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Adrien Broner looks to have two fights set at the moment, with his next coming on May 19 as part of the Lamont Peterson vs Amir Khan II card in Las Vegas, live on HBO. After that, if successful, he would face Vicente Escobedo in Cincinnati on August 18, headlining an HBO Boxing After Dark card, according to ESPN.com.
Broner (23-0, 19 KO) doesn't have an opponent for May 19 yet, but is coming off of an easy knockout of Eloy Perez on February 25 in St. Louis. His WBO super featherweight title will be on the line again, and there are plenty of mediocre fighters in the WBO top 15 that could fit the bill against Broner on the date. HBO has not seemed overly concerned with Broner's opposition thus far, but it would be nice to see him face someone like Roman Martinez or Juan Carlos Burgos instead of Monty Meza Clay, for instance.
The originally scheduled co-feature was a fight between Humberto Soto and Lucas Matthysse, which was moved to June 23 and the Ortiz vs Berto II card on Showtime, at least for now. (There's still part of me that just assumes Soto-Matthysse isn't actually going to happen.)
Broner, 22, has thus far gotten a bit of a free pass with HBO, as he's clearly a network darling that everyone thinks is either The Future or a huge part of the future. They may be right, but don't forget that we've also seen guys like Andre Berto and Jermain Taylor in this role, more Berto than Taylor as compares to Broner.
There's no doubt he's a major league talent, but I always wonder who really benefits from these healthy pushes down Easy Street. He was brought to the network against Daniel Ponce De Leon, who really tested Broner and arguably beat him, though Broner got the cards. Since then, the competition has been scaled back, and maybe it's just me, but regarding Eloy Perez as some major test seemed a bit desperate from people who want to believe in Broner as The Next Big Thing. Maybe he is, but I don't think we find out for sure on May 19, or on August 18 for that matter, even though Escobedo did recently look terrific stopping Lonnie Smith in one round, and for the record, I think Broner-Escobedo is a fine fight.