In music the most talented step away from lifelong friends and family members to take power, ever heard of a dude named Michael Jackson? Powerful people look at their watches and the same time is always displayed 24/7 and that time is now- it’s a timezone unshared with the powerless. Floyd Mayweathers watch is always on now, and when you operate in that reality there’s a good chance there is no tomorrow for the likes of Adrien Broner.
In this buildup to a fight Broner should be applauded for
taking the Cincinnati native did everything in his “power” to let you know he
will be handed something from Mayweather. Something nobody else inherited,
something many have had to hurt idols and friends to achieve. Muhammad Ali had
the power despite his former sparring partner being heavyweight champion of the
world, and even though Holmes felt deeply for the champ he had to take what was his or forever take crumbs.
Rocky Marciano’s handlers knew it best, they knew he’d never be “that guy”
unless he mugged Joe Louis and with that crime came financial power.
Boxing is the roughest business in sports and entertainment
so it baffles me that Adrien Broner, normally an objectionable personality
would be so soft in this of all matters. Did he not do his dirt on the streets
like he claims? Did anyone ever “pass down” a slab of concrete to him and his
crew? Especially if that concrete was the only place to get money?. What are
the chances Floyd Mayweather retires and Adrien Broner collects even a 20
million dollar payday in his next fight?, only powerful people know someone of much greater financial stature has to be
destroyed for this to happen. John Gotti knew it, in fact so do most Monarchs.
Being the best pound for pound fighter in the world is fluid and everyone is eligible, but being the money man is something contingent on lowering the financial viability of other money men. In organized crime “bosses” are routinely murdered and the wisdom from law enforcement went as such; if you want to know who killed the boss all you have to do is find out who the new boss is. Oscar De La Hoya was the boss, and Floyd Mayweather (already the superior fighter) knew then that his financial future rested on beating him on a huge stage. Adrien Broner is talented (like Floyd) and may be as obnoxious but how will he convey that on a bigger stage when he believes it will be handed to him? At this rate Floyd will leave with the stage and Adrien will remain a bitter facsimile of his mentor wondering why things aren’t unfolding as Floyd said they would. What if Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia don’t become big enough foils to reach the kind of financial solvency he believes he deserves?
Being associated with powerful people is healthy, and trying
to mimic their formula (like Broner clearly does) is intelligent but believing
they can bestow power upon you is what welfare recipients do. Broner pointedly
tells us nobody ever gave him nothing but in the same breath believes Floyd and
a volatile, unpredictable marketplace will. Having a shoulder roll and a shitty
demeanor isn’t the formula for PPV success, the power will have to come from
defeating a handful of recognizable names starting with Floyd himself.
Zab Judah was Floyd’s best friend at one time and now he’s a footnote in
Mayweathers quest for power, because the path to power isn’t easy and it is
littered with broken relationships and friends. Adrien Broner is still young,
still surrounded by people he feels he owes and relationships mean a lot to the
young- until it’s time to pull your pants up and be a man. Young black men are
often cursed with this over-emotionality in spades and sometimes they never
grow out of it enough to become pragmatic, powerful people. It’s not in Floyd’s
nature to share power let alone “pass it on”, because he knows that betrayal on
all levels lay behind every substantial fortune.
Will it take a jail cell to make this young man see that rich
and powerful are two totally different things? He says he’s “just being young and
having fun” but Broner is a “live dog” to get himself in something that
Mayweather the powerful could easily get himself out of. Mayweather is a proven
stimulus program for Nevada so if he goes to jail there his power is a factor
in the legal proceedings. Broner isn’t valuable to any local economies, at this
time he’s an addendum to the Mayweather deal, a protégé or “spin off” act like
Tha Dogg Pound or G-Unit -whether he can flourish outside of Mayweathers brand
is yet to be seen. Real stars aren’t content with being called anyone’s “little
brother” no matter how talented the older star is, and I’ve never seen a real
star contented being with a cheap knock off. The only time someone is content
with this distinction is if deep down they know they aren’t of the big brothers
caliber, so they’ll gladly take whatever they can get from the association. If
there is any hope of Broner being the face of boxing there must be underlining
tension and ambition, because he’ll never reach his destination under
Floyd Mayweather.
The only way to get there is over Floyd’s prone body.
I disagree. Having a mentor and someone who cares about brotherhood, is more powerful and makes it a more beautiful relationship when it transcends economics. How greedy does one have to be to prove your point. More greedy than King Midas and guess what? You can't take it with you. To me forming an unusual, alliance, brotherhood and passing on the mantle to a loyal and integral up and comer is way more critical than a few more bucks in the account especially when you already have enough bucks to run through your fingers. The days of the Don Kings and now Bob Arum's are closing and the young boxers are learning the economics of it all and shutting out the real demons in their midst. Promoters and their legions of economic snakes.These young boxers should unite and take total control of boxings economic one and for all since their the ones doing all the fighting in the ring in the first place.
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