Paul Spadafora being considered for Adrien Broner

Paul Spadafora (49-1-1, 19 KOs) is reportedly in consideration to face Adrien Broner (28-1, 22 KOs) this September, reports RingTV. Emmanuel Taylor (who just defeated Karim Mayfield last Friday on ESPN2) was mentioned to be the Broner opponent for September, but that is now no longer being considered and Spadafora is being looked at as an alternative opponent.

Spadafora is perhaps best known for the notorious sparring session he had with Floyd Mayweather over ten years ago, where many believed he got the better of Mayweather. Though its widely known that at the time of this sparring session Floyd was coming off a long layoff and was out of shape, for perhaps one of the only times in his meticulous career, many people still held Spadafora in high esteem as a legitimate top boxing talent.

Fast forward many years and run-ins with the law later, and Spadafora found himself in the position of being a reclamation project for Roy Jones, who signed Paul to a promotional contact after his career had been unceremoniously derailed on numerous occasions. Of course, despite his then undefeated record, Roy Jones had difficulty securing Spadafora any marquee fights as his promotional company was just a small fish in a big pond. Paul would then go on to lose his first fight to Johan Perez this past November, when Golden Boy was considering the idea of signing him to their stable. So that didn't pan out either, but he was able to bounce back with a unanimous decision win over Hector Velazquez earlier this month.

Now, however, it looks like Spadafora may finally get his big shot at the spotlight, albeit at nearly 39 years of age. Spadafora isn't a big puncher by any means, which probably makes him an intriguing opponent for Broner's handlers, but he is one of the better boxing technicians out there. I suppose Haymon and co. would view this match-up similar to the Paulie Malignaggi fight, a good respectable opponent with little chance of pummeling Broner like Maidana did. When asked about the potential fight, Spadafora responded:

"My manager, Joe Horn, said something to me about that. He asked me if I would take the fight, and I said, ‘Yeah, of course,'" said Spadafora, a former IBF lightweight titleholder. "He asked me this like two or three days ago, and I was like, ‘Of course I'd take that fight.'"

"My manager wasn't saying it was a done deal or anything like that, but he didn't sound like it wasn't, either. I don't want to get the call and then get excited and it's not there, you know what I'm saying. So it ain't for sure," said Spadafora.

"But a fight like that would be great for me. That would really motivate me to f-kin' get my s-t right. That would be a big fight for me. That would be the biggest fight for me that I've had in 15 years, or that I would ever have. That would have me on the track to do some great things."

Everyone loves a good comeback story, so it would be nice to see Paul get the chance to turn things around for himself. But at his age, if he wants to get on track to "do some great things," he'll have to make it a bullet train track.