Adrien Broner's chance at redemption against Marcos Maidana is looking like it will have to wait. Sebastian Contursi, the manager for the WBA welterweight champion, has announced that Maidana will be unable to fight as expected this April.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer had planned for a rematch between the two men on April 19 in San Antonio or a week later in Los Angeles. However, Contursi spoke with Rick Reeno of Boxing Scene and indicated that there is no way Maidana will be able to fight because of inadequate training time:
We just had an approaching telephone conversation with Al Haymon and I've let him know that April is too early. We don't know about Broner, but Maidana usually needs six weeks to rest and ten weeks for training camp, so there is not enough time to rest and train properly for a major fight in April.
Maidana also cites the impending birth of his daughter as a reason he's looking to push the rematch back. The 30-year-old Argentine and his wife are expecting the child in March, and he would have to be in the United States to train—thus away from his family.
It is unclear at this time when Maidana would be available. It also remains to be seen whether Golden Boy will attempt to hold one of those two April dates for Broner and another opponent, or simply keep the up-and-coming star on ice until a date can be settled.
Either way, whenever these two step in the ring again, the intrigue will be palpable.
In a result that shocked most of the boxing community, Contursi defeated Broner via unanimous decision in their WBA welterweight title bout on Dec. 14. Broner, who had been undefeated in his previous 26 bouts, exercised a rematch clause and seemed to be champing at the bit to reclaim his title.
At just age 24, Broner had established himself as the next great hope in American boxing and was seemingly on a one-way ticket to stardom. He was inside the top 10 in many of the pound-for-pound rankings, but dropped instantly following the loss. Ring TV dropped him out of its rankings entirely after heading into the first Maidana fight.
Broner still has a long career ahead of him, but getting quickly back in the ring and defeating Maidana, who had been a midcard journeyman during his career, is the only way for him to save face amid the national spotlight.
Now, Broner's next career move will be key. Odds are he and Golden Boy will decided to wait out Maidana's desired absence and things will go as planned, but it's interesting to see someone whose career has been a well-oiled machine thus far suddenly out of power. Broner needs this fight more than Maidana at this point.
He'll just have to wait.
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