Broner beats Escobedo but loses respect for unprofessional behavior

Question: How does a marvelously gifted, undefeated young contender lose credibility after stopping a respected veteran who had never been knocked out? Answer: by pulling what Adrien Broner pulled this past weekend. Broner remained unbeaten by scoring a fifth-round TKO against Vicente Escobedo in front of his hometown fans at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, but the talented boxer-puncher was not well received by the boxing community because of the unprofessionalism he showed by failing to make weight at Friday’s weigh-in and again on Saturday, which put the fight in serious jeopardy for several hours and gave him an unfair advantage over his opponent (who was a sizeable underdog to begin with). Broner (24-0, 20 knockouts) had to give up his WBO 130-pound title at the weigh-in when he came in 3.5 pounds over the junior lightweight limit. He did not look as though he had drained himself at all trying to make 130 pounds and the 22-year-old Ohioan did not attempt to sweat off the excess weight. Escobedo (26-4, 15 KOs), who received $30,000 of a $60,000 fine to Broner, was upset but agreed to go on with the HBO-televised fight provided the odds favorite did not weigh more than 140 pounds at a second weigh-in the morning of the fight. Broner agreed to the contract amendment but did not honor it, coming in at 143 pounds, sparking wide speculation within the boxing industry and those who follow the sport on Twitter that the Boxing After Dark main event would be cancelled.

Obviously, that did not happen. Broner’s high-powered manager Al Haymon offered Escobedo a significant financial incentive to go through with the fight and the WBO promised the 30-year-old Californian that he would get a shot at the vacant title if he lost to Broner – which is what everyone expected. As he’s done in his last three bouts, Broner more than delivered on his expectations. He controlled the fight from a distance with quick and powerful counter shots in the early rounds and began walking Escobedo down with accurate one-two combinations and punishing body shots in the fourth. Escobedo was able to land single jabs and hooks here and there, but never seemed to be in the fight. His nose was badly busted in the fourth round and Broner was spurred on by the sight of the blood. Broner quickly pressured Escobedo to the ropes where he worked over the 2004 Olympian’s body and head until trainer Joel Julio threw in the towel, ending the fight at 2:42 of the fifth round. However, Broner’s performance left many fans and members of the boxing media flat. It’s clear that he lost more than his WBO belt at Friday’s weigh-in, he also lost some credibility. And he didn’t help his damaged image with his unapologetic comments regarding his failure to make weight during his post-fight interview with HBO’s Max Kellerman. “I just grew out of the weight class, now I’m going up in weight and that’s that,” Broner said after staging a fake proposal to his girlfriend at the start of the in-the-ring interview. Broner also shrugged off his tweeting photos of Twinkies and Twix ice cream bars after the weigh-ins on Friday and Saturday. It was just Broner being Broner, AKA “The Problem.” And that’s the problem. Broner is gifted with talent and charisma that is comparable to Floyd Mayweather and boxes with a similar style, but he hasn’t accomplished enough in the sport break and buy his way out of contracts with impunity (as the incarcerated superstar did when he fought Juan Manuel Marquez in 2009). Instead of tweeting pics of junk food, Broner needed to apologize to all the fans following him on Twitter immediately after missing the weight. He needed to apologize during his post-fight interview on HBO. He needed to show some respect to Escobedo who helped salvage his reputation by accepting the fight. Had Escobedo not agreed to the fight, the canceled main event would have put Broner in the dog house with HBO, Golden Boy Promotions and all of the Cincinnati fans who bought tickets to watch him fight. Broner is still in a good place with those folks, but the hyper-critical boxing aficionados of the Twitterverse were not kind to him before or after Saturday’s HBO showcase.