Adrien "The Problem" Broner, a mouthy young boxer who assumed the WBA welterweight throne earlier this year with a win over Paulie Malignaggi is positioning himself as the successor to Floyd Mayweather Jr. as boxing's biggest villain.
His flashy style and incessant chatter has drawn comparisons to Mayweather, the current pound-for-pound king set to face Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on Saturday. His prodigious potential, and penchant for talking have led some to believe a fight between Broner and Mayweather could happen down the line.
First, though, Broner needs to take care of business against Marcos Maidana in December in his first ever welterweight title defense. And right now, he looks to be far from in shape to accomplish that task.
PHOTO of Adrien Broner looking fat next to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Broner has temporarily moved his camp to Las Vegas, where Mayweather lives and trains year-round. He recently took a photo with "Money," and is sporting a round belly in the picture. He has ballooned in size, and looks even heavier than a natural welterweight.
If Broner plans to make the 147-lb. limit, he must start trimming that fat soon. It will be imperative for "The Problem" to be in top shape against Maidana, because this will be Broner's first bout with anyone possessing true knockout power in the welterweight division.
Broner was a heavy favorite against Malignaggi, who is a skilled fighter and respected champion, but has very little thunder in his gloves. Broner was hit often by Malignaggi, but was able to walk through those punches and land harder, crisper blows.
Against Maidana, who is 34-3-0 with 31 knockouts, there is no "walking through" punches. The Argentine is one of the pound-for-pound hardest punchers in the sport, and he's sure to test whether or not Broner has a superstar chin.
Broner was not incredibly impressive against Malignaggi, and he is now being thrown into the pay-per-view waters when his fight with Maidana becomes official. If he's overweight, or underperforms, his dreams of assuming Mayweather's mantle could be dashed.
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