Roach: Adrien Broner has ruined his boxing career

By Jeff Aranow: Trainer Freddie Roach thinks Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner (33-3, 24 KOs) has ruined his boxing career by failing to take it seriously by being dedicates, and he doubts whether the 28-year-old former 4-division world champion will be able to turn things around.

Broner will be fighting undefeated Omar Figueroa Jr. (27-0-1, 19 KOs) on April 21 in a fight at a still to be determined venue on Showtime Boxing.

Roach thinks is too concerned about having fun as a playboy, and not putting his full concentration on turning his sagging career around. Broner lost his last fight Mikey Garcia on July 29 last year, and he came close to losing his fight before that against Adrian Granados. Those 2 fights showed that Broner is not what he once was, and it’s very questionable whether he can ever get back to the fighter he was years ago. But even when Broner was at his best, he wasn’t beating high caliber opposition.

Broner’s best wins before his career turned sour were against Antonio DeMarco, Eloy Perez, Vincente Escobedo, Gavin Rees, Jason Litzau, Daniel Ponce De Leon and Vincente Martin Rodriguez. Broner’s victory over Ponce De Leon in March 2011 was a controversial 10 round unanimous decision that a lot of boxing fans saw as a robbery. Broner appeared to lose and he was a given a fairly lopsided decision by 2 of the judges at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. You can argue that even when Broner was at his best, he was still not a very good fighter. When you’re getting controversial wins over Ponce De Leon, it tells you something about Broner’s talent.

“Who cares about Broner right now? As far as his boxing career, I think he’s ruined that,” Roach said to Fighthub. “If he could go back to Colorado Springs, one of his training camps to where he’d be secluded, he could do very well, because he’s a good fighter. But for him to get ready for a fight in his hometown, forget about it. It’s not going to happen. He’s too much of a playboy with too many distractions. I watched him shopping in New York the other day, coming back carrying 50 bags. Is that serious? Come on, give me a break. He has good trainers. He’s had great trainers. Train him? Knowing his reputation and his past, I don’t think it’s going to work, because we’re so different,” Roach said when asked if he’d be interested in training Broner.

It’s going to be tough for Broner to turn things around because he’s already made a lot of money, and he’s probably got enough to live off of for the rest of his life. The hunger that some fighters have probably isn’t there for Broner at this point in his career. Broner hasn’t looked good in such a long time.

The major problems that hold Broner back from being a good fighter are these things:

• Lack of power for the 140 lb. division

• Flat-footed fighting style

• Slow hand speed

• Poor mobility

• Tendency to fight off the ropes

• Clowning too much during fights

These are all flaws that Broner showed even in his last fight against Mikey Garcia. If Broner hasn’t fixed some of these flaws by now, it’s not likely that he’s going to be able to turn things around moving forward in 2018. Broner’s next opponent Figueroa could very well end his career by giving him a bad beating like he did to Robert Guerrero last July in his 3rd round knockout win. Guerrero hung up his gloves after that fight. Broner may be put in the same position if he gets beaten by Figueroa too.

“It’s something that doesn’t faze me,” Figueroa said to ES News Reporting about Broner’s trash talking. “What can he possibly say that’s going to change anything. If anything, it’s going to make me even more mad than I already get before a fight, because I hate cutting weight. I feel like I could beat Lomachenko easily, because the worst thing that a pretty style of boxer can have is me that gets in there and makes it messy. 140 shouldn’t be a problem. I almost made 140 in my last fight. I got to eat and drink and relax before the fight. So that shouldn’t be a problem,” Figueroa said.

Broner will likely try and get in Figueroa’s head in the press conferences before they meet up on April 21. Figueroa doesn’t seem like the type of fighter that lets trash talking by his opponents get to him. He’s one of those fighters that jumps on his opponents no matter what and tries to knock them out. Broner is going to be in a war in this fight whether he trash talks or not. I don’t think it’s going to help him get a break. Figueroa is going to take the fight to Broner and look to KO him. If Broner does win this fight without controversy, then it’s going to say a lot about his preparation and heart, because he’s going to need to be in top form mentally and physically for him to win this fight.

”Punish him as much as possible,” Figueroa said in talking about his game plan for beating Broner. ”That’s the game plan every time. I’m not aiming for the knockout per se, but I do want to punish him as much as possible,” Figueroa said.

Figueroa is looking forward to beating Broner and using the win to get bigger fights, but at 147, not at 140. Figueroa and Broner will be fighting at 140. I don’t think it’s going to help Broner. Figueroa will rehydrate and will very likely be near160 by the time he enters the ring. Broner doesn’t want to fight welterweights, but he’s going to be in there with a guy that is big enough to fight in that weigh class.

Broner showed a brief glimpse of talent in the 12th round of his fight with Shawn Porter in June 2015. Broner knocked Porter down with a left hook and had him hurt in the 12th. But it was too little too late for Broner. He’s given up the first 11 rounds of the fight by not letting his hands go. Porter won an easy 12 round decision. Figueroa could beat Broner even worse than Porter did. If that happens, it might be a good time for Broner to walk away from the sport and call it a day.