It?s not clear anyone was asking to see it before it was signed.
At the beginning of 2017, 29-year old Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KO) was preparing for a crack at the WBC 135 lb. title. His ultimately successful challenge of Dejan Zlaticanin was his second fight back after being out of the ring for two and a half years from 2014-16. Business issues subtracted a healthy piece of his prime. Garcia looked good picking up where he left off.
But the former featherweight and Jr. lightweight titlist was picking up at lightweight. 27-year old Adrien Broner (33-2, 24 KO) has held titles in the latter two of those classes but hadn?t been as low as lightweight since 2013.
Broner has split his time between 140 and 147 lbs. since, his body seeming to end up more often outside the lighter class. In his last two fights, against Ashley Theophane and Adrian Granados, Broner missed the Jr. welterweight limit of 140 lbs. and renegotiated an intended 142 lb. catchweight, respectively.
This weekend, with a reported penalty of a half a million dollars hanging if Broner misses weight, Broner will squeeze down to 140 and Garcia will head up the scale.
It?s the sort of fight that, once it was made, most just really liked the sound of it. Showtime landed a solid Saturday main event (9 PM EST/6 PM PST).
For some, that won?t be enough.
In an era where everything needs to be given some sort of pseudo-mystical additional value to fill up space on the internet or time on the air, it?s not a bad thing to remind how little most everything that happens (in any sport) really means.
A snazzy montage, well-selected soundtrack, and well-written voiceovers in the pre-fight hype don?t erase that almost everything is erasable. Whether it be by time, or replacement memory overwriting what came before, or just new fans that don?t know what happened before they were there, almost every fight we watch will fade away the second its over.
This is mentioned because one can find efforts to ascribe deeper, bigger meaning to the fight this weekend. Broner can be seen through such prism as a fighter trying to validate his early hype. Broner?s only official, and competitive, losses are to championship level guys Marcos Maidana and Shawn Porter. Garcia is regarded, in terms of skill, to be as good or better than both.
Garcia and Broner won their first titles four pounds apart. There?s no tremendous size difference here. After his long layoff, it?s a calculated risk for Garcia. Garcia is tackling a fighter who can be distracted outside the ring, whose name and market value exceed his own.
That?s plenty to be excited about.
A lot of what is being said around the fight is just noise. If Broner loses this weekend, but it?s a good fight, he?s as relevant as he?s ever been. Zab Judah was allegedly one loss from irrelevance before several of his losses and kept coming back to matter again. Broner can do the same. People find his career ups and downs interesting. That won?t change short of a disgraceful ring outing.
If he wins, Broner can choose to stay at 140 or chase another belt at 147 and he?ll do so with a little extra spark.
If Garcia loses, hey, he?s still a lightweight titlist with a bunch of real solid fights be made at 135 lbs. If he wins, he might go back down the scale anyways. He?d just go back with increased stature and a build towards the sort of fight that really could be worth all the extra verbiage (think Garcia-Lomachenko, but don?t think too long about it given politics).
Both men will be paid this weekend. The winner will collect greater rewards somewhere down the road. This is the good, solid professional contest that, more than likely, one day someone will cite as having happened on the way to wherever the winner is going.
It won?t take anything away from the moments between the first and last bell. This is a nice little summertime gem. It doesn?t need to be anything more than that.
Cliff?s Notes?
AIBA corruption issues should surprise no one. It?s part of boxing. That said, folks in the pro ranks making hay about AIBA is pretty funny. As if the paid ranks don?t have the same problems as the amateurs, and worse?September 9 has so much good boxing it should be declared an international holiday. Give someone a key to a city?Twin Peaks is better art than Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones still gets the priority view. Dude, there are dragons and stuff?It?s a few years old, but the book In the Garden of Beasts is worth a read. Fascinating, sometimes horrifying, stuff?Best wishes to both Robert Guerrero and Takashi Uchiyama. Both men gave their best and won far more than they lost. They earned a happy, and healthy, retirement.
