Former four division world champion Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner is badly in need of a victory next month in his fight against Manny Pacquiao on January 19 on SHOWTIME pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. At one time Broner (33-3-1, 24 KOs) was considered one of the best fighters in boxing, but nowadays wins for him have become a rare thing. The hand speed and power advantage that Pacquiao is going to enjoy in this fight is going to make it hard for Broner to win this fight.
The best that Broner can hope for is Pacquiao gassing out in the later rounds like he did in his fight with Jeff Horn in 2017. If Broner can tire Pacquiao, then he might win.
It’s getting to the point where Broner might need to think about hanging up his gloves if he takes too many more losses.
A knockout loss to Pacquiao could be a big hint that Broner needs to retire. He’s too big to melt back down to the lighter divisions that he once held world titles at. If Broner could make weight at featherweight and not be weight drained, he’d be a big problem for the elite in that division. Unfortunately, he can’t make weight for the 126, 130 and 135 pound weight classes.
Broner, 29, hasn’t won a fight since 2017, and even that was a controversial hometown decision against Adrian Granados. You take that questionable win, Broner’s last real win was in 2016 against journeyman Asthley Theophane.
Pacquiao (60-7-2, 39 KOs) is in the position to put Broner’s career on ice on January 19. Adrien clearly knows that, as he looks very worried about what is about to potentially happen to him when he gets inside the ring with the 40-year-old Pacquiao.
“This is definitely my biggest fight, biggest magnitude, biggest platform I’ve ever been on but you never know,” Broner said. “I could probably go in there and make this look like the easiest fight of my career you just never know.”
It’s highly unlikely that Broner will make the Pacquiao fight the “easiest fight” of his career. On the occasions that Broner has made fights look easy, he was fighting guys that were less than talented. Broner is capable still in looking good against bottom fringe contender level fighters, but he’s not able to beat the top level guys. When Broner failed to beat Jessie Vargas in his last fight, it pretty much showed that he’s not going anywhere at 147.
Broner was held to a 12 round draw against Vargas last April, and he was beaten before that by Mikey Garcia. Broner looked terrible in both fights, and it’s pretty clear that he has no business fighting at 140 and 147. He’s not powerful, fast or talented enough to be a world championship level fighter in those divisions like he previously was fighting in the lower weight classes.
Many boxing fans blame Broner’s deterioration as a fighter on his outside of the ring activity. They feel that Broner is more concerned with his life outside the ring than he is inside it.
“I don’t care about stopping him or whether it’s a unanimous decision, as long as I’m victorious,” Broner said.
Obviously beggers can’t be choosers. Even a controversial decision over Pacquiao would be a huge boost to Broner’s career, as the boxing world expects him to be knocked out by the Filipino star. Few fans are picking Broner to win the fight, and for good reason. He’s not looked good in many years since his fight against Gavin Rees in 2013. Broner is now in the same position Rees was at when he took the fight. Rees was about done with his career when he fought Broner. Now things have come full circle and it’s Broner that is about done.
If Broner gets knocked out by Pacquiao, it’s going to be hard for him to come back from the loss. Where does Broner go from there? If he can’t Pacquiao at 147, then it’s going to be hard for him to find a place where he win a world title. Right now, Broner is been relegated to that of a B-side opponent. It’s working right now for Broner because he hasn’t taken enough losses for the boxing fans to see him as a waste of time to watch. That could change very soon with Broner to continuing to lose on a regular basis. Not being seen winning winning a fight in two years is really bad. Broner’s management probably should have put him in with a few soft opponents so that the casual boxing fans could get used to seeing him win once again, considering that it’s been ages since he won a fight without a controversy.
Broner looked weight drained last year in his loss to Mikey Garcia. That was a fight that took place at light welterweight. The strain of Broner taking off weight to get down to 140 left him looking like a shell of his former self. What that tells you is he’s now to the point where he can’t get his weight below 147 without weakening himself to the point where he’s ineffective. Unfortunately for Broner, he doesn’t have speed, power or the mobility to be more than just a B-side opponent in the welterweight division. It’s sad really. Broner reduced to being the guy that is beaten by the A-side fighters.
Pacquiao is coming off of an impressive 7th round knockout win over Lucas Matthysse last July in Malaysia. That was easily the best performance by Pacquiao since his win over Miguel Cotto in 2009. The way that Pacquiao performed against Matthysse, it was like watching a guy that had been completely restored to his former self. It’s hard to know what Pacquiao did in training camp to get himself back to the level that we saw against Matthysse. Whatever it is, Pacquiao needs to make sure he doesn’t change his training regimen for the Broner fight. If Pacquiao can maintain the level that he was at against Matthysse, then Broner is going to be in a lot of trouble on January 19. Broner has never been knocked out before, but there’s a very good chance Pacquiao will stop him.