Via Allan Fox: In what seems to be a call for helpAdrien Broner reached out to Floyd Mayweather Jr this week on social media, asking the retired star to help him in his career.
32-year-old former world champion Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) is said to want Mayweather to exert his influence in his career the same way he did with Gervonta ‘The Tank’ Davis.
Broner has only fought twice in the past four years since 2018 and looked underwhelming in a one-way loss to Manny Pacquiao and a questionable win over Jovanie Santiago over a year ago in February 2021.
Two of the judges let Broner into the first round even though he didn’t land a single punch.
“I miss you, man. I know we haven’t talked in a while, but honestly, I think I need you the most right now when it comes to this boxing,” said Adrien Broner social media.
It’s unclear what spells Mayweather can use in Broner’s career, as he can’t fight at 140 or 147 at high levels. The weight classes where Broner performed well were 130 and 135, but that was years ago.
Possible moves of Mayweather
- Returns AB to 130 or 135 splits
- Soft mix
- Increase Broner’s punch output
- Working on the condition of AB
Broner has been fighting in the welterweight division since 2013, and that was 9 years ago when he left the light weight division. Unless Mayweather can get Broner into a weight management program to cut his time to 130 or 135, he won’t be able to salvage his sagging career.
Without good hand speed, strength and work speed, Broner’s career would not have been saved by Mayweather’s intervention. The obvious move Mayweather – or any advertiser – can make to help Broner is to join a weight management program and cut him down to 130, so he can compete in the ultralightweight division. .
When Broner was at the peak of his career, he was playing in the 130 lb division. He had a size advantage over his opponents, and his strength went further in that weight class.
Where things went downhill for Broner was when he moved up to 147 in 2013 and was clearly beaten by Marcos Maidana. If he hadn’t made so much money as 147, Broner would probably have fallen back to 130 or 135 lb, but he chose to be in a weight class his body couldn’t handle.
Mayweather cannot be given too much credit for the success of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis because he is a guy with great hand speed and power. Given the talent of Tank Davis, he would do well with any advertiser, not just Mayweather.
You could argue that Mayweather saved Tank Davis from the loss by not confronting him tough by swapping places for Vasyl Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez. If Mayweather had taken on the tough Tank earlier in his career, he would have had more than a few losses on his résumé.
