Last Saturday, February 16th, Adrien Broner scored an impressive TKO over the durable Gavin Rees. Comparisons with Floyd Mayweather Jr. are unavoidable due Broner's style, which to many observers is identical to Floyd's. At some point, Broner must be recognized on his own merits rather than his Mayweather impression.
For one, Broner can punch. His opponents, much like Floyd's, face the possibility of humiliation and getting shutout on the scorecards. But unlike Floyd's opponents, they also have to worry about taking a real beating (even without getting sucker punched). Furthermore, Broner is no runner. He's much more aggressive than Floyd ever was.
Broner may not realize it but his public admiration of Mayweather is doing him more harm than good. If he keeps it up, he will forever be known as the Mayweather clone. The dream scenario would be for Broner to make the leap to 147 and call out Mayweather before he hangs up the gloves for good.
The thing of it is, Mayweather is afraid of Broner. Mayweather is picking his words carefully when it comes to Broner. He wants to play it cool and accept Broner's worship. So far Broner hasn't shown anything but respect for Mayweather but that could quickly change should Mayweather ever make a derogatory remark about Broner. Once Broner starts dogging and calling Mayweather out, Mayweather would have nowhere to run.
The current version of Mayweather will be spanked and dominated by Broner. Mayweather has been hard at work masterminding his exit strategy. By the time he's done not only would he have successfully evaded Manny Pacquiao, he would've also let his remaining threats eliminate each other.
Prime example is Austin Trout, who is scheduled to face Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in May. These are the two obvious choices for Mayweather's next opponent, but Mayweather knows that he stands no chance against the tall, slick, jabbing southpaw, Austin Trout. The biggest fight Mayweather can make this side of Pacquiao would be against Alvarez, who is tailor made for Mayweather.
But if Mayweather beats Alvarez now, Trout would still be around. Mayweather is hoping that Alvarez does the dirty work for him just like Juan Marquez did. Should the Trout-Canelo bout go the distance, as is likely the case, regardless of what happens in the ring you can bet your house and three children that the judges will give it to Canelo (we've seen how low they could go in Pacquiao-Bradley). Should Trout so much as allow his head to get snapped back, the fight will be stopped quicker than you could say, "Chavez-Taylor." With Trout out of the picture, Mayweather can go on to vanquish Alvarez, who will be marketed as the most dangerous fighter who ever lived.
In the mean time, Adrien Broner will be at the sidelines watching the parade that he should've been headlining in with Mayweather. Add Broner to the list of fighters that Mayweather avoided either directly or indirectly. Hopefully boxing would produce enough interesting fighters to make Broner's reign a memorable one.
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