Broner: I feel like punching Mikey Garcia’s face

Boxingnews24.com

By Jeff Aranow: With just 1 week to go before his big showdown with unbeaten Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) on July 29, Adrien “The Problem” Broner (33-2, 24 KOs) says he feels like punching him in the face. Believe it or not, this is a welcome relief to the 29-year-old Garcia that Broner is starting to sound aggressive because he feels that he’s been too friendly to him during the early press conferences, and he doesn’t view him as a friend of his.

Broner says he’s now taking his boxing career seriously, and he sees this as a fight that he must win to take his career to the next level. Broner still wants to become a PPV attraction, but he needs to beat guys like Garcia for him to get to the next level.

Broner-Garcia will be fighting on Showtime Boxing this Saturday night on July 29 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight is not pay-per-view, as neither guy has been able to establish themselves as a big enough attraction for them to ask the boxing world to pay their fights.

The undercard for the Broner-Garcia fight is an interesting one between undefeated former IBF junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (25-0, 19 KOs) and Jorge Sebastian Heiland (29-4-2, 16 KOs). Their fight is a WBC middleweight title eliminator. The winner of the match will be the WBC mandatory challenger to WBC champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. The 27-year-old Charlo could be the future ruler of the middleweight division. He’s someone with a good chance of taking over for Golovkin. The only thing Charlo will need to do is separate himself from the rest of the middleweight pack by beating Saul Canelo Alvarez, Danny Jacobs and David Lemieux. Those are the top guys right now at 160. Billy Joe Saunders is the WBO champion, but he’s not viewed as someone that is having any staying power as a champion.

”I’m coming to mess him up. I’ve said like we’re too close right now and I feel like punching his face,” said Broner. ”My main focus is just getting in the best shape I can so I can go mess Mikey up.”

Broner is at 144 pounds right now. He’s got a little bit more weight to take off for him to get down to the 140-pound limit. Broner made a point in saying that he’s not going to be giving up half million dollars if he comes in one pound over the weight limit. That’s what the weight penalty is for the fight. It’s surprising that Broner agreed to that. It kind of shows you that Broner is not the A-side in this fight that he normally is. When you have a weight penalty like that for a fight and you’re the one that it’s targeting, it suggests that you’re not the A-side.

Broner stands to gain a lot by beating Mikey. A victory over Garcia will increase Broner’s popularity among the boxing fans. However, Broner will still need to straighten out his life outside the ring and get more focused on the sport if he’s go anywhere. Broner hasn’t proven that he’s even the second-best fighter in the 140-pound division. He’s not the best fighter at 147. That’s already been established with Broner losing badly to Shawn Porter two years ago in a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss in 2015.

If Broner gets past Mikey Garcia, he can get the winner of the Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo fight if he wants it. That would take a lot of courage on Broner’s part to take that fight considering how talented those guys are. If Broner can beat Garcia and the winner of the Crawford-Indongo contest, he will have gone a long way to proving to the boxing media that he’s back to the level he was at before his loss to Marcos Maidana in 2013.

”I’m ready to fight. And next week I’m going to show everybody and I’m still that young and dangerous. I’ll go take over this sport of boxing,” said Broner.

Broner, 27, is 2 years younger than the 29-year-old Garcia. The youth is still there for Broner, but he’s not been getting the same performances that he had 5 years ago or more. It could be that Broner is one of those fighters that have aged quicker than the norm. It’s more likely the case that Broner hasn’t been taking care of himself outside of the ring like he should be keeping in shape, eating sensibly and working out daily to stay in shape between fights.

If Broner has been sitting around in between fights, getting fat, and then using his training camps for glorified fat farms, it’s no wonder why he’s having so many problems in fighting at an elevated level. He’s no taking care of himself the way he should. Broner may have hurt his own career by not staying in tip top condition and putting time into his craft. He’s obviously got other interests besides boxing in his life. When those outside interests get in the way of boxing, then you see problems that carry over into the ring.

”I just want to go out there and show the people, I am one of the top boxers for a reason. I’m going to be victorious next week,” said Broner.

Broner says he has a couple of game plans that he’ll be using potentially against Garcia on July 29. He hasn’t said what those game plans are. We know that it’s not going to work well for Broner if he tries to box Garcia for 12 rounds. Garcia has the faster hands, and the better power for single shots. Broner must try and wear Garcia down with a high-volume attack. Here are the best plans for Broner to use against Garcia next Saturday:

– Wear Garcia down with a high-volume attack

– Stay in the center of the ring. Don’t fight off the ropes

– Jab

– Keep the pressure on Garcia the entire time

– Don’t back up

– Watch for Garcia’s left-hand counters

Broner isn’t going to beat Mikey Garcia by boxing him. I don’t think that works with Garcia. It’s been tried by a lot of fighters, who have looked to box, move and survive against him. Broner must try and wear Garcia down. He’s not going to be able to get the better of him in boxing. Garcia has a good jab, and he’ll win rounds with his solid power shots. Garcia’s punches will get the attention of the judges.

Broner must turn the fight into a dog fight to test Garcia’s stamina and chin. Garcia will be putting on weight for this fight, and that extra weight could cause him to fade in the later rounds. Garcia also hasn’t fought a full 12 rounds for three years since his win over Juan Carlos Burgos in January 2014. That was the only time in Garcia’s 11-year pro career that he had to go the full 12 round distance. Garcia’s fight with Burgos was fought at a slow pace. Garcia’s stamina could be suspect. He’s not been dragged the full 12 round distance enough in his career for him to have great stamina. That should be something that Broner tries to take advantage of next Saturday night.

I hate to say it, but Broner will need to fight the perfect fight for him to beat Mikey in this match. Broner cannot win by fighting like he’s been lately in his fights with Adrian Granados, Ashley Theophane and Shawn Porter. That won’t work against Garcia.