HBO will be live from Cincinnati July 21st when Adrien “The Problem” Broner squares off against Vicente Escobedo in a 12 round scheduled affair for Broner’s WBO junior lightweight title. Broner has become the top dog at 130lbs. It seems as though the separation between Broner’s skill level and that of the rest of the junior lightweight division is vastly different. Although Broner appears to be highly superior from the rest of the 130lb field, Escobedo could present some difficult challenges.
In Escobedo’s last fight against Juan Ruiz back in May, he looked solid by utilizing position in the fight and stringing his punches together well enough to earn a near shutout unanimous decision victory. Two of Escobedo’s three losses have come against top notch opponents in Robert Guerrero and Michael Katsidis. Since Escobedo has moved down from lightweight to junior lightweight, he’s been on a four fight win streak with a decision victory over Rocky Juarez.
I think this fight can be slightly more competitive than Broner’s last three fights; however that might not be saying too much. The issue still remains, even with the likely Broner victory, the talent pool at 130 isn’t deep enough to present Broner with any immediate challenges and certainly no fights of relevancy.
In order for Broner to merit a high-profiled fight, he must eventually exit the division and move up to seek out better opposition, as well as fighters with noteworthy names. That is just what Broner intends to do.
Broner was a guest on ThaBoxingVoice.com’s radio show Thursday and this is what “The Can-Man” had to say in regards to his future at 130lbs and his plans to move up to 135lbs since the other title holders in the division want no part of him. “They [Takashi Uchiyama and Takahiro Ao] want to keep their belts over there, they don’t want to come over here and get exposed,” Broner said.
Broner added, “This will be my last fight at 130lbs because those guys don’t want to fight me and I’m dame sure not going to go over there. You know what happens over there [overseas], they try to do whatever it takes to give you the L over there. I’m going to go up to 135lbs after this fight [with Escobedo].”
Thaboxingvoice.com then asked Broner if a fight with Hank Lundy at 135lbs would be interesting to him, especially considering the fact that the two fighters have ensued in a war of words on twitter.
“I like lil Hank Lundy, I call him permanent marker- you know he’s darker than 12:30. Hank Lundy is good but he makes a lot of mistakes, I just feel like I’m on a different level. I told [Lundy] he needs to stay off the canvas, stop eating the canvas. If he keeps winning maybe we could make a mega fight but he does nothing for me [right now],” Broner said.
Broner seems confident that he will move up with ease, adding “I have the ability to go to 135, 140, 147 and even 154 if it’s the right opponent.”
A fight that many fans have been buzzing about is a potential showdown between Broner and the highly rated Yuriorkis Gamboa. A fight between the two could result in an action packed, highly entertaining bout, as well as a potential career launching pad of sorts. Broner spoke about the fight and his doubts on it coming to fruition anytime soon.
“I’m hearing he’s [Gamboa} with Floyd and Floyd is one of the smartest businessmen out there, he’s not going to let that fight happen right now, it’s too risky. A guy like me, being compared to Floyd Mayweather, with the skill and the power I have, do you really want me to go in there with Gamboa? He’s smaller than me, I’m hurting guys and we all know Gamboa has a glass chin, he go down more than a rollercoaster,” Broner said.
Broner was on the fence about guys like Brandon Rios and Antonio Demarco; alluding to the fact that he may be bigger than those guys, but later adding that he could possibly see himself fighting the latter.
When we asked who he’d like to fight at a higher weight class Broner said, “any title holder, it really don’t matter, [Juan Manuel Marquez] if he wants to get it.”
“A lot of people think me going up 5 pounds is going to make a big difference and it’s not. I spar with junior middleweights and light heavyweights and I’m not going to pull out names but a lot of them hit the deck, the weight is not an issue,” Broner said.
One thing is for sure, after July 21st the 135lb division is about to have a real “problem” in the form of Adrien Broner, and you better believe “anybody can get it.”
For Full Audio of this interview click here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thaboxingvoiceradioshow/2012/07/12/adrien-broner-cornelius-bundrage-jose-luis-castillo
