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Adrien Broner misses out on Pacquiao fight, vows to punish Ashley Theophane instead

Adrien Broner was a dark horse candidate in the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes, and now that he didn't land that fight, he threatens to put a beating on Ashley Theophane in his place.

By Wil Esco
Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Adrien Broner is probably a little disappointed that he also missed out on what would've been a career-high payday against Manny Pacquiao. Broner's name was brought up late as potential candidate via Pacquiao's adviser Michael Konz, although Bob Arum says that fight was never going to happen:

"Let's be honest when we talk about Mayweather and Berto," Arum said. "What the [expletive] business did Berto have in there in the ring against Mayweather? None. It's the same as if we had put Pacquiao in the ring with Broner. What the [expletive]? We'd never do that. It makes no sense."

So now Broner says he'll take that his energy and frustration out on Ashley Theophane, the TMT fighter he had already been all-but-confirmed to fight, but not before he launched one of his trademark tirades:

Theophane is only using Broner's boasting as motivation though, saying it's just more of the same ol' Broner, who also said Marcos Maidana and Shawn Porter would be easy work (with Broner going on to lose both of those fights). Theophane says the blueprint to beating Broner has already been written, and that he'll adopt the same strategy when they meet.

"He's obviously a very good fighter to be 26 and a four-weight world champion. I respect him as a fighter but I do believe I can beat him. He's shown his weakness against fighters like Shawn and Marcos, who are active. The blueprint is there.

"I'm not going to beat him by trying to outbox him. I have to be in there working and making him uncomfortable. He has flashy skills but he needs more than that. We've seen that. He's got a good chin but if fighters keep working against him, he doesn't like that."

Truthfully, Broner's low punch output and general lackluster effort appear to be the biggest glaring weaknesses in his game, and something he's going to have to address sooner than later if he's going to continue to have any semblance of a relevant career and live up to his talent level. Maturity was supposed to be the one thing that could turn this around for Broner, but it doesn't appear (in an overt sense) that he's maturing at a quick enough pace, or at all for that matter.

I'm one of the remaining few who still has high hopes that Broner could turn this all around to fulfill his potential, but I'll admit that my confidence is getting shaky...

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