In one of the stranger recent fight rumors that just might have legs, reports are coming out that current lightweight titlist Mikey Garcia might next be matched with former welterweight titlist Adrien Broner. While this would be a very intriguing and marketable bout, it also begs some serious questions regarding weight.
Adrien Broner has most recently been campaigning between junior and full welterweight. Two fights ago he tried to win a vacant junior welterweight title, but he failed to make weight. Most recently he agreed to a 142 pound catchweight to fight Adrien Granados, but then declared he could not make that number a few weeks before the fight. The bout was then changed to a full 147 pound welterweight contest.
Before Mikey Garcia’s two and a half year hiatus, he had just moved up to junior lightweight. Since returning last year, has been campaigning at the full 135 pound lightweight limit where he now holds the WBC belt. At this point it is clear that Adrien Broner can absolutely no longer go down below 140 and there is serious question whether he even can get down there. For this fight to happen, Garcia would have to move up one, maybe even two weight classes.
I would definitely like to see it, but it is very easy to see weight issues derailing this fight. If, for example, Garcia is talked into a 142 pound catchweight and Broner again announces he can’t make it, I am not sure he will just agree to a welterweight bout like Adrian Granados did. Garcia is a much stronger position financially in the sport than Granados. He has options that Adrien Granados just doesn’t.
The rumored network and date here would be Showtime on July 29th.
