Some time ago,
I floated a theory and it goes a little something like this; Adrien Broner
should get out of the little brother business and aim for a showdown against
Floyd Mayweather. I did not say he was
as good, nor did I say he deserved it, I merely stated that Mayweathers
patronage was a ploy designed to make the boy assume shit that isn’t guaranteed. Nobody knows this better than a 37-year-old
man who could have easily ended up a run of the mill black defensive fighter
that nobody wants to see. Now he is an institution, and institutions crush
people like Broner. It was that close to
happening, until Mayweather became the best-marketed fighter of a generation. In becoming, “that guy” risks were taken and
avoided all at maximum compensation and none of it easier than Adrien Broner
thought it was.
I told
everybody then that “Lil buddies” do not play well when Kevin Durant was
working out with LeBron James. Isiah
Thomas was exhibit A for this experiment and it failed, it also failed with
Kobe and it will hit Broner too late. I’ve
told you again and again that Broners “act” was never bound to play unless he
got down to the business of hunting down the man with the Brinks Truck.Now, the
man who claimed to be his “mentor” advised him to go down to 140lbs. only to
circle back around and rob him of career defining redemption. How’s that “when Floyd retires I’ll take over
boxing” thing working out Adrien? The
Mayweather “poll” was an antiquated way of doing to Broner what he attempted to
do to Maidana, this time the dry hump paid off.
Mayweather was always playing chess, and I repeat he is not the least
bit obligated to stop Broner from playing checkers. Yeah, he tried to give Adrien advice but this
came after exposing him to a lifestyle of luxury and whispering in his ear that
he would be “next”.
Only Broner
could have created a demand that mirrored anything close to what boxing fans
felt (and still feel) about Pacquiao, but big brother knew that it was only a
matter of time before he played himself.
A dominant performance in an immediate rematch against a certified
knockout artist would have put Broner in a position to earn grudging respect-
but now he has been reduced to a bully victim.
Floyd will handle Maidana as if he were going for a walk in the park
further illustrating Broner's foolishness and it’s all his fault. Broner should be in there getting that ass
kicking on May 3rd, had he been mature about why you fight, had he really
accessed his “inner Floyd” he’d be more than “Hood Rich” by May 3rd.
Entering the ring against Maidana as a Mayweather Fan boy was the worst thing
he could have done against a dangerous, grown assed MAN. Had he entered that
fight as the #1 threat to a man he respects but wants to hurt it would have
given him a significant psychological edge.
If you are not fighting to be the man in your division then you are
fighting to be the boy, and boys usually end up broke.
Floyd’s
psychological mastery of Broner is in the fact that he took something intrinsically
dangerous, structurally & designed for the young to kill off the old and
turned it into Hip Hop Marketing 101. Moreover, Broner being a D-League rapper himself bought that bullshit
hook line and sinker. Rappers are
surrounded by protégés they promise to “put on” once “I get my shit poppin” and
most weak personalities either end up being "under promoted" or never
seeing the light of day. The strong,
alpha personality usually cannot wait for homie to hook them up and end up
becoming rich themselves by attacking the former mentor on mix tapes. They put themselves on, because they know Hip
Hop is a blood sport with words, and rivalries are lucrative for all. Broner had proximity to the King and did not
have the sense (or balls) to stab him, now he is doing awkward interviews with
Brian Kenny and taking solace in ripping fans who hate Floyd.
Name one
athlete in any sport that profited from being a fan boy of his idol? Even Kobe (the ultimate facsimile) had the good
sense to go at Jordan every time he saw him.
How many fighters who say they can “beat anybody” call
themselves the closest thing to the active reigning Champion in their weight
division? How many world class pound for
pound champions concede seniority (a cute word for superiority) to any fighter? Wilfred Benetez did not play that shit and he
was 17! Sonny Liston slapped the taste
of Cassius Clay’s mouth in a Vegas Casino and at the time was considered as
good as Joe Louis was, and it did not
matter. What if Clay had waited
around out of deference to Liston and ended up being clipped by some obscure
left hooker? Do you think Liston would
have cared? Do you think it was hard for
Floyd to take a fight that Broner absolutely needs? Of course not, and neither does Al Haymon.
Even a nice guy like Kevin Durant woke up and realized that
he had to either snap out of the “LeBron’s buddy” bs and confront him directly
or risk being Alex English. Broner may
have as more of a BEEF with Amir Khan, who at least was man enough to try to
get paid even after being reduced to a punch line-but Broner, is the bigger
joke. Broner bit hard when Floyd
instructed Khan to first beat him if he wanted his shot, so much so that he
focused on “fucking Khan up” instead of asking himself what he deserved “if” it
were to transpire. Pride and self-respect
matter with men because often it is all we have, it is called masculine currency,
and this young man is rather bankrupt.
He is so absent of the currency that instead of getting pissed about
Floyd taking his much-needed redemption (vs. Maidana) from him he is now
fighting pillow fisted Carlos Molina on the undercard. Floyd is the kind of big brother who takes
your girl after she dumps you and invites you to the wedding and Broner isn’t
man enough to see it.
The reason I called for Broner vs. Mayweather is that “AB” was
no less overmatched than anybody else was in the Golden Boy cache if we are
playing by Cold War rules. To be the guy
Floyd promised he would be post 2015 at the bare minimum he needed to handle
this Maidana business and now he has to stand by emasculated while his “Big
Bro” does it for him. If he were
anything close to a grown man, he would have screamed bloody murder when Floyd
mentioned Maidana in his phony poll. What
good is Maidana to Broner’s sense of self when Floyd is done with him? Is that something you want to have on your
resume? Boxing is not a schoolyard, it
is a hard place with nobody to hide behind, and Broner seems to have a loose
interpretation of what that means. To
make the cringe fest worse Broner tries to emulate Mayweathers Twitter polls as
if there is a hint of mystery to his career.
Newsflash, Floyd took the guy you needed
to fight and he will take the next guy who beats you-congrats, your Andre Berto
with a shoulder roll.
Much attention was given to what Maidana did to Broner in the
ring but I liked what I saw in Broner, he faught hard even when it was clear he
was going to get his ass whipped. Maidana
did what he had to do, but Broner’s mindset before and after the fight is his
real weakness. Maidana knew what we all
knew, that he wasn’t Floyd but Broner’s delusion is what put him in this bad
position in the first place. Had he been
his own man he would have differentiated himself from Floyd from the start and
just maybe he’d be in a more advantageous place right now. Everything he has done publicly chipped away
at his manhood dating all the way back to the disgusting fake marriage proposal
on HBO. I was on to him and his lack of
masculinity back then but nobody listens in this “Worldstar” climate. A person capable of that is a person who has
no gauge on what being the man really is, nor when he is being patronized. Mayweather (with Broner’s complicity) had
been chipping away at this little boys manhood for a while now, Marcos Maidana
merely swept up what was left of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment