Is Adrien Broner an elite welterweight? Did Broner deserve the hard-fought ten round split decision victory he picked up over Adrian Granados on Saturday night? Who will Broner fight next? These are just a few of the questions surrounding “The Problem” and the future of his career. In a fair world, Broner would grant the deserving Granados a return fight, but that’s not going to happen.
Granados might have answered one of the questions asked above though: Broner, Granados says, is not a welterweight. But Broner, who has had weight problems, is unlikely to drop back down to 140. Broner is targeting the big names at 147 and he said after squeaking past Granados that he is very interested in fighting either Manny Pacquiao and/or the winner of the upcoming March unification meeting between Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman.
You can’t blame Broner for wanting to stay at welterweight, as this is where the action is, and the big, big money. And though he has made some effort at toning down his bad boy/fighter you love to hate image, Broner against Pac-Man would still be marketed as a Good Guy vs. Bad Guy match-up. And in terms of styles, Broner – a better, more well-conditioned version than the one who faced Granados – just might give Pacquiao a tough fight.
Thurman would be too big and powerful for Broner, but the fans who still dislike the man who is back on friendly terms with Floyd Mayweather would possibly tune in to see if Thurman could flatten him. Garcia, if he gets past Thurman, would be a good fight for Broner; as “Swift” is no big welterweight himself.
Broner wants to stay active, having had a pretty event-less 2016, and it’s possible we will see him fight again in the summer. And say this about Broner, he is almost always involved in good, watchable fights. It really does seem a very long time ago when “The Problem” was living up to his nickname in fights against the best junior-lightweights and lightweights.
