By Geno McGahee
Manny Pacquiao, 69-7-2, 39 KO’s, officially announced the Adrien Broner, 33-3-1, 24 KO’s, showdown for January 19th and it’s a dream match, of sorts. Pacquiao is 39 years old and should be on the shelf by now, but he has done what Bernard Hopkins has done before him. He has adjusted and he is also selecting his opposition carefully and strategically. In his last fight, he knocked out Lucas Matthysse and he looked great, but his opponent put up no effort. If you’re only as good as your last fight, Manny is a serious player in the packed welterweight division, but the Jeff Horn struggle isn’t a distant memory. Even though it can be argued that Horn lost to Pacquiao, it was obvious that the PacMan was a few steps behind where he was and going into the Broner fight, it could be exploited, but don’t expect that.
Broner was the next coming of Floyd Mayweather, JR., or that’s what a lot of people thought at least. The one who thought it the most was Broner until the day he stepped into the ring with Marcos Maidana in 2013. Broner was not only beat but he was beaten by the aggressive power-puncher and he has not recovered from it yet. When facing a quality opponent, Broner shells up.
In hopes to redeem himself, Broner took on Shawn Porter, a truth machine fighter that will either break you or make you. Broner went into his shell and Porter ran away with it, but there was a glimpse of what could be with “The Problem.” He was able to drop Porter in the last round when he opened up. The unfortunate thing is that he does not open up and going into the Pacquiao fight, it is the most likely scenario that he will lose a wide unanimous decision. If he opens up with the older Pacquiao, he can win and may win explosively, but I’ve put my hopes in Broner to meet his potential and he fails every time.
In his last two fights, Broner lost wide to Mikey Garcia, in another fight that he shelled up and escaped a bout with Jessie Vargas with a highly contested draw. By comparison, Manny easily beat Vargas just a couple years prior. To Broner’s credit, he is a salesman and he is going to be a driving force in this pay per view. This fight will sell more than other Pacquiao pay per views because of the charisma of Broner and he may start getting the believers singing his praises again, but can he pull the trigger here.
The reasons to choose Broner as an opponent are many. He is going to bring a lot of money into the fight. He is going to give the illusion that he is the “new Broner” and that we will see him open up and knock Manny into tomorrow and he can be convincing. The main reason why Broner is in the ring is because he is a marquee opponent that shuts down when the opponent opens up and Manny, even at 39, will be very active and the Broner fans eagerly awaiting the counter shots that he’s capable of will be still wondering where they are when the final bell rings.
Broner has a world of potential but I’m putting my money on Pacquiao to win a very wide UD only to have Broner claim foul in his exit interview. This is a very smart match for the PacMan and it will launch him into a much bigger and more dangerous opportunity against one of the better welterweights in boxing.
