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The 'problem' when someone receives as much hype & controversy as Broner is the details of what matter gets lost.
Broner was hyped as a more aggressive version of Floyd Mayweather Jr - an extremely skilled boxer with a superb defence who comes forward & looks for the stoppage win.
A close look at his fights however reveal a much different story.
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I had heard some of the early hype about Broner so I made sure to catch one of his fights against a local Australian fighter I was following named William Kickett.
Kickett had some pretty decent skills, but was chinny, looked a little fragile under pressure & was obviously not going to make it to serious contender status. Broner was obviously the much bigger man in the bout, but Kickett was simply outboxing him for much of the first 4 rounds.
Eventually Broner trapped him & blasted him out, but I wasn't that impressed (atleast compared to the hype that was already surrounding him).
I saw him again & grew more impressed with his offensive skills, but it wasn't until the Ponce De Leon bout that it started to become pretty clear what kind of fighter he was.
Ponce De Leon, a skilled veteran brawler/puncher who was no-ones idea of a talented boxer, simply outboxed him for much of the first 5 rounds. It wasn't until Ponce tried to look to exchange in the middle of the ring that Broner started having any success, & even then he was still having trouble with a guy he likely outweighed by 2 divisions at the time of the fight.
In the next few bouts he looked spectacular, getting a chance to really showcase his offensive arsenal, but as soon as he faced someone who showed him some angles in Paul Malignaggi he really struggled (although I did think he did enough to narrowly edge it).
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Basically Broner is an excellent offensive fighter against a certain kind of opponent, but has limited all-round boxing skills - very little ability to fight going backwards and has trouble dealing with lateral movement & angles.
If he can stabilize a fighter right in front of him his arsenal looks genuinely spectactular - Broner has the rare ability to fire off sharp, accurate combinations without any kind of wind-up or telegraphing of his shots.
However his ability to actually stabilize fighters right in front of him looks pretty limited in pure boxing terms - essentially he looks to goad his opponent into coming straight at him, pick off their shots behind a relatively tricky defence and then open up with accurate combinations once they are in position.
He is probably closer to a combination punching version of Winky Wright in his approach rather than Floyd - walk his opponents down behind a tight defence then start punching holes in them as they grow frustrated - but without Winky's hard-earned genuine all-round skills & boxing IQ.
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So where does he go from here?
1) He puts aside his ego & focuses on improving his all-round skillset. This will require serious discipline & work, but Broner has a lot of raw talent to work from & he is still relatively young.
2) The ego, stunts & lifestyle continue. He engages in a couple more exciting bouts, loses against the better fighters & gradually becomes more of a circus act rather than a top fighter (ie. the more talented version of Richard Mayorga).
Either way, Broner will have to realize that he is not going to get away with his ring antics the way he has in the past. The frequent use of the forearm, the shoving off of opponents, pulling down the head, hitting after the break, etc. in order to frustrate his opponents or to set them up for combinations, which have become a major part of his arsenal.
These are things many referees, writers & commentators seem to overlook when building up a 'larger-than-life star' - this changes suddenly once the shine has gone off & they all start taking a much more critical look, & the shine is definitely off Broner.
Their will likely be no repeat of the likes of Laurence Cole in any major bout.
Broner was hyped as a more aggressive version of Floyd Mayweather Jr - an extremely skilled boxer with a superb defence who comes forward & looks for the stoppage win.
A close look at his fights however reveal a much different story.
---
I had heard some of the early hype about Broner so I made sure to catch one of his fights against a local Australian fighter I was following named William Kickett.
Kickett had some pretty decent skills, but was chinny, looked a little fragile under pressure & was obviously not going to make it to serious contender status. Broner was obviously the much bigger man in the bout, but Kickett was simply outboxing him for much of the first 4 rounds.
Eventually Broner trapped him & blasted him out, but I wasn't that impressed (atleast compared to the hype that was already surrounding him).
I saw him again & grew more impressed with his offensive skills, but it wasn't until the Ponce De Leon bout that it started to become pretty clear what kind of fighter he was.
Ponce De Leon, a skilled veteran brawler/puncher who was no-ones idea of a talented boxer, simply outboxed him for much of the first 5 rounds. It wasn't until Ponce tried to look to exchange in the middle of the ring that Broner started having any success, & even then he was still having trouble with a guy he likely outweighed by 2 divisions at the time of the fight.
In the next few bouts he looked spectacular, getting a chance to really showcase his offensive arsenal, but as soon as he faced someone who showed him some angles in Paul Malignaggi he really struggled (although I did think he did enough to narrowly edge it).
---
Basically Broner is an excellent offensive fighter against a certain kind of opponent, but has limited all-round boxing skills - very little ability to fight going backwards and has trouble dealing with lateral movement & angles.
If he can stabilize a fighter right in front of him his arsenal looks genuinely spectactular - Broner has the rare ability to fire off sharp, accurate combinations without any kind of wind-up or telegraphing of his shots.
However his ability to actually stabilize fighters right in front of him looks pretty limited in pure boxing terms - essentially he looks to goad his opponent into coming straight at him, pick off their shots behind a relatively tricky defence and then open up with accurate combinations once they are in position.
He is probably closer to a combination punching version of Winky Wright in his approach rather than Floyd - walk his opponents down behind a tight defence then start punching holes in them as they grow frustrated - but without Winky's hard-earned genuine all-round skills & boxing IQ.
---
So where does he go from here?
1) He puts aside his ego & focuses on improving his all-round skillset. This will require serious discipline & work, but Broner has a lot of raw talent to work from & he is still relatively young.
2) The ego, stunts & lifestyle continue. He engages in a couple more exciting bouts, loses against the better fighters & gradually becomes more of a circus act rather than a top fighter (ie. the more talented version of Richard Mayorga).
Either way, Broner will have to realize that he is not going to get away with his ring antics the way he has in the past. The frequent use of the forearm, the shoving off of opponents, pulling down the head, hitting after the break, etc. in order to frustrate his opponents or to set them up for combinations, which have become a major part of his arsenal.
These are things many referees, writers & commentators seem to overlook when building up a 'larger-than-life star' - this changes suddenly once the shine has gone off & they all start taking a much more critical look, & the shine is definitely off Broner.
Their will likely be no repeat of the likes of Laurence Cole in any major bout.