Floyd Mayweather: Adrien Broner, Errol Spence Jr. are the future of boxing
LAS VEGAS - Adrien Broner caused quite the ruckus on Thursday, and all Floyd Mayweather could do was laugh afterward.
After all, it reminded him of his younger self. Mayweather has taken the 25-year-old under his wing in hopes of cultivating the next big thing in boxing, but Broner has a tough fight Saturday against Shawn Porter (8:30 p.m. ET, NBC).
"There's no limit to how far he can go. He can fight," Mayweather, wearing his promoter hat, told Paste BN Sports on Thursday. "I'm in the gym with him, he can fight. He be in the gym boxing with top guys. This training camp he was boxing top guys. … Shawn Porter's a solid competitor, I don't think it's going to be an easy task. It's a very intriguing matchup."
Broner of Cincinnati, Ohio, has all the talent in the world, there's no doubt about that. But his maturity (or lack thereof) is an issue. "The Problem" won titles at 130 pounds, 135 and 147, but then was dropped twice in a loss to Marcos Maidana in December 2013.
He didn't appear to take the fight seriously, mocking Maidana during the fight with sexually suggestive motions. But if Broner is focused like Mayweather, universally recognized as one of the most dedicated athletes in the world, Floyd believes Broner "can be a pay-per-view star."
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"That's why I play a major key," Mayweather said. "Normally his training camp is in Cincinnati, where there's a lot of distractions. What happened? I got on the phone with him, 'Get here, we need you here where there's no distractions' and he's still going to make a lot of mistakes because he's young. No different from me, I made a lot of mistakes. I didn't have a mentor like a Floyd Mayweather to come and tell me right from wrong."
Errol Spence Jr. fights in the Premier Boxing Champions co-feature against Phil Lo Greco, and just might be the best talent on the telecast. He's perhaps the top prospect in boxing, with his decorated amateur background, excellent balance and supreme athleticism. Unlike Broner, though, Spence is humble, yet confident.
Mayweather sparred with Spence in preparation for his May 2013 fight against Robert Guerrero and was immediately impressed.
"He pushed me and made me get in tip-top condition, and once I was in tip top condition, I was ready and the best I could be," Mayweather said. "He's a helluva fighter."
Broner and Spence have the world-class skill, but Mayweather knows from experience it takes a little more to be a star.
"You can't just be able to fight," he said. "You have to know how to communicate, have certain charisma. They have the right team. If they continue to win, we bring the personality out of those guys, and then we'll see where we can go from there."