Adrien Broner, the brashest boxer in the sport not named Floyd Mayweather Jr. was humbled Saturday night by Marcos "El Chino" Maidana. Maidana overwhelmed Broner with activity and power, sending him to the canvas twice en route to a unanimous decision victory by a wide margin.
Broner had been ascending the sports ranks like a rocket ship, but the loss in his first test against true welterweight competition was shockingly poor. Broner also did himself no favors by feigning serious injury after a head butt, and leaving the ring without a post fight interview.
Broner's plans for pay-per-view stardom have hit a major speed bump, and the focus now is where he goes from here. Showtime analyst Paulie Malignaggi, who faced Broner earlier this year and lost by a controversial split decision, has been mentioned for a rematch. Malignaggi nipped that chatter in the bud though, essentially saying Broner was unworthy.
"Nah, I have nothing to gain fighting him now," Malignaggi said, "but in the future if he won some fights I would do it. He's better off dropping down to 140 pounds though."
Paulie thinks Broner needs to work on his ring aptitude, and might be better served fighting one step below the welterweight class at the moment. "He never throws punches when he's in a tough situation, where he's got to think his way through. He's too stationary and overall just not very intelligent as a decision maker when the heat is on. He's good, he's just not the guy everyone made him out to be," Malignaggi said.
Even though Broner's stock is diminished, welterweight remains a loaded division including Malignaggi. When questioned about who Paulie might take on next after beating Zab Judah on December 7th, he seemed open to facing Maidana, or Danny Garcia should he move up in weight.
"Garcia is a great fight," Malignaggi said, "he and Maidana are great opponents, and it would be a tremendous fight with either one of them."
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