Amir Khan vs. Adrien Broner a possibility for March

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan’s shock news could be a fight against former 4-weight world belt holder Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner in March. There are rumors about Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) facing the 28-year-old Broner in their next fight. Khan-Broner qualifies for being a huge announcement like Khan has been saying.

There’s probably decent money for Khan and Broner fighting each other, but that’s about it. The winner of the Khan-Broner fight, if it takes place, isn’t going to be a key factor at 147. Khan will likely have too much speed for Broner, who is slow and not a big puncher. Khan mostly has problems against punchers, although he did struggle in his fights with Lamont Peterson and Chris Aligeri. Those guys walked Khan down and gave him problems with their punch volume.

Khan recently said that he wants to fight Broner or Keith Thurman. However, it was thought that Khan would take a tune-up fight first before he faced one of those 2 guys. But with the rumors circulating around about Khan-Broner for March, it could be that Khan won’t be taking a tune-up fight after all. You can argue that Broner is little more than a tune-up level fighter at this point in his career. Broner doesn’t have the power or the hand speed to fight at 140 and 147. Broner was at his best at 130 and 135. His power hasn’t carried up with him since he moved to light welterweight and welterweight.

”There’s going to be a big announcement, a very big announcement,” said Khan.

Fighting Broner is a big deal for Khan, but it’s not as if he’s fighting the best. Broner is little more than a fringe level fighter for the 147-lb. division. Broner struggles to make 140, and he would likely lose to the champions in that weight class. Broner’s career has really tanked lately with his losses to Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter, and his controversial win over Adrian Granados.

It’s an easy fight to make between Khan and Broner, as both guys are with manager Al Haymon. But it’s a fight that makes a ton of sense, as both fighters are clearly on the downside of their careers. As much as Broner and Khan are fun fighters to watch, it’s unlikely that either of them will ever win another world title at this late stage in their careers. Broner (33-3, 24 KOs) has weight problems, and he struggles just to make 140. It’s already been established that Broner doesn’t have the punching power to compete at 147. He doesn’t even possess the power to compete at 140 either at the highest rungs for the division. Broner is coming off a 12 round unanimous decision defeat to lightweight Mikey Garcia last July at 140. Before that fight, Broner was given a controversial 10 round split decision win over light welterweight Adrian Granados on February 2017. That fight took place at welterweight. Broner couldn’t make weight for the 140-lb. division evidently.

Khan was knocked out in the 6th round in his last fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez nearly 2 years ago in May 2016. Khan had hand surgery after that fight, and he’s chosen to stay out of the ring for the past 1 ½ years since that loss. Khan blames his time out of the ring on his hand surgery, but I think it’s safe to say that he hasn’t had the desire to get back in there and continue fighting. It’s a daunting task for the 31-year-old Khan to compete with the best at 147.

Khan’s career has never really been the same since his losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia in 2011 and 2012. We’ve seen Khan fighting tune-ups and past their prime fighters like Devon Alexander, Julio Diaz, Luis Collazo and Chris Algieri. The only good fighter Khan has fought in the past 6 years is Canelo, and he was knocked unconscious by him in 2016.

Broner has a chance of winning this fight due to Khan’s ring rust. Khan faded after 6 rounds in his fight with Chris Algieri, and after 5 rounds in his fight with Canelo. Khan’s stamina isn’t what it once was. That’s to be expected, as Khan spends a lot of time traveling and not training. Khan’s a part time fighter currently, and his conditioning is nowhere near where it needs to be for him to fight at the highest levels.