By Allan Fox: In what appears to be a cry for help, Adrien Broner reached out to Floyd Mayweather Jr. this week on social media, asking the retired star to help him with his career.
The 32-year-old former four-division world champion Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) reportedly wants Mayweather to work his magic with his career in the same way he’s done with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Broner has fought just twice in the last four years since 2018 and looked poor in a one-sided loss to Manny Pacquiao & a questionable win over Jovanie Santiago over a year ago in February 2021.
Two of the judges gave Broner the first round despite him not landing a punch.
“I miss you, man. I know we haven’t spoken in a while, but honestly, I think I need you the most right now when it comes to this boxing s***,” said Adrien Broner on social media.
It’s unclear what magic Mayweather can work on Broner’s career, as he can’t fight at 140 or 147 at a high level. The weight classes that Broner performed well in were 130 and 135, but that was many years ago.
Possible moves by Mayweather
- Return AB to 130 or 135 divisions
- Soft match-making
- Increase Broner’s punch output
- Work on AB’s conditioning
Broner has been fighting at welterweight since 2013, and that’s nine years ago that he moved out of the lightweight division. Unless Mayweather can get Broner on a weight management program to time down to 130 or 135, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to save his sagging career.
Without hand speed, power, and a decent work rate, Broner’s career won’t be saved by Mayweather’s intervention. The apparent move that Mayweather – or any promoter – can make to help Broner is to get on a weight management program and trim him down to 130, so he can compete at super-featherweight.
When Broner was at his career-best, he was competing in the 130-lb division. He had the size advantage over his opponents, and his power went further in that weight class.
Where things went downhill for Broner was when he moved up to 147 in 2013 and was soundly beaten by Marcos Maidana. If the money weren’t so good at 147, Broner probably would have returned to the 130 or 135-lb divisions, but he chose to stay in a weight class that his body couldn’t support.
Mayweather can’t be given too much credit for Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ success because that’s a guy with hand speed and huge punching power. With Tank Davis’ talent, he would do well with any promoter, not just Mayweather.
You can argue that Mayweather saved Tank Davis from losses by not matching him tough by swerving around Vasyl Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez. If Mayweather had matched Tank tough earlier in his career, he’d have more than a few losses on his resume.
