When Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KOs) dismantled Antonio DeMarco (28-2-1, 22 KOs) in 2012, I was convinced he was the next Floyd Mayweather Jr. DeMarco was a young, promising lightweight champion who had impressed me, and Broner easily knocked him out in the Round 8 of their fight. More importantly, he looked like Mayweather doing it.
Last Saturday, Broner lost his first fight to Marcos Maidana (35-2, 31 KOs) in disappointing fashion. In defeat, Broner no longer reminded me of Mayweather. Instead, he seemed eerily similar to former featherweight champion Prince Naseem Hamed (36-1, 31 KOs), who was undefeated before his first loss and was a polarizing figure in boxing due to his punching power, arrogance and theatrics.
One year ago, Broner looked like a mirror image of Mayweather as he beat DeMarco into submission. He took control of the center of the ring and used Mayweather's famous shoulder-roll defense to avoid DeMarco's punches. He kept his right fist clung to his chin, his left hand low and all of his weight on his back foot, just like Mayweather, as he caught DeMarco's best punches on his left shoulder.
While DeMarco missed his shots, Broner picked him apart with lightning-fast fists and incredible counter punching. Finally, Broner finished DeMarco with a thunderous left uppercut. He effectively imitated Mayweather's boxing style on that night.
After this fight, the world took a heightened notice of Broner. Boxing pundits started drawing comparisons between Mayweather and Broner. These comparisons were strengthened as Broner and Mayweather developed a public friendship. Broner, on numerous occasions, praised Mayweather and referred to him affectionately as "big brother."
Broner's persona, inside and out of the ring, also mimicked Mayweather's. Broner vocally criticized his opponents to the point of trash talk. The high watermark of Broner's verbal sparring occurred before his fight against former welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi as he implied verbally that he had an intimate relationship with Malignaggi's ex-girlfriend.
Broner, like Mayweather, also had a knack for theatrical stunts. Numerous times before his fights, Broner was escorted to the ring either with someone rapping live or rapping himself.
Many saw Broner's antics as extreme arrogance rivaling only Floyd Mayweather's.
Now that Broner has lost his first fight, the similarities to Mayweather have faded in people's memories. He now runs the risk of imitating Prince Naseem Hamed's career instead of Mayweather's.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, Hamed was boxing's most exciting rising star. Fighting in the featherweight division, Great Britain's Hamed was a dynamic young champion.
Inside the ring, Hamed seemed to have it all: power, speed and stamina. He fought with his hands low and made his opponents miss with subtle, quick movement of his upper body. He had astonishing knockouts that mesmerized crowds, and he looked good doing it.
He had showmanship. He taunted his opponents inside and outside of the ring much like Broner and Mayweather. He would talk to his opponents during fights, and he would play to the crowd. People loved him and hated him.
To celebrate his victories, Hamed would do backflips in the center of the ring. Simply put, he was exciting to watch.
Between 1995 and 2000, Hamed defended his WBO featherweight title a whopping 16 times, which added to his aura of invincibility. The two biggest names he defeated were Wilfredo Vazquez and Kevin Kelley.
While this seems like an incredible accomplishment, it is really a grand illusion. In all of his defenses, Kelley and Vazquez are the only big-name opponents that Hamed ever faced, and their names are deceiving, too. Kelley was always overrated as the rest of his career proved, and Vazquez was in the 17th year of his career. He was well past his prime.
Hamed then faced a real opponent, Marco Antonio Barrera, who was in his prime.
In the 12 rounds that they fought, Barrera convincingly beat Hamed via unanimous decision. Barrera out-boxed Hamed, who appeared frustrated and without his normal sense of confidence.
Hamed was bullied throughout the fight. This was best illustrated in the final round when Barrera was penalized one point for slamming Hamed's head into the turnbuckle. When it was all done, the prospect that Hamed was unbeatable had been destroyed, and he was never the same.
Hamed fought one more time in his career in an anticlimatic bout against Manuel Calvo, which he won by decision. Although he won the fight, Hamed's psyche was never the same, and he hasn't fought since. He was on track to be recognized as one of boxing's best but, now, is seen as one of boxing's biggest disappointments.
In all honesty, Broner should feel lucky to be compared to Hamed. Broner, in comparison, has only defended a major title six times. That's 10 fewer than Hamed. The two biggest names he's beaten are Antonio DeMarco and Paulie Malignaggi, neither of them is a Wilfredo Vazquez.
If comparing Broner to Hamed seems out of place, the fact that he was once compared to Mayweather is preposterous and makes me feel ridiculous that I once committed such blasphemy.
The only legitimate similarity that Broner might ultimately share with Hamed could be that, if he looks poor in one more fight, he too might fade away into oblivion.
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