By Dan Ambrose: With 3 weeks to go before his July 29 fight against undefeated Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs), Adrien “The Problem” Broner (33-2, 24 KOs) has his weight down to 148 pounds for. Broner only needs to drop 8 more pounds in less than one month to get down to the 140-lb. contract weight for the Garcia fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
This is good news for the boxing fans as there’s been a lot of doubt whether Broner will be able to make the agreed upon contract weight for the Garcia fight. The negative about Broner getting down to 148 this early is the way he looks. Broner looks too thin right now. His head looks too big for his body. Broner might not be suited for the light welterweight division any longer.
The best thing Broner has going for him in the Garcia fight is his past history of being able to soak up punishment for 12 rounds without getting knocked out. As thin as Broner is looking now, his punch resistance might not be there on July 29 for him to withstand Garcia’s big power blasts in the first 6 rounds.
Some people keep growing in their 20s, and I think Broner is too big for the division in terms of his frame. With all the exercise and dieting that Broner is doing to get down to 140, he’ll probably make the weight, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. There’s a good possibility that Broner could wind up weight drained just like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was in his recent fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez on May 6. Chavez Jr. drained down to make the 164.5lb catch-weight limit for the fight, but then he was too weak to put up a fight. The emaciated look to Broner’s body right now, I don’t see him having the strength to put up a good fight against Garcia.
“I ain’t in shape, I’m in shapez,” said Broner to Fighthype.com. ”We don’t count, we just count up. We full, but we still hungry. Everyday I’m pushing myself to the limit. July 29th I will be victorious.”
There’s a very good chance that Broner is going to come into the fight with Garcia looking like an emaciated mess. He’s had to take off too much weight just to get to where he is now at 148. He looks like he’s taken too much weight off as it is. I don’t know whether the other 8 pounds is going to come from for Broner to get down to 140. I hope he doesn’t get ill losing the last eight pounds of weight. A fighter can only dehydrate so much before they start hurting their body.
Broner clearly belongs in the welterweight division right now. He’s outgrown the light welterweight division. His body size is that of a welterweight. If Broner keeps eating and not staying in the gym, he could eat his way out of the welterweight division and end up at 154. That would be a bad place for a little guy Broner. You put Broner in with the 5’11” Erickson Lubin or the 6’0” Jermell Charlo, it’s not going to end well for him. Those guys are too big for the 5’7” Broner.
Broner has not exactly been great at making the 140lb limit in the last 2 years. Broner has not been able to make the weight in his last 2 fights. The last time Broner made 140 was in 2015 in his fight against Khabib Allakhverdiev. Garcia and his management were smart to have the weight for the fight set at 140, considering that Broner has eaten his way out of the division.
This would be a very hard fight for Broner even if it had taken place 2 years ago when he was still able to make 140 and fight at a high level. But in Broner’s last 2 fights, he’s proven that he cannot make the 140lb weight limit. Moreover, Broner has not performed well in his last 2 fights against Adrian Granados and Ashley Theophane. A lot of the boxing world thought Broner was given a hometown gift decision win over Granados in their fight on February 18. In looking at that fight, I agree with the fans. Broner should have lost that fight. He was given a 10-round split decision win. The fight was staged in Broner’s hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
At the end of the day, Broner will likely make the 147-pound weight limit for the Garcia fight, but then lose badly in getting knocked out by the 6th or 7th round. Showtime Boxing world be televising the fight. There’s expected to be a large audience that will be tuning in to see the contest. That’s not good for Broner, given that the boxing fans are going to witness him getting pounded by Garcia. I won’t go so far as to say that Broner’s career will be over. He’s too good of a talker, and his management is too good at putting him in with the right vulnerable opponents for his career to be over. Still, I think Broner’s status as a top fighter will drop off dramatically with this loss.
Broner hasn’t fought a good opponent since his 12 round unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Shawn Porter in a fight that took place nearly 2 years ago. Broner has burned through his last 3 fights facing weaker opposition and not looking good. Broner can go back to fighting the weaker opposition, but he’s not going to go far in the sport fighting soft opponents. That’s one of the reasons why Broner’s boxing career hasn’t taken off in the last 4 years. He’s not fighting the high-quality guys other than when he’s getting beaten by Marcos Maidana and Shawn Porter. Broner is wasting his career with too many tune-up level opponents. When you take out Maidana and Porter from the equation, these are the fighters that Broner has been facing in the last 4 years:
– Adrian Granados
– Ashley Theophane
– Khabib Allakhverdiev
– John Molina Jr.
– Emmanuel Taylor
– Carlos Molina
Those are weak opponents. Broner hasn’t fought Terence Crawford, Viktor Postol, Rances Barthlemey, Kiryl Relikh, Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr., Kell Brook, Manny Pacquiao, Tim Bradley, Lamont Peterson or Danny Garcia. Broner should have fought those guys at least for him to prove that he’s a true contender.