On November 17th in Atlantic City on HBO, one of boxing’s young rising stars in Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner, will be matched against his toughest opponent to date as he moves up in weight to take on WBC World Lightweight Champion, Antonio DeMarco. Broner, to many is the second coming of Floyd Mayweather, Jr., the way he fights inside the ring and the way he self promotes himself. Broner is coming off knockout victories over Eloy Perez and Vicente Escobedo. In the Escobedo fight, Broner missed weight and seemingly had no intention of making it as he lost his 130 lb WBO world title on the scales. Now that he’s moved up, he is taking on one of the best lightweights in the world in Antonio DeMarco.
DeMarco is fresh off his 1st round knockout of John Molina on the undercard of Ward-Dawson this past September. DeMarco and Broner has good fight written all over it and one that could propel either fighter to new heights, especially for Broner, who looks to be a superstar in the making.
ThaBoxingvoice.com sat down with HBO Commentator Max Kellerman to get his thoughts on a fight that will be aired on his network.
“What do I think about Adrien Broner? Broner is a beast. I know he’s struggle against Ponce De Leon and struggled to make weight against Escobedo but you know it when you see it, he’s a beast. He’s been fighting smaller softer competition, but it’s so obvious,” Kellerman told ThaBoxingvoice.com.
Kellerman sees the comparison between Broner and Mayweather but feels that aside from mimicking the shoulder roll that has been a staple of the Mayweather defense, the similarities in the ring stop there.
“Just because he has the Mayweather defense, doesn’t mean he fights like Mayweather. He’s a good defensive fighter but not quite as good as Floyd (Mayweather). In actuality, he’s a better puncher than Mayweather and maybe a better puncher than I think he knows he is. He’s a real puncher and a real good boxer and that’s the truth.”
Onto his fight with Antonio DeMarco, Kellerman agrees it’s a tough one but one that could begin defining Adrien Broner’s career. “He struggled with an aggressive crafty fighter in Daniel Ponce De Leon. He’s a bigger version of that in his prime, and he (DeMarco) always has that extra special come forward in him. If he dominates DeMarco, that’s a real bold statement. To me, he jumps in to the top ten on many pound 4 pound lists as many expect he will end up anyway.”
