By Andreas Hale
Adrien Broner has done it again.
No, he hasn’t added another world championship to his trophy case. Instead, he’s added another mugshot. This time, Broner was arrested in Kentucky on a warrant after being stopped in a bullet-riddled SUV. It’s just another instance where Broner simply cannot get out of his own way.
Once upon a time, Broner was ranked as high as 5th on The Ring magazine’s pound for pound list (December 2012). It appeared that he was destined to become one of the sport’s biggest stars by being a four-weight world champion. His style was entertaining. And when coupled with his abrasive personality, Broner had all of the makings to be a major box office attraction.
But his outside of the ring persona began to manifest in ways that became damaging to his career. The mug shots started to pile up and his antics away from boxing overshadowed his ability. And then he had a subpar showing against Paulie Malignaggi that led to him biting off more than he could chew against Marcos Maidana. We all know how that went. Another loss to Shawn Porter followed and his stock took a significant hit. Granted, he’s still a very good boxer. But he’s no longer recognized as a pound for pound talent. With all of the arrests, court appearances and YouTube videos getting more attention than his fights, there is one question that looms large over his career.
How will we remember Adrien Broner?
We’ve grown accustomed to Floyd Mayweather’s brash act, which has toned down considerably as he’s grown older. But Mayweather had the skills to back it up as it became evident that nobody could shut him up. Regardless, Mayweather was in the business of selling his fights. Broner, on the other hand, has become more interested in staying in the limelight by any means necessary, even if it is at his own detriment. This isn’t to suggest that Mayweather was ever an angle, but he did have an off switch. Broner, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to have one. Even facing possible catastrophe, the 27-year-old continues to find himself involved in extracurricular activities that had added nothing to his boxing career.
Unfortunately, the fact that he was a four-division champion has become drowned out by his constant run-ins with the law. It’s become increasingly difficult to root for Broner considering how often he finds himself in the midst of trouble. Even for those of us who want to see Broner navigate his way through these issues, it’s evident that the boxing community has had their fill of Broner and his antics.
Despite all these issues, he’s still only 27. So much success and money came his way at an early age that it is obvious that it was a case of “too much, too soon” for the young champion. But how many more chances will he get? In a recent interview, Shawn Porter’s father and trainer, Kenny, suggested that Broner’s brash and controversial attitude has afforded him opportunities that his son hasn’t received. While that is true to some degree, his margin of error inside of the ring has become significantly smaller. He’s been granted two passes with losses to Maidana and Porter. He fought valiantly in the former and started far too late in the latter. But the patience for Broner has run thin. And when you’re in the news for everything but boxing, it begins to cast a long shadow that winning against lesser competition will not get you out of.
Broner has done himself absolutely no favors over the past half decade with his constant issues with the law. The peak of his troubled life hit with the Cincinnati bowling alley incident in January 2016. Fortunately, Al Haymon continues to find value in Broner competing because he is still a very good boxer. But it appears that he may be on his third strike. If he loses to another welterweight, chances are that his opportunities to be a viable world champion will be flushed down the toilet. And if his prime years are wasted away fighting off court cases, how else are we supposed to remember Adrien Broner?
If Adrien Broner’s career were to end today, how would we remember it? Would it be the world titles he won in four divisions or would it be the “what could have been” conversation that often follows fighters who never lived up to their potential.
But what if Broner has already reached his potential? What if we are all holding out for something that doesn’t exist? Maybe we’ve already seen the best of Broner and all that’s left is the fall. At 27 years of age, it’s very young for a fighter to completely fall off into obscurity. But it is certainly a possibility.
Hopefully, Broner can manage to find a way to stay out of trouble and do his talking in the ring. If he can do that, there’s a possibility that this chapter of his career can be chalked up to him being too young and not able to handle the fortune and the fame. But if he’s unable to make those changes to his life, his legacy is already cemented as someone who could never get it together in order to reach their potential.
