Saturday night in Atlantic City, Adrien Broner (24-0, 20 KO’s) will make his official move up to the lightweight division when he challenges for the WBC world lightweight title, currently held by Mexico’s Antonio DeMarco (28-2-1, 21 KO’s).
DeMarco has been on a tear since being stopped by Edwin Valero in 2010. He’s won five straight, including an 11th round 
stoppage of Jorge Linares that won him the WBC lightweight title and two defenses that also came by knockout. His last outing was short and sweet: defending against then undefeated John Molina, he took all of 44 seconds to end the fight. While he’s well aware of the challenge he faces in Broner, he appears relaxed and isn’t making a big deal about it. For DeMarco, he knows how important this fight is and that it’s a huge a step on to bigger and better things if he can pull off the upset.
Broner is the current “golden boy” of Golden Boy Promotions. A regular on HBO, he’s already being compared to Floyd Mayweather Jr., and at just 23 years old has already been slated as boxing’s next superstar in some circles. His flashy style and cocky demeanor has earned him both fans and critics alike, and while Broner is happy about the Mayweather comparison, he hasn’t allowed it to translate into over confidence.
Broner is coming of a fifth round stoppage of Vicente Escobedo in July, his fourth consecutive knockout. He knows he’s facing a tough customer in De Marco and has stated plainly that DeMarco will be his toughest opponent yet. Moving up to the lightweight division, he wanted no part of “stay busy” fights, he wanted the best. To him, DeMarco was the best.
Weight issues surrounded Broner leading up to the Escobedo fight. He appeared unconcerned about coming 3 ½ pounds over the 130 pound limit, and losing his WBO super featherweight title on the scale. The incident cost him a big chunk of undisclosed change, and did not go unnoticed by De Marco’s manager Gary Shaw. Shaw has assured all parties involved that any problems making the 135 weight limit by Broner this time would cost him double DeMarco’s original pay for the bout. Broner has fought as high as 140 pounds in the past, so you can see why DeMarco’s people would be concerned.
The bout will be telecast as the main event for HBO’s “World Championship Boxing”, Saturday, November 17th, 10 pm EST. Seth Mitchell vs. Jonathan Banks will be the under card bout.
“Like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for exclusives and other bonus material from Boxing’s Independent Media.
Leave a Reply