It was two weeks ago when Adrien Broner made his return to boxing with a win over Jovanie Santiago in a unanimous decision. Although Broner’s performance may not have been the comeback we expected, his charisma and attitude is needed.
When we look at the top guys such as Canelo, Spence, Crawford and more they are exceptional talents indeed. Their fighting has gained fans in the boxing world and makes them main event fighters. But on the flip side, they don’t possess the out-of-the-ring attraction that Boxing used to require to grab attention.
When we look at guys such as Muhammad Ali, Floyd Mayweather, or even Zab Judah, they all had that ‘IT’ factor outside the ring. Ali would rhyme in press conference and other times when talking. Floyd would walk his way to the ring with a sombrero on and rile up other ethnicities and countries. Floyd made fans of the other fighters desperately wanting to beat the daylights out of Mayweather every fight. And the more they won, more fans wanted to see him lose and hate him. Just like any sports, but especially boxing, every competitive sport/entertainment place needs a bad guy. The bad guy is what brings people in ready to lose.
Adrien Broner was the bad guy in boxing the richer and bigger he got. The more money he earned the more the he went the Mayweather route. Fans began to hate the 4 division champion more. And although Broner doesn’t seem to win in the big moments, there’s a reason why Al Haymon gave him that kind of fight. And best believe if he continues to win more the the boxing world will see his face. Hopefully he will become a villain.
When we look at the current champs right now (Canelo, Porter Crawford, Fury, Spence…) they are boring but great fighters. They don’t even necessarily possess the knockout attraction that Mike Tyson had. Back then, if fighters didn’t have the charisma outside the ring they made up for it with a knockout so unpredictable they’d make you mad to go and pee. Unfortunately, we rarely see that in todays boxing. However, don’t get me wrong, we still have guys such as Tank and Wilder who have that knockout power. But as the competition gets higher for those guys, we can expect that knockout percentage to go down.
In addition, the pure boxing aspect has gotten better. Fighters seem more focused and disciplined in and out the ring. We don’t hear too much illegal action going on with the top fighters nowadays. The defensive and offensive techniques that are put on display have been top notch from the champions. But only mainly the boxing world knows that and not the entire sports world. Social media followings definitely helps a bit.
Nonethless, Adrien Broner’s in your face attitude is needed in boxing and Al Haymon understands that. People hate him but love to see him lose.
The SSN Blog 