Adrien Broner Suspended by WBC for Racially Insensitive Comments

Updates from Monday, May 12

Adrien Broner released an apology for his comments after his fight vs. Carlos Molina on his Instagram account:

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A bit unsurprisingly, Adrien Broner's poor choice of words have earned him a suspension from the World Boxing Council.    

The WBC announced its decision on Wednesday, a little less than a week after "The Problem" made racially insensitive comments following his victory over Carlos Molina:

The punishment was further explained—along with an ultimatum—in a statement via WBCBoxing.com:

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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.

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Fighting on the undercard of Saturday night's Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana event, Broner extended his record to 28-1 with a unanimious decision victory over Molina (17-2-1), an American-born fighter who is of both Argentinian and Mexican descent. After the win, Broner told Showtime's Jim Gray, via the New York Daily News' Mitch Abramson, "I've beaten Africans and I just beat the f--- out of a Mexican."

The comments were met with universal disgust. Gray immediately scolded Broner on the air and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer was equally disappointed in his 24-year-old fighter, via BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno:

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Sometimes [Broner] says stuff without really thinking, because as I came out into the ring the first thing he said to me was 'I'm so sorry that I said what I said.' He's a young guy and I'm going to keep trying to explain to him, and maybe somebody like Bernard who has the experience would certainly be a great coach in that regard. 

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Broner isn't a stranger to controversy. According to Abramson, he once flushed $20 bills down the toilet in a social media video, and he has always seemingly thrived while playing the villainous role in the boxing world. 

Boxing announcer Rich Marotta gave his unfiltered opinion of "The Problem":

Broner stated after his win over Molina that he wants to fight Manny Pacquiao. That's already a highly questionable proposal as it is, but if he keeps getting into trouble like this, he's going to have a difficult time working his way back into a main event.

While boxing can be fueled by trash talk and bold comments in the right context, Broner clearly went over the line in this case. His words and actions have no place in the sport, and it's evident the WBC wanted to take quick and decisive action to prevent similar instances in the future.