A funny thing happened as I was watching Adrien Broner’s unanimous decision win over Emmanuel Taylor a few weeks ago. Despite the fact that I absolutely can’t stand Broner, I found myself oddly pulling for him. After giving some thought to why I might possibly want to support a fighter whose entire gimmick I find reprehensible, I arrived at the conclusion that it must be because I recognize the important role that a personality like his can occupy in the future of the sport.
I like to think that as a boxing fan with a pretty well trained BS detector, I would be past having strong feelings about Broner one way or the other, but I invariably find myself drawn to his fights. In many ways, there could not be a more transparent character than Broner. I understand that his entire personality is a gimmick, that the hair brushing and the “Can Man” shtick that he employs after his fights are both remarkably corny, and that the villainous character that he has so carefully crafted has all the authenticity of a mid-90s WWF wrestler, and yet I still can’t look away.
The simple fact is that in a sport like boxing, characters like Adrien Broner are a necessity. This is not in order to attract the hardcore fan who will watch no matter what, but the casual fans whose understanding of the sport currently does not extend any further than Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Broner’s ridiculous antics and personality very well position him to become the new Mayweather for casual fans once Mayweather is gone, which may be coming sooner than many fans realize. The problem with this line of thinking, of course, is that the the primary difference between Broner and Mayweather lies in the vast talent gap between them.
Broner has been badly exposed, not only in his beat down at the hands of Marcos Maidana, but in his close fight against slickster Paulie Malignaggi, and his signature win remains his dominant performance against Antonio DeMarco — not exactly A-list stuff there.
Admittedly, I was pulled into the early hype on Broner when he was easily beating fighters like Eloy Perez and Jason Litzau, and I was not able to see through the facade. Indeed, by the time he reached his bout with Maidana last fall, I was convinced that he was one of the next great fighters of this era, the one who would eventually take the torch from Mayweather and Pacquiao, drawing the attention of both hardcore and casual fans alike.
Of course, we all know how that turned out, with Maidana giving Broner a healthy dosage of comeuppance, and Broner only humiliating himself further with his antics. As effectively as Broner has been able to self-promote by doing whatever idiotic thing he happens to be doing at the moment, the loss to Maidana badly damaged his brand and threatened to quickly extinguish the star that the networks had so clearly seen in him.
We are quickly nearing a critical juncture in Broner’s career, when he lands that next “big” fight, and at which point we will truly be able to determine what role, if any, he will play in the future mainstream popularity of the sport. A “good” Broner is good for Showtime, and I believe that what is good for Showtime is ultimately good for boxing and the fans. I view my compulsion to care about Broner’s fights, while simultaneously acknowledging the transparency of his gimmick, as recognition of this self-interested line of thinking.
The bottom line is that boxing needs more Adrien Broners, or at the very least, needs a successful Broner. In a personality-driven sport like boxing, he represents one of the best opportunities to bring in the more casual fans who, like it or not, may be necessary in or to ensure the sustainability of the sport as we know it.
It is for this reason that I am ready to see Broner take another step up, possibly against Lucas Matthysse, and as much as I feel right now that I would be pulling for Matthysse in the fight, I would not be surprised if that funny feeling comes back and I end up compelled to support Broner, for the good of the sport.
