Adrien Broner: PPV’s Last Hope for Haney

Image: Adrien Broner: PPV's Last Hope for Haney
By Robbie Bannatyne - 03/06/2024 - Comments

Former four-division world champion Adrien Broner has volunteered his services as Ryan Garcia’s replacement to challenge Devin Haney for his WBC light welterweight title on April 20th on DAZN PPV. Haney’s camp needs to act quickly to give Ryan the royal boot and replace him with Broner, Shakur Stevenson, or, as a last resort, Arnold Barboza Jr.

Anyone But Ryan

While Broner is obviously past his prime at 34, he’s well-recognized by hardcore boxing fans, and he’d make it entertaining with the trash talk he would be doing with Devin’s dad, Bill Haney. Watching those two argue on Instagram today was pure comedy gold. These are perfect for the April 20th promotion.

Even at Broner’s advanced age, he will likely give Haney more run for his money than Ryan would, given his shaky mental state. The last thing fans need is for Ryan to be escorted out by men in white coats after leaving Bellevue Hospital in New York.

Ryan doesn’t look like he’ll make it to the ring for the event due to outside-of-the-ring problems, which leaves little time for the event organizers to find a popular fighter who can step in to face Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) on short notice.

The Need for a Box Office Draw

Golden Boy fighter Arnold Barboza Jr. has been named a potential fill-in candidate for Ryan, but he’s not well-known enough for a fight between him and Haney to sell on DAZN PPV.

Of course, DAZN and the event promoters can do anything they want. If they choose to cram a fight between Haney and Barboza Jr. down the throats of fans on PPV, they can certainly do that, but it’s probably not going to sell more than the 30K buys that Devin’s last bout reportedly generated against Regis Prograis.

That’s why a notable fighter must be used to replace Ryan Garcia, someone like the 34-year-old Broner (35-4-1, 24 KOs).

Broner’s Moment (Maybe)

“If Ryan’s having mental problems, fight me,” said former four-division world champion Adrien Broner on Instagram, telling Bill Haney, Devin Haney’s dad, that he’s interested in stepping in to replace Ryan Garcia as Devin’s opponent for April 20th on DAZN PPV. Broner hasn’t fought a high-level opponent for a while, and it’s unknown if DAZN would be agreeable to him as the replacement for Ryan Garcia as Haney’s opponent for April 20th