?When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.??Dr. Maya Angelou
Adrien ?The Problem? Broner is no mystery. He is consistently inconsistent. His days of glory are clearly behind him now; and although he still possesses the ability to make most contests competitive, as was clearly evidenced in his post fight rhetoric, following his lackluster encounter with the iconic Manny Pacquiao, ?The Problem? has now been reduced to a reality of asserting ?alternative facts.?
If you can?t beat ?em, just claim you did as loud and colorfully as you possibly can until something sticks. CompBox statistics be damned! Who can honestly blame him? It?s worked for a President, why not a championship boxer from da ?hood? It?s also Broner?s proverbial trump card, no pun intended. It?s all he has left. It?s the one thing that somehow garnered him a headlining spot on a major pay-per view card (and yet we wonder why DAZN is soon to make PPV obsolete?).
Again, I take absolutely nothing away from AB. As they say in da ?hood, ?I ain?t mad atcha?play on playa?? He?s found his hustle. The issue isn?t with Broner, clearly it is with our expectations of him. Boxing as a practice is not complicated, but it is exacting. No matter one?s potential, habits matter. Broner clearly cultivated the fine art of hubris and bravado from champions of old, most notably his on and off again ?big brother,? Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Yet, despite his natural ability and potential, he?s neglected the time-honored code of fidelity to the craft. Boxing is an unapologetically jealous sport, whose spoils are lavished, not upon the gifted, but the faithful.
Leading up to his latest outing he cast his spell of delusion upon the masses, even managing to convert new believers with the notion that ?maybe this time?? We all heard the various, commentary, which ironically had a universal undertone: ?If he?s focused for this fight, he?ll rise to the occasion?? Somehow, not a single talking head pushing this baseless narrative in their race for content, paused to simply accept and assert an undeniable truth?no matter a man?s intentions or even his efforts, a man is his habits. One would think this would be made obvious by the fact that Broner managed to catch two sexual assault cases, in the midst of supposedly preparing for the biggest fight of his entire career. Again, I don?t blame AB, he is who he?s always been. It?s the public who refuses to believe what we can clearly see.
Broner, like so many others who?ve found stardom and exaltation in this era of instafame, has tapped into our insatiable need to applaud and even empower mediocrity. It?s what?s made the ROCKY franchise so successful. Somehow, someone as lackluster as our selves can have a moment of epic glory on the highest stage imaginable, despite a lifetime of habitual failure. Somehow, someone who has occasional spurts of diligence is going to topple one who?s made discipline a way of life. No, Broner is not a mediocre fighter. One cannot reach the heights he has being so. However, as clearly displayed during the buildup, fight, and subsequent aftermath vs. a 40-year old Manny Pacquiao, as his skillset has obviously atrophied (he?ll never ever let those hands go), expect the latter half of Broner?s career to be an appeal to the mediocre??it?s for da ?hood,? where he targets the likes of Al Bernstein, arguably the most sober minded commentator in the sport, for nonexistent slights to arouse his base. Sounds eerily similar to someone we all know who holds a most powerful office, doesn?t it? Somewhere in Broner?s deluded consciousness he knows he is no longer viable among and against today?s boxing elite.
Becoming a 4-division champion is no easy feat (and I suspect will secure him a place in the Hall of Fame), yet, squandering the kind of potential that should have made him the standard bearer of the sport apparently is. He?s become a glorified (and handsomely paid) gatekeeper?more spectacle than fighter, when he should be a king. Yet, for all intents and purposes, the only person who can determine what success is for him is Adrien Broner. When all is said and done, he alone, not his critics or fans, has to live with that legacy. However, the least we can do going forward, is believe what we see.
