Three-time division world champion Adrien Broner has been compared to, at great extent, Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mostly because of the way he has tried to emulate the pound-for-pound king’s fighting style and with the way he has represented himself to the public.
When Broner stopped Antonio DeMarco in 2012, a majority of the public believed that he was the next Mayweather. DeMarco was a young, promising lightweight who knocked out John Molina Jr. in 40 seconds just before his fight with Broner.
In the wake of Broner’s upset loss to Marcos Maidana in December 2013, at least the man has shown a soupcon of humility. His trainer Mike Stafford has served a peculiar role in this situation, acting as more of a public relations official for Broner in recent interviews. In an interview with FightHype.com, Stafford went as far as to say that Broner never wanted to be compared to Floyd Mayweather Jr, which has been the mainspring of risible looks amongst boxing analysts.
“He doesn’t want to be compared to Floyd. I think he wants to be Adrien Broner. That’s why he came out with ‘AB’ and ‘About To Be.’ He never said that he wanted to be like Floyd, never in his interviews or anything. The media said that,” said Stafford. “He (Broner) said that he watched all of his fights. Everything he does is about instinct. We go over some stuff and then he comes up with some new stuff [and] it works, then I get on his page, but then we would get on each other’s page. If I see some stuff, he would get on my page. We adjust as the fight goes on. That’s the whole key of being Adrien.”
Let’s face reality: nearly every fighter wants to be like Floyd Mayweather Jr, an undefeated world-class fighter, make bank while doing it, but in their own name. Stafford admitted that Broner watched all of Mayweather’s fights, and if you watch Broner’s past bouts, it’s clear that he is emulating Mayweather. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Every fighter is different. Broner is an offensive-minded fighter with great defense. Mayweather is a defensive-minded fighter with great offense. The difference is that Broner does it while moving towards his opponent, while Mayweather does it quite the opposite. They are clearly different fighters, but it’s also apparent that Broner has used ‘Money’ to aid his own career.
Once again, there’s nothing wrong with that. Every world-class athlete has had a mentor or coach give them advice that really had an impact. A good example would be Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. Earnhardt helped Gordon grow into the driver he was on the race track. That doesn’t mean that Gordon wanted to literally be like Earnhardt, but he wanted the same type of success, just in his own name. That’s what Adrien Broner is doing here.
When asked if there was any fear of disrespecting Mayweather by disregarding the comparisons, Stafford laughed off the question stating that Adrien sees Floyd as a “big brother.” But, on the other hand, Stafford admits that he didn’t see the media and fans comparing his fighter to Mayweather when he was coming up the rankings.
“I didn’t see it. I think them being two black African-Americans with the same type of speed and the same type of charisma; I think that’s what it is. If he does something spectacular, then he’s trying to act like Floyd. When Mexicans fight all the time, they don’t say that he’s trying to fight like this Mexican. They say that he’s a tough Mexican.”
Is Stafford trying to imply that the Broner criticism is based on his race? I did not quite understand where he was going with that. Stafford could have provided specific examples that would try to help the people understand where he was going with the Mexican comment. Are there any examples of world-class Mexican fighters that fight as similar as Adrien and Floyd? I can think of popular superstars like Julio Cesar Chavez, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Oscar De La Hoya, but from my vantage point, they are all pretty divergent in many ways.
Another interesting thing to point out is how Floyd Mayweather Jr. seems to have no problem with Adrien Broner using the Mayweather name to piggyback off him. Mayweather has had quite the oppugnant reaction when a man named Manny Pacquiao, who he fights May 2nd at the MGM Grand, does it. Is that based off race? You be the judge.
