By Geno McGahee
There was a time when Adrien “The Problem” Broner, 33-3-1, 24 KO’s, was seen as the next coming of Floyd Mayweather, JR., but on a December night in 2013, Marcos Maidana would send him to the canvas and his career into a tailspin. Broner would come back, but the fights that he needed to win, he didn’t. He would drop decisions to Shawn Porter and Mikey Garcia and they followed the same plan of attack. Activity shuts down Broner and that is why Manny Pacquiao, 60-7-2, 39 KO’s, chose him to fight, but there is plenty of risk in this fight for the 39-year-old Filipino boxing legend.
Pacquiao got his first knockout in just about 10 years over Lucas Matthysse and it seems to have made everyone forget the past. Some have even said that “Pacquiao is better than he ever was,” but he knocked out a shot fighter and it didn’t prove a great deal. It did help the confidence, I’m sure, of Manny, but he is not the fighter he once was.
The choice of Broner has two purposes. One, Broner is a big name in the sport, despite only winning three of his last six fights. Secondly, style-wise, he may be seen as the warm up to a rematch with Floyd that has been spoken of so much lately. Pacquiao will be facing some of the same puzzles he could not solve against Money Mayweather when he faces Broner, but the puzzle isn’t as impossible to solve.
This Broner-Pacquiao fight is a very compelling one. It all comes down to what Broner shows up for the fight. He has said coming into other fights that he is going to show why he’s the best in the game, only to clam up with the incoming punches started. He cannot go into defense mode and wait. He needs to counter, which he is very good at. If Broner can get motivated and risk a little, he might be able to exploit Pacquiao and show him why 39 year old boxers don’t usually do well in the sport.
If we get the Broner that we saw against Garcia, Porter and most recently, Jessie Vargas, the most likely ending will come true. Pacquiao will sweep the rounds and walk away with an easy UD. The unpredictable Broner is the fun part of this fight. If he comes in at his best, motivated and prepared, then we may have the ending of one legend and the true rise of Broner that we have all expected.
The two will reportedly clash in the states in January and it will be a very interesting bout with a lot on the line.
