.