Adrien Broner going to war against Jovanie Santiago tonight

By Boxing News - 02/20/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Adrien Broner will be back in the ring tonight against the unbeaten Jovanie Santiago in a 12-round comeback fight on Showtime. The fight will be held at welterweight after both fighters mutually agreed to move the weight up from 140.

Broner has taken a lot of flak for moving it up to 147, but it’s been two years for him out of the ring. You can’t expect AB to take all the weight off that he put in one training camp.

Adrien had to lose close to 40 lbs for this non-title fight against Santiago, and he did a good job in weighing in at 146.

The weight is off

It’s asking the impossible for a fighter that was as big as Broner was, weighing close to 190 lbs, to lose 50 lbs in one training camp.

If this were a situation where Broner was fighting a big name like Regis Prograis, he would have made the 140lb limit.

Broner, 31, is hoping to reinvent himself after a long period out of the ring.  He’s had time to heal up some of his old injuries, and he’s arguably matured during that time.

Image: Adrien Broner going to war against Jovanie Santiago tonight

The fight card will be taking place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, and starts at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs) will be seeing action for the first time in two years, so you can’t expect to see the very best of AB for this outing. It’s going to take a little while for

“I don’t know how he feels, but I’m willing to die in the ring. I’m willing to put my life on the line,” said Broner about tonight’s clash with Santiago.

There will be many eyes on this fight tonight to see how Broner looks against the undefeated 31-year-old Santiago.

Some of the keys to look for in Broner’s performance:

  • Punch output
  • Conditioning
  • Power
  • Defense

What boxing fans want to see improvement with Broner is his punch output, which has held him back in several of his fights in the five years. In Broner’s last fight, he lost to Manny Pacquiao by a one-sided 12 round contest.

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That was a fight that Broner could have possibly won if he’s thrown more punches. The much older Pacquiao got the better of Broner just by throwing twice as many punches per round.

With the right adjustments, Broner can bring himself back to where he was in his best years and begin winning again.

He says he wants to campaign at 140, but it doesn’t matter. Broner will need to have a much higher output for him to do well in whatever weight class he campaigns at.

AB planning on bringing his A-Game tonight

Image: Adrien Broner going to war against Jovanie Santiago tonight

“He’s coming to fight, he’s a good fighter and undefeated, so I have to stay on my A-game. I’m going in to get the victory – whatever presents itself. If the knockout presents itself,” said Broner.

It would be better if Broner didn’t get the knockout because he needs to get rounds in and get the rust out. He’s probably not going to score a lot of knockouts if he’s going to be fighting at 140.

What’s more important for Broner tonight is for him to average 60 to 80 punches thrown per round.

Ideally, Broner should aim for 100 punches thrown per round because if he can be that busy, he’ll be able to compete against the lions in the light welterweight division.

For Broner to beat top fighters like Jose Ramirez, Josh Taylor, and Regis Prograis, he’s got to be able to match their output.

“I don’t have anything to lose, so AB better bring his A-game against me,” said the upset-minded Santiago.

Not much is known about Santiago, as he’s been fighting lower-level opposition since he turned pro in 2007. He’s one of those that have gotten the opportunity to face world-level opposition, but that’ll challenge tonight.

Broner has lost to these fighters because of his poor work-rate: Marcos Maidana, Shawn Porter, and Manny Pacquiao. AB arguably deserved losses against Adrian Granados and Jessie Vargas.

 

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Regis Prograis was quick to come to the defense of Broner this week after the contractual weight for his against Santiago was bumped up to 147 on Thursday.

“People are full of s***. When AB started training everybody was all on his tip saying he’s back. Now since the weight is changed people starting to turn their backs.

“Y’all gotta keep that same energy. Don’t down the man now when y’all been on his tip the whole time,” said Regis Prograis on Twitter in defending Broner.

It’s unclear whether Prograis has been paying close attention to social media because very boxing fans have been backing Broner, “saying he’s back.”

On the contrary, most boxing fans have been saying Broner is ‘washed up’ and is ‘wasting his time’ with his comeback.

So for the critics to be gleeful over the bad news for Broner unable to make the 140lb limit, it’s something they would expect from him. The fans haven’t flip-flopped with Broner.