Adrien Broner’s career could be over as a consequence of his bruising defeat on Friday evening by Blair Cobbs.
If it is, after 42 fights – including 35 victories and a draw – he will retire as a fighter who won world titles at super featherweight, lightweight, super lightweight and welterweight, and yet, according to Chris Algieri, he is “the worst four-division world champion” of all time.
At 34 there is little question Broner’s best is considerably behind him, and that he has achieved little like those who once predicted he was capable of succeeding Floyd Mayweather at the very top of the sport.
“He’s fought a ‘Who’s who’ list of guys, but in terms of being a four-division world champion, I would say he’s probably the worst four-division world champion that we’ve ever seen,” said Algieri on ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters”. “That’s a very short list.
“His victories, after 135… because that’s what his downfall was; his inability to stay in the weight classes he belonged – at 130 and 135 he was an absolute nightmare. He was great to watch; had good punching power; good speed. At 140 and 147, just not the same guy, and as his career went on and he got a little older, and his discipline outside of the ring caught wind… that’s now why he’s fighting this kind of fight [against Cobbs].”
In 2013 Broner was awarded a controversial split decision over Paulie Malignaggi, and Malignaggi – like Algieri a retired world champion – said: “I don’t think he could have been more than he was. He was a world-class fighter who won world titles – he was certainly a world-class fighter.
“But yes, he was overrated in that he was chosen as the ‘Next Mayweather’. That was a bit too much of a burden for him to carry, and I don’t know that he was ever going to be that good. But not being the next Mayweather doesn’t mean you’re not world-class. You can still be overrated when it comes to the way they viewed Adrien Broner and still be world-class. Even at 130 he hasn’t convinced me.
“I remember when I was fighting him, I looked at his record, and the guy [Vicente Martin Rodriguez] he won the world title against at 130 – it was a vacant title – the guy had two losses. One of the losses was to a sub-500 record – that’s the guy he beat for the 130lbs world title, and then I thought he lost to Ponce de Leon at 130lbs as well.
“There were some fights where you got some flashes of brilliance, and that’s when you realised Broner was a world-class fighter, but nonetheless, there was also the signs where he wasn’t going to be that next Mayweather, and that’s where the word ‘overrated’ comes in, but it’s gotta be put into the proper context. This was a world-class fighter who was overrated, because of the way they pushed him to become the next Mayweather – when he wasn’t.”
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