Preview: Adrien Broner vs Gavin Rees
Adrien Broner file photos by StiffJab.com
by Gautham Nagesh
Love him or hate him, Adrien “The Problem” Broner is here to stay.
The flashy, boastful lightweight from Cincinnati has plenty of critics, who would love to see Broner fall short of the inflated expectations of folks like me. They see Broner as another Al Haymon hype job, a carefully-managed fighter that has yet to prove he belongs among the elite.
Perhaps they are correct; predicting the future for any fighter is a fool’s errand. Any number of factors could prevent Broner from reaching the pinnacle of the sport, starting with a simple accident or injury. But barring unforeseen circumstances, we’re pretty certain that Gavin Rees won’t be the one to solve The Problem on HBO tonight. Count on Broner to win going away, probably well before the scheduled 12 rounds.
Rees will bring his best, but almost certainly fall short, and probably end up face-first on the canvas. The Welshman is a credible challenger, having established himself as the 8th-ranked lightweight in the world, but he doesn’t pose a serious threat to the top-ranked Broner. Rees lacks elite punching power, and isn’t close to Broner in terms of boxing skill or athletic ability. He has been in with top-level competition, and dominated on the European and domestic level. But Broner oozes world-class ability, as he demonstrated during his domination of Antonio DeMarco in November.
Given Rees’ experience, there is always the possibility he could get awkward and make Broner look less than sensational. This possibility shouldn’t be dismissed, as evidenced by Broner’s pedestrian effort against Daniel Ponce de Leon. But Broner has grown significantly since then, and he rates higher in my book than Andriy Kotelnyk, who stopped Rees. A close fight isn’t out of the question, but staying alive and winning are very different goals; Rees can focus on the former and go the distance, or try for the latter and end up getting hurt.
This card was supposed to feature the rematch between Seth Mitchell and Johnathon Banks as the co-feature, but that fight was postponed after Banks broke his thumb earlier this month. Now the HBO co-feature will pit seventh-ranked super middleweight Sakio Bika against the unbeaten Nikola Sjekloca of Montenegro. Bika is a rugged contender that has been in with the best in the world at 168; Sjekloca is largely unproven and will likely have to box the best 12 rounds of his life to win.
A diminished undercard features junior middleweightsDemetrius Hopkins and Charles Whittaker over 12 rounds and a ten-round lightweight bout between Vicente Escobedo and Edner Cherry. Three-time Olympian Rau'Shee Warren will fight Richard Hernandez in a 4-round bantamweight bout, while fellow Olympian and former Marine Jamel Herring will fight for the second time as a professional at lightweight.
We were supposed to be ringside at this fight, but an unforeseen ankle injury combined with a less-than-helpful promoter has combined to keep us in D.C. Fear not, Rodriguez is on the scene as a member of the paying crowd, and will provide us with his thoughts from ringside after the weekend. For the record, he likes Broner by KO in 7.