Adrien Broner showed that he still has his speed.
The former three-division world champion held a media workout ahead of his upcoming clash for the vacant WBA World super lightweight title against Khabib Allakhverdiev on Oct. 3.
Given, this is training, but he looked sharp, focused, and of course, fast.
In a video uploaded by FightHype.com on YouTube, Broner fired a 25-punch combination. And get this, it only took Broner approximately 6.45 seconds to pull that off. That’s impressive.
Allakhverdiev hasn’t been in the ring in nearly 18 months after suffering his first professional loss last April for the same belt in April 2014 against former titleholder Jessie Vargas.
Vargas worked well with his jab early, snapping Allakhverdiev’s head back constantly in the early rounds. Although Allakhverdiev picked up the pace as the fight went on and found success to the body of Vargas, he took a lot of damage.
Allakhverdiev’s eyes were swollen, and he suffered cuts above both of those eyes, and Vargas isn’t known for his power.
Broner has been notably criticized in the past couple years for fighting lethargically and being on the fortunate end of what some considered to be a controversial decision victory over former two-division titlist Paulie Malignaggi.
However, since early September, Broner has vowed not to conduct any media interviews until after his fight on Saturday.
The move by Broner could actually end up working in his favor. By curbing media interviews, that means fewer distractions. And when you have fewer distractions, for Broner, that means more time in the gym training.
As what the training portrayed, Broner is going to have the advantage in the speed department, so he’s going to have to put the pressure on Allakhverdiev early because he’s a second-half type of fighter.
If he executes the gameplan on Saturday, Broner will likely win a comfortable points position and claim his fourth world title in as many divisions. But if the Broner we saw against Shawn Porter comes back for a sequel, it could get hairy.
