By Ryan Burton
Last week former four-division champion Adrien "The Problem" Broner took to his social media network to fire shots at WBA/WBC welterweight champion Keith Thurman and his April 21st opponent Jesse Vargas.
"Keith Thurman, I hear you talking sh*t.. bitch ass n*gga. This ain't no fake beef like you and Shawn got going on. Lil n*gga you don't want this smoke. Motherf***er will get on yo ass... bitch ass n*gga. And you can get next after I f*** Vargas up.. p*ssy," Broner stated on social media.
Broner (33-3, 24 KOs) was originally scheduled to face Omar Figueroa who pulled out of the fight after suffering an injury in his training camp.
Vargas is looking at the fight the same way as Broner - as a path to a fight against Thurman. Vargas has been critical of Thurman for not fighting him in his next fight which is scheduled for May 19th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
"It's going to be a great fight because I'm coming in with the same intentions. I'm going to make a statement on April 21st! The only difference is that I have accepted that Keith still will not fight me after I beat Broner. He's out hiding and everyone knows it," Vargas told BoxingScene.com.
As for Broner's comment about, "f***ing him up," Vargas took the remark in stride.
“I'm not worried about what he has to say outside of the ring. Inside of the ring I'm going to solve the problem!"
Vargas (28-2, 10 KOs), a 28-year-old former welterweight champion, has only suffered two decision losses, to future Hall of Famers Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao. Vargas won the welterweight title with a TKO victory over Sadam Ali in 2016. Ali is currently the WBO world champion at junior middleweight.
Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter