Originally Posted by
bobby heenan
watching that fight...i actually felt bad for the kid....despite his ignorant antics.....i believe the kid works hard behind the scenes....you could see in his eyes the pain as his 8 figure dreams were slipping away from him and he knew he bit off a bit more than he could chew right now....
i wonder if this whole thing could have been avoided.....im not sure who was behind it...haymon....himself....probably both....going for a little too much too soon.....im pretty sure they were trying to get him to ppv status by 2015....and there wasnt much really any business left at 135 save for maybe a fight with gamboa that was going to be next to impossible to make
in comparing him to floyd which i hate to do....floyd came up from lightweight and had 3 fights at jr welter....testing himself twice and taking a strap at jr welter(which was his first ppv fight at age 27/28).....he then took on a 147 gatekeeper to test himself and make sure he was comfortable up there....sort of similar to them putting broner in with paulie....it was a good test and they knew his chin would not be really tested....he looked ok...not great....but there was no backing down after....couldnt say "eh maybe were gonna go back down to 135 this might not be the best idea"....
now comes his next fight....it most likely has to be someone within the golden boy banner and it def has to be someone the network approves.....thurman is out the window...too big in my opinion...and it wouldnt make sense for them to pit those guys against each other this early anyway.....paulie has already been had as a sacrificial lamb....mathysse and garcia are out......khan dropped plans for an alexander fight....so who knows what hes up to(well we think we do)....but that fight was not really sensible at this point....neither was a garcia or mathysse fight.....basically the only fighters he prob could have fought under the golden boy banner that would have been approved by showtime are guerrero, judah, or alexander.....
in hindsight....judah or alexander prob would have been the smarter choices...i guess they were more interested in putting on the "battle of brooklyn"....who knows maybe a judah fight would not have been approved either unless he was fighting paulie......instead they put him in with an iron chinned, heavy puncher who applies pressure relentlessly in his 2nd fight at 147 coming straight from 135....i kind of wonder if there was maybe a safer option that was viable.....if i were him i might be a bit pissed off at my matchmaker/handlers.....i think it was bit much a little too soon....
at this point even schaefer mentioned maybe even going back down...while broner said he wants a rematch...i think a rematch is the best thing for him....take some time off....get back in the gym...formulate a gameplan for what he knows is coming from maidana....and redeem himself......sort of juan ma moment for him like salido gave him.....even though juan man failed at redemption....if broner can redeem himself he can still be a player at 147 and get some big fights...if he were to fail....he can still go back down and say it was more than he could chew and dominate 135 or even go down to 140 and get some big fights and make some good money......
i hope this was a good lesson for this kid......time to tighten up the wallet a little....so hard for a kid that age to really put things in perspective.....when zab was a kid he was living the same way....while zab is/was a good fighter he was never "great" like he thought he was or was going to be....it took zab many years to really appreciate the game and the money he was making from it....