Broner: No Regrets Dropping Title at 140, I'm Moving To 147

by David P. Greisman

The first time that Adrien Broner gave up a world title, he came in massively overweight for a bout with Vicente Escobedo in 2012, won the bout and then moved on up from junior lightweight to lightweight.

He went on to win a belt at 135 and another at 147 before dropping back down to 140 and ultimately picking up a title there — just last October with a technical knockout of Khabib Allakhverdiev to earn a vacant belt. That belt no longer belongs to him; Broner came in at 140.4 pounds for what would’ve been his first defense, a fight with Ashley Theophane. The bout happened anyway. Broner stopped Theophane in the ninth round, and the title is now vacant.

“I’m a four-time world champion in four different weight classes. We won that belt already. We on to the next one,” Broner told reporters after the Theophane win. “I said before I will not be fighting at 140 again. I’m going up in weight. I grew out of the weight. My next fight will be at 147 pounds.”

Broner was criticized by some for not trying to lose the final 0.4 pounds. He responded to critics by saying it was something that reporters never had to experience.

“You guys haven’t pushed yourself for three months trying to get down to that weight, and then once you reach that wall you just can’t go nowhere,” he said. “It was over. I grew out of the weight class.”

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