Roy Jones Jr. thinks it was a big mistake for former WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KO’s) to have been matched against a puncher like Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) last month in their fight on December 14th. Jones Jr. thinks that Broner’s tougher than expected fight against Paulie Malignaggi was a sign that he needed to fight a slightly stronger fighter for his next fight instead of being put in with arguably the hardest puncher in the 147 lb. division in Maidana.
Golden Boy Promotions set up the Broner-Maidana fight, and Jones Jr. thinks that was a mistake. He felt that Broner needed more time for him to slowly grow into becoming a welterweight instead of jumping up to that weight class and quickly being put in the ring with Maidana in a risky right.
“When I heard that he was fighting Maidana, I knew I said Maidana’s going to give him a hard time,” Jones Jr. told Hustleboss. “I’d rather see you going from a light punching guy to a medium punching guy to a hard punching guy. I think he jumped into the Maidana fight a little quicker than I would want to see him do it. I think it was a fight they took a little too early for him at that weight.”
Jones Jr. doesn’t say whether he thinks Broner’s making a mistake in fighting Maidana in a rematch in April, but it’s not likely that he approves of his decision. If Broner wasn’t ready for Maidana’s power in December then it’s not likely any better off just 4 months later with little time between the fights and no additional fights to get him ready for what he’ll be experiencing in the ring with the hard hitting Argentinian.
Did Broner’s handlers make a mistake in having him pick up the WBA 147 lb. title too soon in his career? It had to have been tempting to see the light hitting Malignaggi holding the belt, because that was the perfect opportunity for Broner – or almost any good lightweight, light welterweight or welterweight – to face him and take his title. But the problem is that once Broner had the title, he’d be forced to fight guys that can actually punch like Maidana and Keith Thurman. It might have been a smarter for Broner to dump the WBA strap and either move back down or stay at 147 and carefully pick out fights against opposition with average power.
