Apparent future superstar Adrien Broner moves up two divisions when he challenges hometown kid and WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Showtime will televise the bout.
Broner is a familiar kind of Malignaggi opponent. This is the third time Paulie has found himself in a fight like this, in New York against a talented young fighter deemed to have big-time potential. The first two instances happened at junior welterweight, where Malignaggi made his name. In 2006, Malignaggi (then only 25 himself) fought a 25-year-old Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden and took a bad beating. Four years later he fought Amir Khan in the same venue and took another bad beating.
The only thing that could keep him from taking another bad beating tomorrow night is the 147-lb limit the fight will be contested at. Broner has never fought at junior welterweight, let alone welterweight, and just two fights ago he was still fighting at junior lightweight.
In recent years it has become somewhat common to see fighters jump multiple weight classes in a short period of time and maintain their level of performance (with Manny Pacquiao starting the trend); we’ll see how Broner fares. Judging from the photos he posted of himself on Instagram during his training camp, the added weight hadn’t caused his physique to suffer any. He looks phenomenal, like a picture of physical fitness. Of course, just because he’s shredded doesn’t mean his vaunted speed and power won’t be dulled by the extra 12 lbs.
It doesn’t matter. Even if Broner is not his usual self tomorrow night, the gap in talent between him and Malignaggi is so wide that a victory for Broner is virtually guaranteed. Malignaggi has absolutely no punching power but he is a good fighter, a good boxer, a slickster with solid legs and hand speed.
Broner, though, is something altogether different. He may be the best young fighter since Floyd Mayweather, Jr., the man he pattern himself after in (and out of) the ring. A gifted athlete like Mayweather, Broner copied his friend’s trademark shoulder-roll defense, poise, and early (and recent) boxer-puncher style to a tee (the similar gait and mannerisms making the mimicry uncanny).
Malignaggi’s best win came in 2009, in the rematch of a fight most people thought he won against Juan Diaz that same year. Malignaggi gave nice performances in those fights, but Broner battered Antonio De Marco and Gavin Rees in his previous two outings. Malignaggi is better than both of those men, but really, by how much? Not enough to make any kind of meaningful difference in this fight.
It’s impossible to know if Broner will respond to the new division against Malignaggi, but it’s just as impossible to foresee the Cincinnati native losing this fight regardless of how well he carries the weight.
Broner TKO11 Malignaggi.
Neon Graveyard 