by David P. Greisman
Adrien Broner had railed against Floyd Mayweather after his win over Ashley Theophane and challenged Mayweather to a fight. Broner continued on about the frayed relationship when speaking with reporters later.
“From here on out, that ‘Big Bro’ sh*t is out the door. From now on, he will address me as ‘AB’ and I will address him as ‘Floyd Mayweather,” Broner said.
Mayweather has been critical of Broner over the years due to Broner’s antics. And with Broner fighting Theophane on a Mayweather-promoted card — and then with Broner having an open warrant for his arrest due to allegedly assaulting and robbing a man, as well as Broner missing weight for the bout — Mayweather again took aim at Broner in interviews.
Broner said he wanted to speak directly with Floyd immediately after the Theophane win.
“I was actually going to go out there and pay homage, because even though we got this misunderstanding, I got to pay homage to him because I learned so much from him,” Broner said. “I was going to go shake his hand like a man, just say thank you for giving me this easy money.”
That sounded more like a taunt. And then came this about Mayweather, who retired last year with a record of 49-0.
“If we do fight, he won’t be 50-0,” Broner said.
Mayweather’s most recent remarks about Broner came in an interview with FightHype.com.
"Adrien Broner, his nickname is 'The Problem'. I think he has a lot of problems. Adrien Broner was just an alcoholic six months ago. One thing I'm trying to find out about Adrien Broner, is he a boxing promoter, is he a rapper, is he a porn star, or is he a gangster?," Mayweather told Fighthype.com.
"He said 'Hateweather Promotions'; I'm still trying to find out what AB stands for. Always broke? I mean, that's what I thought AB stands for. Last year, I think Leonard made more money than Adrien Broner. He gave himself a 10-figure name: About Billions. We know he ain't never seen 8 figures or 9 figures. He's barely seen 7 figures. It could be safe to say that just one of my cars costs more than he made in his whole career."
"The thing is, this is honestly speaking, I think his first loss, didn't really come from Maidana. He really lost when he fought Daniel Ponce De Leon. We know he lost to Ponce De Leon. We know he lost to Shawn Porter. We know he got destroyed by Marcos Maidana. He fought Paulie Malignaggi when Paulie was 32 years old, almost 10 years older than he was, and when you look at the fight, you say to yourself, 'If Paulie was a few years younger, Paulie would have beat Adrien.'
"We know that a lot of Adrien Broner's opponents have been handpicked, and the ones that wasn't handpicked, he lost or he struggled. Ponce De Leon, he really lost. Shawn Porter, he really lost. Marcos Maidana, he lost. And then with Paulie, Paulie put up a good fight. If it was a few years earlier and you would have put them two in the squared circle, I think Paulie would have won."
Broner said it wasn’t actually the content of Mayweather’s remarks, but rather how they came out.
“It was a thing when you say you love somebody, you call somebody your little brother, somebody that look up to you, but on every interview that you do, that you go out your way to do, you talking down on this man,” Broner said. “How the hell could you talk down on your little brother, somebody you say you love, somebody you say you passing the torch to? That’s like me talking sh*t about [lightweight prospect] Robert Easter.
“Come on, man, that’s backwards as hell. I don’t know where y’all come from, but where I come from people get shot like that. I ain’t saying I’ll shoot him, because it ain’t that serious. But I’m saying that’s how serious it is. Real people don’t do things like that.”
It would’ve been different, Broner said, had Mayweather spoken to him privately instead of airing things publicly.
“Then I’ll respect it,” he said.
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com