Adrien Broner: ‘I will be back in the ring SOON’

By Boxing News - 12/02/2021 - Comments

By Jim Calfa: Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner announced on Wednesday that he’ll be making his ring return “soon.” The 32-year-old Broner isn’t saying who he’ll be fighting, but it’s likely another tune-up for the Cincinnati, Ohio native.

British welterweight Conor Benn and his promoter Eddie Hearn have shown interest in fighting with Broner. That would be a fight in which Broner would be playing the role of a trial horse to make Benn look better than he is.

Broner will be coming off another long layoff when he returns to action. Before AB’s last fight, he’d been out of the ring for two years, and now he’ll be coming off a year of inactivity if he sees action by the first quarter of 2022.

The former four-division world champion Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) last fought on February 20th, laboring to a lackluster 12 round unanimous decision over Jovanie Santiago on Showtime. The win was controversial, unfortunately, as many boxing fans felt that Santiago deserved the victory.

It’s unknown why Broner is emerging from another long layoff to resume his career. Is he in need of money?

Boxing fans would be pleased if Broner had suddenly seen the light and decided finally to take his career seriously and try and rebuild himself at 130 or 135.  It doesn’t seem likely, though.

Image: Adrien Broner: 'I will be back in the ring SOON'

Does Broner have anything left?

It’ll be interesting to see if SHOWTIME gives Broner a main event spot or relegates him to undercard status. Given Adrien’s inactivity and lack of wins over quality opposition, it’s difficult to see him as worthy of a headliner position.

The inactivity and the lack of success for Broner have hurt his popularity, as he doesn’t fight often enough to stay in the public eye.

Moreover, Broner’s lack of wins over significant opposition has stunted his popularity because he’s no longer beating world champions and capturing titles as he had earlier in his career.

Broner hasn’t held a world title since 2016, and his lack of quality wins over a notable opponent was way back in June 2013 when he defeated WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi by a controversial 12 round split decision

Broner needs to drop down in weight

Still young at 32-years-old, Broner needs to move back down to 135 to compete at lightweight because he’s too small, weak, slow, and flat-footed to compete with high-level 140 and 147-pounders.

We’ve already seen Broner repeatedly fail at the light welterweight and welterweight level in the last eight years in losses to these fighters:

  • Marcos Maidana
  • Manny Pacquiao
  • Shawn Porter
  • Mikey Garcia

You can argue that Broner should have another two losses on his record from his controversial 10 round split decision win over Adrian Granados in February 2017 in his hometown of Cincinnati and his 12 round draw against Jessie Vargas in April 2018.

After turning professional in 2008, Broner had a quick rise to stardom, capturing world titles at 130, 135, 140, and 147.

The way Broner was able to move between divisions and continue to find success was nothing short of remarkable.

However, his success ended when Broner moved up to 147, where he’s looked slow and underpowered in his fights against Maidana, Porter, Vargas, Pacquiao, and Granados.