By Jim Calfa: Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner is working hard, training for his well-paying comeback fight against Ivan Redkach on February 25th on BLK Prime pay-per-view in Atlanta.
Broner’s issue isn’t whether he can take off the weight, as he’s trimmed down many times in the last ten years. His problem is he’s performed poorly since his controversial 12 round decision win over Paulie Malignaggi in June 2013.
Broner has only looked good in three fights since then, and those were against mediocre opposition. Years of slacking off, eating rich foods, living a sedentary lifestyle, and partying it up have taken their toll on Broner. He’s a VERY old-looking 33.
You can argue that he’s gone beyond the point of no return with the wear & tear that he’s put his body through by neglecting it. Even if Broner gets into the best shape possible, it will not reverse the years. This training camp won’t be the fountain of youth and make Broner young.
The 33-year-old Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) appears to have lost weight since the kickoff press conference for his fight against Redkach (23-6-1, 18 KOs) a few weeks ago.
Broner was sporting a pot belly during the press conference and looked in deplorable physical condition for an athlete. As bad as Broner looked recently, he will not be able to recapture the form he had when he was in his prime between 2010 and 2012.
Broner is being paid over $10 million+ as part of his three-fight, twelve month contract with BLK Prime. What’s surprising is that the company is letting Broner fight a soft touch in 36-year-old Redkach for his first fight because this isn’t a top-tier contender.
Indeed, Redkach has lost his last two fights and hasn’t won since 2019. It’s incredulous that the big wheels are BLK Prime are allowing Broner to fight a non-contender like Redkach because they’re paying AB way too much money for him to be fighting someone that the casual boxing fans have never heard of, and the hardcore fans have no interest in seeing.
If BLK Prime wants to pay Broner colossal money to fight guys like Redkach, they will not get a return on their investment because this isn’t a match-up that will interest fans.
BLK Prime needs to set a high bar for Broner, telling him that they’ll only accept these fighters as potential opponents for him:
- Teofimo Lopez
- Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
- Regis Prograis
- Ryan Garcia
- Devin Haney
- Gervonta Davis
- Shakur Stevenson
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Vergil Ortiz Jr
- Frank Martin
It’s unlikely that Broner beats any of these guys; he could get stopped by many of them and leave BLK Prime stuck with two more fights of his that they’ll need to peddle to the public.