Gary Shaw Warns Broner About Making Weight For Possible DeMarco Fight

Negotiations continue to pit Adrien Broner against WBC lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco on November 17 in an HBO main event in Atlantic City, but DeMarco's promoter Gary Shaw has made very clear that his fighter won't be tempted by money the way Vicente Escobedo was in July, which allowed Broner to fight and win in Cincinnati even though he missed weight twice before the fight.

"If we make the fight, and [Broner] doesn’t come in on weight, we don’t fight. Money doesn’t motivate us that way. ... I think they underestimate Antonio DeMarco. We’ll see if Broner wants the fight or not. There’s been a lot of talk until now. Let’s see if he wants the fight."

It was reported on Saturday afternoon that Broner vs DeMarco was "close" to being finalized.

Broner, who had to give up his WBO super featherweight title on the scales before facing Escobedo, received a lot of criticism for the way things were handled two months ago.

Broner initially missed weight by over three pounds, and then a deal was made for a Saturday morning weigh-in where Broner could not exceed 140 pounds, or the fight would be canceled. Broner missed weight again, and the fight was up in the air while negotiations went on and on during the day.

At about 4 that afternoon, Escobedo officially walked away from negotiations. An hour after that, and just five before HBO went live, a deal was reached, with Al Haymon credited for stepping in and basically forcing the fight to happen by offering Escobedo enough that he simply couldn't refuse the fight.

The feeling was that Broner had basically paid his way into a massive physical advantage in the ring, somewhat similar to what Floyd Mayweather did in 2009 when he faced Juan Manuel Marquez. That fight was supposed to have a 144-pound catchweight, but Mayweather instead weighed in at 146 pounds and paid Marquez $600,000 extra. In that instance, there was never a question of whether or not Marquez would fight -- as he watched intently while Mayweather hit the scales, it seemed pretty clear the sides had already discussed how to deal with it -- but it was Mayweather brushing off an agreement because he could.

Broner, it seemed, did the same thing, and his post-fight explanation came off as an arrogant statement made by an indifferent young fighter who has been spoon-fed.

So basically what Shaw is saying is that Antonio DeMarco will be happy to fight Adrien Broner on November 17, which is a fight that people want to see, but that they won't be bullied into letting Broner weigh in, say, at 138 pounds, or whatever he wants the next day, and then go through with the fight just for money and the HBO slot. There is some fear in and around boxing that this sort of behavior could become way too normal, and it's nice to see it addressed already.

It's also an early way to hype the fight, which doesn't hurt.