Vinny’s Views: One More Look at Manny Pacquiao Vs Adrien Broner
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By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci
Shots fired. The bells of the New Year have barely stopped ringing and the reverberating echo chiming back is the disruptive chaotic banter of rabid fans who are frantic to speculate on who will be the first to fall in nineteen. Ringside Report is dedicated to keeping an hourly pulse on dozens upon dozens of fan pages in order to decipher the undercurrents of who is being ostracized as frauds as well as the overflowing contention of who the reigning heroes truly are.
Sometimes just like any political argument once you pick a side you feel the need to also bear arms in defending your position as if you were defending the family honor. Social media has given fans the forum to vent, speculate and spout venom on every single bout so having a complete analytical perspective of both opposing corners can bring clarity, instead of prejudice.
With the boxing calendar rapidly filling with dates and fighters calling each other out giving rise to the rhetorical fan bases that keep the sport afloat let’s cut to the chase and zero in on year’s first target; Manny Pacquiao Vs Adrien Broner on January 19. For fight analysis and prediction archive “Vinny’s Views: December 9, 2018.” What the fans are saying is an entirely different matter and with the fight just one week away with the debates gaining momentum let’s explore those conflicts.
Interestingly Showtime’s “All Access” two part series has done little in the way of clarification between the two camps barely mentioning the intangibles other than showing glimpses of both training regimes and mindset as they prepare for the title bout. These well edited thirty minute forays behind the scenes are meant to whet the appetite of prospective fans that are gullible enough to lay down hard earned cash for an “event” that carries little clout in the welterweight division. One thing that perhaps can be derived from watching both episodes is that after every drill Pacquiao looks ready to enter the ring and fight while Broner appears winded and needs a cool down.
Fans of the challenger like him more for his heavily worked on persona of the Cheshire grinning cat who often speaks his mind in rhymes forsaking any connection with the reality of who he aspires to be rather than what he has accomplished in the ring over the last five years. They will point out that the champion is heavily protected somehow forgetting two of the worst robberies over the last ten years fell on Pacquiao’s tiny shoulders against Tim Bradley and Jeff Horn where the scores were inexplicable.
Others are hyping into Broner’s claim that “it only takes one shot” to put Manny down for the count. Somehow these fans have forgotten that Adrien has failed to stop any welterweight and now faces an elusive Philippian devil that lives for the pocket during entire twelve round duration and is a perpetual windmill that lives and breathes on either side of the front gate. Those that dream about Manny’s demise with visions of him laying prone face down on canvass courtesy of Juan Manuel Marquez have conveniently omitted the four bout history over five years and 42 rounds that it took to catch lightning in a bottle. So rare and difficult was the feat that Marquez refused the biggest money match of his career by passing on a fifth encounter.
There has also been much speculation that Manny is now forty years old and is entering his 24th year as a professional boxer and will have a built in excuse of age if he loses.
The champion’s fan base are of the belief that a strong victory this night would in some way be a vindication for the Floyd Mayweather, JR. loss and a justifiable calling card for a rematch. Even though Floyd has hinted at the possibility the reality is Adrien is an entity unto him and fights with little resemblance to Floyd or his resume. The verdict of this bout whatever it may be must stand on its own merits.
Once again as what seems like “policy” Adrien Broner has to fight under the shadow of recent run ins with the law with two separate court appearances last week. One incident for traffic violations where he failed to appear in court to answer summons and the other subpoena for more serious pretrial offense of sexual allegations over an alleged groping of a woman at a shopping mall which could yield career ending jail time if found guilty. Could the weight of worrying over such issues be any heavier than the burden of responsibility Pacquiao endures as active senator of the Philippines?
Some are questioning if Broner’s beard has more padding than the ten ounce gloves he’ll wear into the ring, while both sides agree over the insanity of it being a PPV bout along with its hefty price tag of 75 dollars. They also agree that the challenger simply does not let his hands go enough to ever ensure his own victories.
So, does any fan ever win one of these debates before fight night? Does it really matter? Let the gents take center stage and fight it out without horrific scoring or bad decision making by referee and let the best man win.
Stay tuned…
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