Adrien Broner is a bad boy. He didn?t grow bad overnight. He?s been a bad boy all along. Those he hadn?t already offended with his x-rated video or Chicken Shack antics seem unusallly annoyed by his remarks following Saturday?s victory over Carlos Molina.
Broner said nothing that he hasn?t said before, in one form or another. His self-absorption is such that he thinks he is amusing, indispensable, and maybe even relevant. But the laughter has died down, while the indispensability and relevance have been questionable all along.
Only this time The Problem may have gone too far. To say he ignited a firestorm is an exaggeration. He may have simply put his foot in his mouth once too often.
What exactly did the verbose WBC lightweight champion say that has brought down the Wrath of the Boxing Gods?
Jim Gray spoke to Broner after the fight. This is one time, oddly enough, that the pyromaniac isn?t to blame.
Gray asked Broner what he thought of his performance.
After vocalizing a theatrical ?Um,? he replied, ?As you can see, man, I didn?t really go through no trouble with that fight, through that whole fight. Since I was training in DC, they got DeSean Jackson, I think the Bengals should get Michael Vick. That?s what I?s thinking about. Fuck the fight.?
The acolytes surrounding Broner thought that was clever. The rest of us thought it was just another day at the office.
Jim Gray, however, had thoughts of his own.
?So, you weren?t thinking about this fight??
?Ah, no man, we just stay calm. It was a sparring match on TV.?
That?s the kind of thing we critics in the press might write. Was Broner rendering us obsolete, or was he simply speaking the truth?
?What did you learn,? asked Gray, ?coming off that loss??
?It definitely humbled me in some ways,? answered Broner. ?But at the end of the day, I?m still Adrien ?The Problem? Broner?the can man. Anybody can get it. Afri-cans. I just beat the fuck out of a Mexi-can.
That ruffled Jim Gray?s feathers.
?No, no,? he said. ?C?mon. c?mon, let?s show some class and dignity. C?mon, you just said you?re humbled a little bit. Is this the right weight for you??
?Excuse my French,? Monsieur Broner said, ?but this is definitely the right weight for me, and the last weight was the right weight for me. It was just some things I didn?t do.?
It was the standard Adrien Broner interview. He may have made a disparaging remark about his opponent?s nationality, but it was no worse that Bernard Hopkins calling Joe Calzaghe a ?white boy.? If that?s a double standard, so be it. We should be grateful there?s not a triple or quadruple standard to contend with.
In any event, the WBC was none too happy with Broner?s remarks and decided to bring down the hammer, strip him of his title, and suspended him from all future WBC events.
?Adrien Broner,? the WBC statement reads, ?former WBC lightweight champion has offended many persons of the world with his words during the interview after the fight vs. Molina. The World Boxing Council holds human equality as its banner and will not accept a former WBC champion to make racially offensive statements. Since words have different meanings and can be interpreted in different ways, the WBC is issuing this open letter to Adrien Broner to either clarify what he meant with his words or to issue a public apology if those words were intended to be despective and offensive. Adrien Broner is hereby suspended from participating in any WBC sanctioned Championship and will be excluded from the WBC Ratings until the time he makes a public apology satisfactorily to the public of the world. Boxing is a great sport, it is a world sport and boxers are honorable and exemplary members of the community. FairPlay and human equality must always be upheld.?
Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer was less concerned with Broner?s statement than the WBC?s reaction. According to The Ring website, Schaefer said, ?I don?t condone these things and I wasn?t happy about it,? but then went a little further, too far according to some.
?I think that Mauricio Sulaiman and the WBC are not more Mexican than my wife is and she was born in Mexico.?
It would be best for all concerned if Broner apologizes. It won?t be easy, but if anyone can do it, the can man can.
