Q&A: Broner says Guerrero ‘has never impressed me’

Aug

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Former WBO junior lightweight beltholder Adrien Broner has been involved in a Twitter war with former two-division titleholder and welterweight contender Robert Guerrero, Broner’s promotional stablemate with Golden Boy Promotions.

Broner (24-0, 20 knockouts), who turned 23 on July 28, is coming off his fourth straight stoppage victory with an HBO-televised knockout of Vicente Escobedo last month in Broner’s hometown of Cincinnati.

Before entering the ring against Escobedo, Broner lost his WBO belt at the scales for missing the contracted weight of 130 pounds both the day prior to the fight and during a Saturday morning re-weigh.

Nicknamed, “The Problem,” Broner’s triumph over Escobedo scored a 3.4 rating, a number which ranked as HBO’s top Boxing After Dark telecast out of the nine shows aired this year with 1.4 million viewers.

Among the HBO boxing broadcasts Broner-Escobedo surpassed were the network’s tape-delayed re-broadcast of Tim Bradley’s controversial split-decision over Manny Pacquiao, as well as Danny Garcia’s upset fourth-round knockout of Amir Khan on July 14.

Broner is next scheduled to appear — likely at 135 pounds — against an opponent to be determined on an HBO-televised card that will include unbeaten heavyweight prospect Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell versus Johnathon Banks at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Oct. 6.

Meanwhile, Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KOs), who is 29, scored his 14th consecutive win during a run that includes nine knockouts with a unanimous decision over hard-punching Turkish-born Selcuk Aydin (23-1, 17 KOs) during Guerrero’s welterweight debut on July 28.

A former two-time featherweight titleholder who also held a major belt at 130 pounds and two interim crowns at lightweight, Guerrero rose two weight classes to defeat Aydin.

By defeating Aydin, Guerrero became the mandatory challenger to WBC beltholder to Floyd Mayweather Jr., whose style and characteristics Broner professes to emulate.

“You can’t deny talent. Be real with yourself before your pride gets you [expletive] up,” Broner wrote on his Twitter account, addressing Guerrero.

“Just look at it like this, you beat Vicente [Escobedo] clearly but I STOPPED HIM. ÔÇª Let’s be real, you know I’m the man when I got 147lb guys trying to make a big fight with me cause they can’t sell they self.”

Guerrero responded.

“I’m not trying to sell nothing! Didn’t you call me, Marquez, and Pacman out? You called the big boys out, I’m not letting it happen! Jump up 2 weight classes & beat the #1 contender!” wrote Guerrero.

“You’re a good lil fighter coming up, but you are a rookie! Move up to 147 where I’m at now! The big boys and let’s lock & load! You’re 10 fights young & 5 titles away!”

Broner addressed the situation with Guerrero in this Q&A with RingTV.com.

RingTV.com: How is your weight?

AB: It’s always good.

RingTV.com: What’s going on with Guerrero?

AB: You’ve got Robert Guerrero saying that he wants to fight me. That’s okay to me, but he’s fighting at 147 and he wants to fight somebody who just fought at 130.

So I look at it like these guys want to fight me because I’m young, and plus, I just arrived on the scene. Yet my fan base is a lot bigger and my followers are a lot greater than these guys have.

Yet these guys have been in the game way longer than I have. So, basically, they’re just trying to get a name off of me. But it don’t matter where I fight these dudes at. I’m going to smash him.

RingTV.com: You’re talking about Guerrero?

AD: Yeah, I would fight him today. I would weigh in with my track suit on and my shoes on and, yet, by fight time, I would guarantee you that I would be the bigger man.

RingTV.com: You weren’t impressed with his win over Aydin?

AD: No. He has never impressed me. I mean, don’t get me wrong. He’s a good fighter. But he never really showed me anything special, you know what I mean?

I mean, there are certain guys that you can look at and say that they have a special talent. But to me, he’s not special to me. He’s ordinary. If that fight ever happens, man, I will expose all of the kinks in his armor, man.

It would be a fun night. I don’t get hit much anyway, but I probably won’t get hit that night. For me, fighting Guerrero, it would be a big fight for the fans, but at the end of the day, all of the fans are really going to be coming to see me.

RingTV.com: Because you believe that your name trumps his name?

AD: I mean, they’ll come to see him because of his story. They’ll come to see him because of his dedication to his wife. That’s really why he’s getting all of his pub and his press. (It’s) about is his wife.

You know, a lot of people are not looking at him for his skills. They’re looking at him for his situation and that’s cool. He has a good story, but that’s not going to help you win. You’ve got to box to win. He just don’t got the skills to beat me.

RingTV.com: You believe that your results against similar opponents is a factor?

AD: Yeah, we’ve fought two of the same guys. I fought Jason Litzau, he fought Litzau. I fought Vicente Escobedo, he fought Vicente. He fought Litzau and stopped him in the eighth. I fought Litzau and stopped him in the first.

When he fought Vicente, he went the whole fight with him. I fought him and I put him out. So, you know, that’s the story.

RingTV.com: How long do you want to stay at 135?

AD: Man, the way that it’s looking, nobody wants to fight me. It really don’t matter. I’ve made a name for myself already and I’m a household name. I’ll fight anybody at any weight right now. A lot of people get mixed up about this weight thing.

Like, I spar light heavyweights, super middleweights, middleweights. The weight thing is not a problem for me. Skills win fights. Honestly, I’m big enough to carry the weight.

I’m big enough to carry 147 pounds. I’m big enough to stand in there with a full blown 147-pounder, even though I know that he’s shrinking down from 160 or 180 or whatever.

It really don’t matter. I’ve got the strength and the power and the ring savvy and the IQ of a boxer to carry that weight.

Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]