Adrien Broner to fight in February, Wallin – Breazeale in co-feature

By Boxing News - 12/30/2020 - Comments

By Matt Lieberman: Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner will be returning to the ring from a two-year absence in February to headline a card on Showtime with heavyweights Otto Wallin vs. Dominic Breazeale in the co-feature bout.

There’s no word yet on the opponent for the former four-division world champion Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs), but it’s safe to assume that it won’t too dangerous.

Boxing fans would like to see Broner face someone like Regis Prograis or Josesito Lopez, but those guys might be a little too risky for Adrien. Broner, 31, has reportedly lost 57 pounds, which is a tremendous amount of weight for a fighter that campaigns at 147.

In a video of Broner working out this week, he still looks like he’s 20 pounds overweight.

Broner hasn’t won since 2017

You have to remember that Broner hasn’t fought in two years, and he hasn’t won a fight since 2017.

YouTube video

By the time Broner enters the ring in February, it’ll have been four years since he won his last fight in defeating Adrian Granados by s questionable 10 round split decision in February 2017 in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

In Broner’s last fight against Manny Pacquiao in January 2019, he lost a wide 12 round unanimous decision in a one-sided fight. The chief reason for Broner’s defeat was his inability to let his hands go.

It was the same issue that Broner had in his defeats against Shawn Porter, Marcos Maidana, and Mikey Garcia. Broner doesn’t throw enough punches per round to beat the top-level fighters. If Broner had more power, he could get away with having a low work-rate, but that’s not the situation.

When Broner campaigned at 130 and 135, he had excellent punching power in those weight classes. But he’s not the same kind of puncher at 140 and 147 as he was in those divisions. The easiest solution to Broner’s lack of power would be for him to return to the 130 or 135-lb divisions, but that’s easier than done.

Broner might not be able to go back down to those weight classes even if he wanted to, as he’s been eating well for a long period.

‘Sources: Adrien Broner slated to return in February on Showtime. Few opponents being discussed. First bout since he was defeated by Manny Pacquiao in January 2019. Otto Wallin-Dominic Breazeale heavyweight scrap is the chief support,” said @MikeCoppinger.

Image: Adrien Broner to fight in February, Wallin - Breazeale in co-feature

Wallin battles Breazeale

In the chief support on the card, heavyweight Otto Wallin (21-1, 14 KOs) will be taking on former two-time world title challenger Dominic Breazeale (20-2, 18 KOs).

Breazeale, 35, will be fighting for the first tie since losing to former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder by a first-round knockout in May 2019. That’s a long layoff for Breazeale, and he’ll be taking a big risk in facing the 6’6″ Swedish heavyweight.

For the boxing fans that remember, Wallin gave Tyson Fury all he could handle in losing a 12 round unanimous decision in September of 2019.

Image: Adrien Broner to fight in February, Wallin - Breazeale in co-feature

That’s a fight that Wallin could have won if the ringside doctor had halted the contest due to Fury having suffered a horrific cut in the second round.