Photos by Idris Erba/Mayweather Promotions
On Saturday, July 29, 2017, Adrien Broner (33-2, 24 KOs) takes on Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) in a highly-anticipated 140-pound scrap from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The bout will headline a Showtime telecast, which kicks off at 9:00 pm, EST and features Jermall Charlo vs. Jorge Heiland in the co-featured bout.
Broner, who is coming off of a split-decision victory over Adrian Granados back in February of this year, has been relatively quiet this camp. Throughout the two-city press conference tour and on social media, Broner has shown that his new tagline is AB–About Boxing.
Broner has secluded himself in the mountains of Colorado Springs to prepare for a fighter that many people are speculating could provide the stiffest challenge of Broner’s professional career.
“I’m just more focused,” said Broner as he kicked off training camp. “In the city–in Cincinnati or [Washington] DC–there’s so much going on, and so many distractions. In Colorado Springs there’s nothing to do but look at the mountains and box.”
It’s that type of focus that has boxing fans–if not the odds makers–thinking that we will see the best version of AB on July 29.
“I’m ready to fight. I’m going to show everybody that I’m still that young and dangerous,” said Broner during a media conference call last week.
“I’ll go take over this sport of boxing. So I’m ready to answer my questions and get off this phone.”
Whereas making weight and training hard have always seemed to play second fiddle to Broner’s lavish lifestyle, Garcia seems to have awaken something inside of Broner as the Cincinnati fighter assured the media last week that he is ready to go.
“Man, you know, I weighed in at 144 this morning,” said Broner. “I can make weight tomorrow, but I wanted to go down. I’m just ready to put on a show.”
Garcia, who put Dejan Zlaticanin to sleep with one of the most vicious knockouts of the year back in January, is moving up in weight, but Broner is not taking Garcia lightly.
“I’m definitely training my ass off, man,” said Broner. “And I think this will be one of the best performances of my career. I think this will take me to the superstar [level] where I need to be.”
Broner has come up short in two other high-profile fights against Marcos Maidana and Shawn Porter, but in both bouts he showed that he doesn’t know how to quit and that he is a threat until the very last bell.
Broner has always had name recognition, back when he was being billed as the next Floyd Mayweather, and even in defeat he has remained confident and outspoken and still given people a reason to watch him.
But Broner knows that a victory over an undefeated fighter like Garcia will catapult him onto a different level inside the world of boxing.
“Everybody keeps saying “About Billions.” But now it’s “About Boxing.” So as you can tell I left the “About Billions” lifestyle, I left it alone for this whole camp,” said Broner.
“My main focus is just getting in the best shape I can so I can go fu*k Mikey up. And that’s it. You know, it’s nothing personal. If I hurt him, I know he’s definitely trying to come hurt me, but I’m coming to fu*k him up. I’ve said like we’re too close right now and I feel like punching his face.”
Will Broner’s newfound focus be enough to overcome the highly-skilled boxer that is Mikey Garcia? Let us know who you’re picking on July 29 with a comment below.
