By Michael Collins: Gavin Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s) may be considered an underdog against WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s), but he doesn’t see himself in that role and he thinks he’s going to beat Broner next month in their fight on February 16th.
Rees thinks Broner is just copying Floyd Mayweather Jr’s fighting style, but he doesn’t think he’s got the same kind of talent and he wants to expose that in their fight in the United States at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Rees said to Sky Sports “He’s [Broner] a Mayweather wanna be. We’ll see if he’s the real deal on February 16th. I don’t think he is.”
Broner is a better version of Mayweather in my view. He’s got better defensive skills and his power as better as well. I think Rees is going to be in for a rude awakening when he steps inside the ring with Broner. Rees is going to take a lot of punishment in this fight, and he’s going to have to possess a good chin to take Broner’s power for any length of time.
It would be surprising if a fighter like Rees was able to break Broner down and beat him in front of his own American fans at the Boardwalk Hall and on HBO. It would be a win that would put the 32-year-old Rees back on the boxing map in view him having kind of disappeared since being stopped in the 12th round by Andriy Kotelnick six years ago. Rees retreated from facing world class opposition after that loss and has been fighting domestic and European level opposition ever since.
Rees’ fans say he did this as a result of him not being able to get any of the world class fighters to take him. However, it’s hard to imagine going six years without fighting one world class opponent. How do you do that? At any rate, it’s good that Rees is finally stepping it up against Broner, but it’s bad that Rees is now 32 and fighting the best guy in the division. I think we might find that Rees won’t be able to hang with Broner and will get viciously stopped at some point.