Former world champion Adrien Broner showed how hard he trained with a before and after image of himself massively overweight.
Broner piled on the pounds when out of action for over a year and began training in the gym for a comeback in the spring.
A date of July was on the table for a PBC clash on Showtime with Omar Figueroa. The ex-Manny Pacquiao opponent was already six weeks deep into training when the fight got pushed back.
Adrien Broner progress
By this time, it would have been almost eighteen months since Broner last graced the ring against also-ran boxer Jovanie Santiago. His new date of August 20 was less than ideal for his renewed boxing career.
Complaining about the delay at the time, Broner took to social media before airing his grievances in a live online interview.
“I’m going to be one hundred percent honest with you, Brian. I am not with none of this s*** they’ve got going on,” said Broner to host Brian Custer.
“I feel like Al Haymon and Stephen Espinoza are bulls******* because why are we doing a press conference on the computer?
“When you got guys like – they don’t do Floyd’s [Mayweather] s*** on no f****** computer, even when he fights a YouTuber.”
That was only half the story. Broner was due to go through his pre-event fighter duties on Zoom. The long wait was the real bone of contention.
Weight loss
The Cincinnati native had whipped himself into fantastic shape, a far cry from when he began training with his belly hanging over his sweats.
In the end, Broner was in his best condition since the Mikey Garcia or Shawn Porter bouts. Broner was ready to scale at 140 pounds after winning world titles in four weight divisions.
His joy soon turned to despair as he took to social media to call the fight off. Nobody saw the excuse coming as promoters scrambled to save the show.
“The Problem” claimed mental health issues made it hard for him to compete. Opponent Figueroa didn’t believe him as Sergey Lipinets stepped in to replace Broner for the Premier Boxing Champions main event.
Lipinets would defeat Figueroa via stoppage to move to 17-2-1 with 13 KOs. The late substitute will get put forward for the proposed title fights that Broner should have been contesting in 2023.
A triumphant return to form would have seen Broner lined up for massive events at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, or the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Another Adrien Broner comeback?
However, it’s back to the drawing board for Adrien Broner, who lost so much weight only to stand accused of pulling out and feigning mental health issues.
The man who lost to Marcos Maidana has much to prove when he returns to work again. Whether he can drop the timber again remains to be seen.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay.
WBN Editor Phil Jay has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
