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As Adrien Broner completely
dominated Antonio DeMarco last November in Atlantic City, it was clear that the
brash, trash-talking kid from Cincinnati could actually be on his way becoming
an elite fighter. In the bars along the Boardwalk after the fight, fans and
writers alike speculated on the next move of this possible future superstar.
Two names were not uttered
in the bars that late night and early morning. Those two names, however, were
at least conjured in the minds of people in the penthouses far above the
riff-raff populating the common bars of the Boardwalk. In the minds of people
who see boxing as just another business and moneymaking scheme like Swiss banking,
the names Gavin Rees and Paulie Malignaggi emerged front and center.
It’s a pretty simple
concept; if money can be made be simply marketing this kid, what’s the use in
risking that against solid, legitimate competition? After all, he could lose
his “0”.
And by the HBO ratings, the
Swiss banker is right. Boxing fans would rather watch Broner beat up the
hopeless, overmatched and much smaller Rees than an action-packed rematch of 2012’s
“Fight of Year.” While 1.2 million viewers watched the all-action Brandon Rios
vs. Mike Alvarado II war, 200,000 more boxing fans watched the sham that was
Broner vs. Rees.
Talking to Tom Hauser a few
years ago, Bob Arum referred to some to HBO fights as “dog sh*t.” Well, if we
as boxing fans give higher ratings to dog sh*t over competitive, action packed
fights, we asking for more dog sh*t. And we will get it.
The Golden Boy Promotions hype
machine went into overdrive and Adrien Broner was everywhere. In February, he
was ringside smiling for the cameras on ESPN2 at the Lamont Peterson vs. Kendall
Holt fight on Friday night and boarded a plane to do the same for Showtime on
Saturday evening. The following month, he took a detour to Miami and stayed
front and center with an arrest for battery.
So it was only natural for
the powers that be to have Broner leapfrog the highly competitive junior
welterweight division and jump to welterweight where a soft-punching titlist named
Paulie Malignaggi was waiting.
It was a great fight, with
both men giving as good as good as they got, taking turns hitting the other
where it really hurts. The back-and-fourth struggle continued, at least until
the night of the actual fight and the opening bell sounded.
The winner of the prizefight
itself was really never in doubt. Broner allowed the “Magic Man” to hit him
with soft pitter-pat touches most of the night before landing just a few hard
punches of his own during most rounds to earn the win. Only an amateur judge using
an amateur scoring system could afford Malignaggi the benefit of the doubt.
Broner himself was
lackluster in his performance, seemingly happy to take the win without ever making a statement by forcing the action and
actually trying to score a knockout. Among social media outlets, some fans
posted after the fight that Broner should not have been an 11-to-one favorite
going into the contest. I agree; Broner should have been a 30 or 40-to-one
favorite. Let’s face it; Paulie probably fought the best he could against
Broner. Broner gave a far from great display of boxing and still…Malignaggi
didn’t have a chance.
But Broner’s less-than-spectacular
showing did nothing to slow the Golden Boy hype train. Immediately following
Broner’s win, Golden Boy made sure its subsidiary The Ring magazine remained the head of the hype machine’s
sensationalism department. Writer Tim Smith quickly dispatched his (of course,
unbiased and independent) view of Broner’s performance as…“dazzlingly dominant.”
Yes, The Ring called Adrien Broner “dazzlingly
dominant” against Paulie.
[Writer’s third-person
extravaganza note: Mr. Kohut has also learned that Tim Smith will likely
receive some form of commendation for the piece by the esteemed Boxing Writers
Association of America.]
So what’s
next? Don’t be surprised if Broner’s next fight is against Shane Mosley or
worse, Lee Purdy. Or considering he is now the WBA world champion, how about
WBA number one-ranked Diego Chaves? Oh no, Chaves is fighting Al Haymon’s guy,
Keith Thurman, for the interim WBA world
title.
So who’s
the next highest-rated WBA welterweight? Well, Marcos Maidana is at number two.
This would actually be a great fight to make, so can they do it? My gut tells
me no. Maidana is too high risk. A loss to Maidana would lower Broner’s stock
further than a win would increase his value.
But the
writing is on the wall. The June WBA ratings showed “The Lion” Ed Paredes
sitting at number three on the WBA rankings. Paredes is undefeated in 37
professional fights, unless you include the three fights in which he lost. He’s
won 11 straight fights and is in absolutely no position to demand more than a
case of beer and a bus ticket home for taking the fight.
We just
might have our winner! It looks like the Broner vs. Rees rematch will remain on
the backburner as boxing fans prepare for the “Future of Boxing” to step to
challenge Paredes. A fight sure to guarantee a solid count of stupid boxing fans
who will watch any, as Bob Arum would say, dog sh*t Showtime will air.
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