As the weather cools and Floyd Mayweather's clash with Canelo Alvarez gets smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror, many boxing fans are beginning to focus their attention on "the next Mayweather," Adrien Broner.
On December 14th he's slated to square off with Marcos Maidana, the hardest-punching opponent of his career. To hear Maidana tell it, Broner is in for a rough night.
"If he wants to beat me he's going to have to work really hard and I'm going to give him the first test for his career. I'm here training for 2-3 months and when I fight, I come fully prepared to give it my all and ready to go," Maidana said.
Broner is undefeated at 27-0-0 with 22 of his wins coming by way of knockout. He's won titles in three weight classes, most recently skipping two in order to face Paulie Malignaggi for his WBA welterweight title.
While Malignaggi is a respected veteran, Broner's win over him doesn't seem to impress or intimidate Maidana. "What I saw is that Malignaggi isn't strong. He hit Broner with punches but they weren't hard enough to be able to knock him out or for Broner to feel them. With Broner you can definitely hit him," Maidana said.
"He's not Mayweather. But we'll see how he comes out for this fight because I do think he'll prepare very good and he'll study me well so we'll have a good strategy."
Maidana has built up an impressive resume of his own. He is 34-3-0, with 31 knockout victories; in his career he has beaten quality fighters such as Josesito Lopez, Jesus Soto Karass, Erik Morales and Victor Ortiz. Broner, on the other hand, is accused often of being coddled by handlers and given titles on a platter.
"I think he's a good fighter. A very good boxer. Good counterpuncher and fast," Maidana said. "But I don't think he's fought enough to fight a hard fight. I think, and maybe I'm mistaken, I think he still needs more to be able to fight the better and bigger fighters."
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