Adrien Broner Vs Amir Khan: Can the Fight Be Made?

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By Travis Fleming

Earlier this week, Adrien “The Problem” Broner called out Amir Khan and within hours Khan accepted his challenge saying “let’s make it happen”.

Broner, coming off a shutout victory over John Molina just a week earlier has suggested a fight against Khan for later this month since he suffered no damage and is already back in training. This has absolutely no chance of happening later this month as a fight of this magnitude would need more time to promote, secure a TV date and, not to mention, a two week training camp is not nearly enough time for these two to prepare for each other. Still, you have to admire Broner’s ambition, no matter how ridiculous it seems.

With Khan showing interest and both fighters being under manager Al Haymon, there is a good chance of this fight actually happening within a couple of months and it’s a fantastic match up. This would be a fight between the two most hated, loudmouthed smack talkers in the sport. Fans desperately want to both men to shut the hell up already. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that if this fight gets made there will be a lot of people praying for a double knockout. Both men are polarizing figures. They are good fighters and both are usually involved in entertaining fights. While they may be deserving of criticism, both have shown incredible heart and ambition.

Broner was so confident in his ability that he made the mistake of jumping three weight classes in less than a year, then facing the hardest puncher three weights up in Marcos Maidana. He should have gradually moved up in weight but he let his ego win over logic. Maidana laid a beating on the smaller Broner, sending him back down to a more natural division to rebuild. In the Maidana fight, Broner suffered a terrible beating, getting knocked down twice, but he showed a ton of heart and toughness in getting up and attempting to knock out the much bigger man when he was clearly down on the cards and that was his only hope of winning. After the loss, the often delusional, egomaniac would call for a rematch! He would also call for fights with other monstrous punchers like Lucas Matthysse and Manny Pacquiao. Broner talks a lot of trash, he is an arrogant and immature man, he says childish, cringe worthy and offensive things that annoy fans to no end but you cannot deny his heart and ambition. He’s so confident he truly will take on all comers as evidenced by his ill advised jump from super featherweight to welterweight in a year.

Amir Khan is also very sure of himself and has shown a lot of heart over the years. Khan has spent the better part of three years chasing a Floyd Mayweather, JR. fight that he hasn’t earned and most recently has gone on record saying that he wants to fight huge punchers like Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto which should be a scary thought to a man who’s been knocked out and knocked down so often. Khan is so confident he has abandoned boxing and gone to war in fights he shouldn’t have, suffering a couple of brutal knockouts in the process. He has the fastest hands in the sport and a ton heart, but his notoriously weak chin makes for a lot of excitement with fans knowing that one punch can change a fight he’s controlling. Khan has basically called out everyone at some point and, much like Broner, annoyed the hell out of fans everywhere in the process, especially after his delusional claim of him possessing one of the best chins in boxing.

This is a dangerous crossroads fight for both guys. A loss for either would mean a long rebuilding process and a kiss goodbye to seven figure paydays for a long time. There have been whispers about this being staged on the Floyd Mayweather, JR. vs Manny Pacquiao undercard but that’s an unlikely scenario because the contract for that card states that, aside from the main event, there’s only one fight by Top Rank and one fight by Mayweather Promotions. The Top Rank fight is already set with Lomachenko vs Rodriguez so that leaves the Mayweather Promotions fight to be announced and neither Broner or Khan are under that banner. Rumors have it that the Mayweather Promotions fight will be an underwhelming battle between J’Leon Love and Jesse Hart. A fight between Broner and Khan is almost too big for an undercard anyways and would make a great headliner on one of the “Premiere Boxing Champions” cards on NBC. Let’s hope this one happens.

If this fight goes down there are just a few scenarios I can see playing out and it all depends on what strategy Broner chooses to employ. Most times we have seen Adrien Broner, he has elected to brawl in the pocket where he rips hooks and uppercuts in combination on the inside, however, in his last fight with John Molina he elected to fight on the outside and use his speed to prevent the big punching Molina from getting close enough to hit him. If he fights on the outside against Khan he will get easily outpointed as Khan is not only faster than the speedy Broner, but throws almost twice as many punches. If Broner tries to outbox Khan on the outside, he will get outhustled and outpointed by Khan’s blazing fast pity pat, shoe shining combinations. From the outside, Khan wins wide by handcuffing his opponents with speed and volume, Broner’s only chance in an outside fight is a knockout punch while Khan is throwing, which is always possible when a fighters’ chin is as weak as Amir’s.

If Broner wants to ensure victory he will have to be willing to walk through fire and take some punches in order to do so by reverting to his typical infighting style. Broner showed in his fights against Demarco, Rodriguez and Rees that he is a master of the lost art of infighting. Khan, on the other hand, has looked completely befuddled when an opponent gets inside. Lamont Peterson, who like Broner is also very good on the inside, had a ton of success bullying Khan whenever he was able to get in close quarters. Under Virgil Hunter, Khan has learned to clinch for dear life to avoid getting beaten up whenever someone gets inside. He has become an excessive holder of the Wladimir Klitschko variety. Klitschko employs the same tactic to protect his weak chin. With a fair referee, Khan will not be allowed to use excessive clinching to keep an opponent off of him and after a few rounds of eating speedy combos while working his way in and timing Khan, Broner will beat up Khan on the inside and likely land a knockout blow within a few more rounds, or he’ll sweep the late rounds and win a decision.

For the record, although it pisses off many fans, I have no problem with Broner’s offensive, often repetitive trash talking or Khan’s delusional claims. It’s nothing new, fighters have done it forever and all time greats have shown less class, said much worse than Broner and made more outlandish claims then Khan. I find it entertaining and believe that by becoming villains they have generated better ratings by having people tune in with hopes of seeing them knocked out. Besides that, I don’t judge a fighter on personality or what they do outside of the ring. If I did I would be forced to dislike Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Carlos Monzon and many more.

For the build up alone, this fight will be worth it. Who wouldn’t want to see two of the biggest trash talking, most egotistical, arrogant fighters on earth duke it out for relevance? One of them wanders back to obscurity while the other has the best victory of his career. Unfortunately, against the hope of fans everywhere, a loss probably won’t get either of these guys to shut up.