By: Sean Crose
“I’ll be 100 percent honest with you, Brian,” former world player Adrien Broner told Showtime’s Brian Custer. “I don’t have any of the damn things they went into.” And with those words, a Zoom video conference to promote Broner’s August 20 fight with Omar Figuera turned into something else entirely. “I feel like Al Haymon and Stephen Espinoza are talking bullshit,” Broner continued, “why are we holding a computer press conference?”
As far as Broner is concerned, other fighters linked to his mentor, Haymon, and Showtime Sport’s honcho Espinoza, are treated much better. “They don’t do Floyd’s crap on the computer when he’s fighting a YouTuber,” Broner said. “They don’t do anyone else’s crap on the computer, but they want to do my crap on the computer. So that’s telling me they don’t care about me. So when you say it’s fuck me, it’s fuck you. And at the end of the day, that’s what I’m really here to tell you.” But Broner hasn’t finished speaking his mind yet. “Everybody can see it,” continued the boxer. “At this point, you will be talking nonsense. Ya will have to make this fight. Ya will give us the date, you keep pushing our date back. Like, come on, who the fuck would camp for six months? Ya will trippin’. “
And with just a few more words, the once highly regarded Broner walked away from the interview. “I’m about to get out of here,” he concluded, “and go back to sleep.” Custer tried to tell Broner that online press conferences have been popular since the Covid Pandemic, but Broner didn’t want to elaborate. Mike Stafford, Broner’s coach, remained available and answered questions instead. The press conference was no doubt memorable, but perhaps not in the way the people behind Broner-Figueroa expected.
Not long ago, 34-4-1 Broner was considered the “next big thing” of boxing. Broner never reached the heights of Floyd Mayweather, whom he was supposed to replace as the defining boxer of his time, but he did quite well for himself, winning titles. in many tournaments and became the top attraction on television. However, Broner’s behavior has always been an issue for this man, as the Ohio native is often more than merely obnoxious. And while the criticism Broner made on Tuesday may or may not have been kept under scrutiny, it’s clear that the so-called “Problem” boxer isn’t always the man. his best supporters.
