By Kenneth Friedman: Adrien Broner surprised fans on Monday in posting on his Instagram a $10 million request from Al Haymon and Stephen Espinoza for him to make a comeback. The 30-year-old Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs) isn’t in a strong position to ask for $10 million for him to come back, given that he hasn’t won a fight since his controversial 0 round decision over Adrian Granados in 2017.
For Espinoza and Haymon to grant Broner’s $10 million requests, they would need to do it on faith that he’s going to bring in his boxing fans with his ability to sell his fights.
“Al Haymon and Espinoza, I need $10M to come back…I’m rich, but I got to stay rich, and my kids got to be rich too,” said Broner on his Instagram this week.
Broner is still second to none when it comes to attracting interest in his matches. It doesn’t matter that Broner has failed to win a fight in his last three contests. He can still bring in the fans to get good ratings.
$10 million is nothing if Broner turns his career around
Broner could be worth the $10 million investment from Haymon and Espinoza if he’s able to move back down to 135, and compete at lightweight. If Broner continues to fight at 147, a division that he’s not able to fight at a high level in, then he’s not worth the $10 million.
He would be worth a fraction of that. At light welterweight, Broner showed that he’s not any better in that division than he is at 147. Mikey Garcia easily beat Broner by a 12 round decision at 140 in 2017. Broner looked weight drained for that fight, and it appears that he took a lot of weight during training camp.
Asking Haymon for $10 million right now is not a good idea for Broner. With the current crisis impacting the world, there’s a lot of unknowns about boxing moving forward into the future.
It would be a risk for Haymon and Espinoza to give Broner $10 million for his comeback without them knowing what kind of ratings the sport will bring in. Additionally, it’s essential that Broner prove first that he can fight at a high level at 135 of 140 before he’s paid massive money by Haymon.
130 or 135 = ideal weight classes for Broner
If Broner could move down to 135 and beat a top lightweight like Ryan Garcia, Tank Davis, Devin Haney, or Teofimo Lopez, he would show that he’s worth a $10 million investment by Haymon and Espinoza. Short of that, it’s not a good idea for them to throw crazy money at a fighter who hasn’t conclusively won a fight since 2016.
Broner is a good fighter. He just isn’t a welterweight or even a light welterweight. Once he returns to the lightweight division, he’s capable of showing the promise that he once did earlier in his career before he moved up to 147 in 2013.
While some hardcore boxing fans aren’t thrilled at the idea of seeing him, Broner is still capable of grabbing the interest from the casual fans. Hardcore fans may say that they don’t want to see Broner fight, but you can bet they’ll tune in to watch him.
Adrien can bring in the fans
He’s got the charisma to attract fans, and he can perform as long as he’s fighting at 130 or 135. But it’s going to take more than Broner moving down in weight for him to recapture the talent that he had eight years ago.
He’ll need to keep his weight down in between fights for him to be able to make the 130 to 135-pound limit. He can’t balloon up to the 180s and then use his training camps as a fat farm for him to meltdown to 135.
Broner, 30, didn’t look spectacular in his last outing against Manny Pacquiao in January 2019, but that was at welterweight. That’s not Broner’s weight class. He performed well enough to make it enjoyable at times in losing a 12 round decision.
If Broner is going to stay at 147, there are only a small handful of fighters that would be worth seeing him fight. Fans would like to see Broner take on Danny Garcia, Amir Khan, or Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Many options for Broner at 135
These are fighters Broner should look to fight if he moves down to 135:
- Devin Haney
- Luke Campbell
- Ryan Garcia
- Jorge Linares
- Tank Davis
- Javier Fortuna
- Vasiliy Lomachenko
Broner is capable of beating some, if not all, of those fighters if he can return to the warrior he was from 2008 to 2012.
