Barring a Win, Broner's Legacy To Be Full of Wasted Promise

By Lyle Fitzsimmons

If boxing is your career field, you could follow far worse blueprints than Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s.

Now 40 years old, the Pretty Boy-turned-Money man cut an enviable swath of excellence across five weight classes across parts of three decades while building an out-of-ring conglomerate hardly approached by peers past or present.

And while he's undeniably loathed by some, he's just as loved by others and has typically earned grudging respect from the middle thanks to athletic acumen – whether they embrace his oft-abrasive persona or not.

You want cocky, he can do that. You want humble, he can do that. You want mainstream crossover with a high-voltage smile, he's got that covered, too – with a Dancing with the Stars highlight tape to prove it.

No matter what role he's playing, in fact, he does so with enough boyish twinkle to make even sworn enemies concede he's a master of nearly all he surveys.

“Maybe he'll never lose,” rival and former foe Oscar De La Hoya told me a few years back.

“Maybe we're watching the greatest fighter that ever lived from our era here. You never know. This sport can throw you a curveball. I know that first-hand. Maybe we're watching a Floyd Mayweather who's reached his peak, or maybe we're watching a Floyd Mayweather who hasn't even begun.”

And then, it seems, there's Adrien Broner.

The Cincinnati-born stylist, now a bit past precocious at age 27, provided multiple glimpses of in-ring greatness while racking up title belts at 130, 135 and 147 pounds.

He used to refer to Mayweather as a “big brother,” and, when it came to jewelry-copping achievements as a preposterously gifted 20-something, the comparisons were perfectly apt.

Both had unmistakable physical gifts. Both never failed to come to work in pristine condition. And both had the skills to not only win fights against credible foes but to look spectacular in doing so.

Still, when it came to the other elements of being boxing's hottest promotional property – which a returning Mayweather unquestionably remains – Broner fell flat.

And with each display of sheer repugnance he provided after statement-making wins, the likelihood that he'd ever reach the “Money” stratosphere plummeted sharply.

These days, as he preps for the role of opponent in Mikey Garcia’s star turn, it seems long gone.

It’s one thing to think you're the biggest thing going and to broadcast that mindset whenever you're in microphone range. Mayweather – like Muhammad Ali and others before him – still has no compunction incorporating phrases like “The Best Ever” into his everyday lingo.

After all, people gravitate toward show-stoppers even if it's only to root against them.

But there's a line to be crossed between unapologetically confident and undeniably classless, and Broner often seemed determined to unabashedly cross it.

Lest we forget, his 2014 match with Carlos Molina was billed as a chance to come back after a first loss, rebuild confidence and perhaps show the touch of humility he claimed to have gained thanks to a crushing encounter with Marcos Maidana five months prior.

It was mission accomplished from bell to bell at least, as he overcame some early speed bumps, found his rhythm midway and spent the last half of the fight beating a clinical rat-a-tat on Molina's swollen, reddened face.

When Showtime's Jim Gray approached for post-fight comments, the stage was set for the supposedly new Broner to show the post-win Mayweather graciousness had rubbed off, too.

For image-building purposes, it was high time for a close-up.

Instead, Broner tastelessly labeled the win as no more than a televised sparring session, reveled in the fact that he "beat the f--k out of a Mexican" and conceded that at the end of the day, he's still "going to be Adrien Broner."

Whether we liked it or not, apparently.

In the end, if the night was a screen test, his result would have been "don't call us, we'll call you."

To be fair, the 1950s are gone and no one should have expected Broner – or any other modern athlete for that matter – to mirror the role-model palaver of generations past.

Still, there seemed to be an intense contrarian motivation with “The Problem” to push every behavioral envelope, no matter how non-incendiary the situation.

If it's a guy just being who he is, fine.

He was a big-time ring talent, and that's all any of us had a right to ask from him on a boxing show.

Win big fights and you'll be judged a big fighter. And if you don't care if people cheer for you, you needn't act as if you do.

But if Broner's true aim has been to inherit the mantel of overall greatness upon Mayweather's eventual exit, nights like he’s provided indicate there's a lot more ground to cover before the “little brother” becomes a man.

For too long, though, he seemed a little bit too content with "little punk."

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This week’s title-fight schedule:

FRIDAY
IBO super flyweight title – East London, South Africa
Gideon Buthelezi (champion/No. 14 IWBR) vs. Ryan Rey Ponteras (Unranked IBO/Unranked IWBR)
Buthelezi (19-5, 4 KO): Third title defense; Held IBO titles at 105 and 108 pounds
Ponteras (20-11-1, 9 KO) First title fight; Seven straight wins since 13-11-1 career start
Fitzbitz says: No one will confuse Buthelezi with the top-level elites of the division – hence his No. 14 independent ranking – but if he can’t give this guy a 12th career loss, forget it. Buthelezi by decision

WBO flyweight title – Shanghai, China
Zou Shiming (champion/No. 16 IWBR) vs. Sho Kimura (No. 6 WBO/No. 70 IWBR)
Shiming (9-1, 2 KO): First title defense; Second fight in Shanghai (1-0, 1 KO)
Kimura (14-1-2, 7 KO): First title fight; Never beaten fighter with more than eight wins
Fitzbitz says: There have been moments when Shiming has looked deserving of the post-Olympic hype he received. Against this underqualified foe, he’ll look spectacular once again. Shiming in 6

Last week's picks: 2-0 (WIN: Kyoguchi, Taguchi)
2017 picks record: 54-17 (76.0 percent)
Overall picks record: 876-291 (75.0 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.