At 23, Adrien Broner is bringing a new meaning
to the word,“rookie”. After turning professional
in 2008 he impressed industry enthusiasts with
three first-round knockouts against Ramon
Flores, Allante Davis and David Warren Huffman. Since then, bulldozed the competition
with an impressive 23-0 record, leaving fans
and boxing executives alike thirsty for more and
wondering if he is the next best thing to hit
the ring.
Broner’s father exposed him to boxing at a
young age as a means for him to escape the
mean streets of Cincinnati, Ohio, which to this
day is one of the poorest major cities in the U.S.
As fate would have it, the former World welterweight champion and Boxing Hall of Famer,
Aaron Pryor found a new student in Broner,
who had a natural talent and skill for boxing,
with a personality equally as dynamic as
his own.
“My first day in the gym, they put me in the ring
with an eight-year old. I beat him up bad. Then
they put me in with the best eight-year-old and I
beat him up real bad. I dropped him and everything.” His only competition that day was
nine-year old ‘Nuke nuke’ now known to the
world as Rau’Shee Warren, member of the 2012
U.S. Olympic Boxing team. From that day on
Broner began training and though his
enthusiasm for the sport has carried him far,
his discipline has kept him ahead of his time.
This young father of four has a lot to lose and
doesn’t plan on doing so anytime soon, and he
will tell you to your face.
“Every time Adrien Broner is on TV, you have to
watch it. You can't change the channel because
you never know what you're going to see, man.
I might punch the guy, do a backflip and then
knock the guy out after that, asserts Broner.
With youth on his side and a bright future ahead,
keep your eyes peeled or you might miss him
deliver his next knockout.
New King
PRINCE of
the Ring
“I love the contact. Also the skill involved” he
boasts, “But boxing isn't something you can
just jump into. You can’t wake up out of bed and
say, 'Ah, I think I'm going to be a boxer today’;
that's what I love about it.”
As is to be expected, Broner has developed a
specialized skill set likened to his trainer who is
described as having had an ‘animalistic
demeanor’ in the ring. He was as raw and
intimidating as they come with triumphs and
struggles alike, which could serve as an example to Broner who is already turning the flames
up under his belt, literally.
After the September weigh in, Broner was
stripped of his title and fined 20 percent -$60,000 -- of his $300,000 purse by the Ohio
commission. Half went to the commission and
the other half to his competitor, Vicente Escobedo, whom he outweighed by three and a half
pounds. In a sport as gruesomely political as
physical, his promotion into the lightweight
class will offer new competition and a promise
to shake up the ranks.
ADRIEN
“THE PROBLEM”
BRONER
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