Adrien Broner Shows No Sign of Changing After Latest Win

Adrien Broner hasn’t changed.

The Problem operated under a self-imposed media blackout in the days and weeks ahead of his final-round stoppage of an overmatched Khabib Allakhverdiev on Saturday night in his hometown of Cincinnati, telling Showtime in his lone comments that changes were coming.

And they were needed.

But what Broner says and does are two different things, and you wouldn’t have to look too hard at Saturday’s fight—and particularly its aftermath—to see that fluff interviews aside, the now-four-division champion is still immature and can’t get out of his own way.

Broner thrashed Allakhverdiev, a result that most if not all saw coming when the fight was announced. The speed and pure talent gaps were massive, and the Russian made things easier than they needed to be by standing in front of the hometown fighter and not letting his hands go often enough.

The win was needed medicine for a career that’s fallen on the skids in recent years, but by itself, it didn’t prove very much. Broner can beat up on guys like Allakhverdiev (stationary targets who don’t do anything really special) any night of the week.

The issue remains the guys who operate on the next rung or two up the ladder, fighters who aren’t content to fight at Broner’s pace or allow him to dictate the space of the fight.

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Shawn Porter and Marcos Maidana both bullied and embarrassed him, and beating a B-level opponent 18 months removed from his last fight (also a loss) does nothing to prove things are different now.

Broner’s immaturity—thankfully—didn’t manifest itself in the ring (who can forget his sexual gesture toward Maidana or the clowning and fouling he did against Porter) but the proof was once again in the open during his post-fight comments.

There was Jim Gray, as professional and experienced a sportscaster who has ever operated in this business, standing there with a microphone and practically begging Broner to behave himself, as though Broner were a petulant child who could go off at any second.

“I’m motherf--king tired,” Broner led off on the broadcast as the sound of collective palms hitting foreheads could be heard across America. Things seemed to be coming off the rails at the start, all the promises of increased maturity and self-reflection went out the window.

There would be no “can man” speech on this night—a wildly overblown comment that once earned him a ridiculous suspension from the WBC—but what soon followed was something genuinely insulting that proved that nothing in Broner’s attitude or approach has changed.

“Losing to guys like Shawn Porter, no disrespect, I respect Shawn Porter. He’s a wonderful fighter, a world-class fighter. But at the end of the day, when Adrien Broner is on his s--t, a fly can’t be around me.”

David Becker/Associated Press

Confidence is great, and Broner certainly has that in abundance.

But his protestations about losing to Porter, as if he were somehow wronged and not the fighter who went in there without a game plan or willingness/ability to adjust, are odd.

It wasn’t even what he said but what he didn’t say that makes you wonder.

He never asked for a rematch, but he did seem to have something of an ax to grind with his longtime mentor and “big brother” Floyd Mayweather Jr. before ending with an insulting slur that proved so tone-deaf it barely requires further comment.

“I was too tough because I’m from the hood. Any fight they approached me with, I just automatically took. Ain’t no more of that no more,” Broner told Gray. “I’m going to fight who I wanna fight, when I wanna fight 'em.”

“They say my big bro, the one and only Floyd Mayweather, feels like he’s got a fighter who can beat me. I think his name is Ashley (Theophane). You put Ashley on one of your private jets, bring him to come see me, and I bet I bring the girl out of that boy like Bruce Jenner.”

So much wrong with that statement from both a boxing and human standpoint.

We can’t put aside the pure ignorance and insensitivity of making light of Caitlyn Jenner’s highly publicized decision to identify as a woman and using it to slur another fighter because his name happens to be Ashley.

It’s not even clear if Broner was insulting women, the transgender community or just trying to make a controversial quip that went too far, but he insulted himself and the sport with that one.

The comment was unnecessary, not funny (to anyone beyond himself and fellow ignorant individuals) and once again gave truth to why he’s become such a difficult guy to like and root for in the ring.

And it showed that the more things change with Broner, the more they remain the same.