Weekend wrapup: Manny Pacquiao,Floyd Mayweather, Badou Jack and Marcos Browne

-Fresh off of his blasting of Anthony Mundine, former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn is angling to capitalize, and make another score, by luring Manny Pacquiao into a rematch. Horn’s promoter, Dean Lonergan, recently said that, “If Pacquiao wants to build towards a big fight with Mayweather, and make MayPac 2 more credible than it currently is, surely Manny has to revisit Jeff Horn before a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight”.

Um, actually, no. Mayweather could care less about the Horn fight, most people think Pacquiao won the first fight against Horn and nobody is talking about a Horn-Pacquiao rematch. Nice try though, can’t blame a promoter for taking a shot. (Give Adrien Broner a call, he’s probably looking for a new dance partner). However, come up with some goofy dollars and Manny could be convinced to return to Australia. Actually, come to think of it, Broner-Horn isn’t a bad matchup? Maybe Broner’s shtick will play on a new continent because it’s gotten real old here.

-Pacquiao easily handled the challenge of Adrien Broner Saturday night in Las Vegas scoring a win across the board on all the judges cards. While Pacquiao certainly isn’t the same fighter he was a few years ago, he had more than enough to handle Broner whom he simply out-worked and out-hustled throughout the fight. Broner stood in the pocket all night looking for the counterpunch that didn’t come and was sorely inactive throughout the 12 round bout. Naturally after the fight, in a script that is getting old and tired after every big fight he loses, he complained that he won and would be back soon as champion.

-Adrien Broner was in fine form throughout the fight build-up with champion Manny Pacquiao. He kicked things off by making fun of (Pacquiao cornerman) Freddie Roach’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease. Then, he went on a profanity-laced tirade at the (final) press conference towards host Al Bernstein whom he accused on making tweets about him he didn’t like. Shortly after going off of Bernstein (universally recognized as one of the real good guys in the sport btw) Broner, who apparently has rules that apply to everyone but him, then stood for the traditional faceoff with Pacquiao and made ethnic slurs against Pacquiao and his countrymen. Thanks for keeping it classy Adrien.

-Dry-wit ‘line of the night’ goes to ShowTime announcer Jim Gray. After he asked Broner, 3-3-1 in his last 7 fights, what was next? Broner replied, “Well, if I was fighting you I’d be 7-0”. Gray, 59, replied, “Well, that wouldn’t mean much”.

- After the bout at the post-fight presser, Mayweather Promotions’ Leonard Ellerbe addressed a Mayweather-Pacquiao 2 possibility.

“No, he is not interested. He has no desire and he is retired. Enough is enough. He has had a phenomenal career and has nothing to prove. With this victory over Adrien Broner, there are other possibilities like Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman. Those would be good fights.”

So, Floyd is either truly retired or this is just step 1 in the rematch negotiations. Manny looked good against Broner, who did little offensively, but this wouldn’t be the case against some young(er) guns like Garcia, Thurman, Porter, (Mikey) Garcia or Spence. Those would be very different animals than Broner and would be a very tough day at the office for Manny at this stage.

- Marcus Browne (23-0, 16 KO’s) won the (interim) WBA light heavyweight belt with a UD 12 over Badou Jack (22-2-3, 13 KO’s) on Saturday night at the MGM on the Pacquiao-Broner undercard.

-Speaking of, did you see the huge gash that Badou Jack received due to an accidental head-butt in his bout with Browne? That’s as deep a cut as you’ll see in boxing and there was little ace cut man Russ Anber could do to stop the flow of blood. Jack was the recipient of a massive stitch job (I’m guessing 35+) after the bout.

- Total class in defeat - Badou Jack congratulated new champion Marcus Browne saying after the fight that the cut was obviously a huge factor but, despite that, Browne was “simply the better man tonight”. Take note Adrien – it’s called losing like an adult.

- Undefeated Nordine Oubaali (15-0, 11 KO’s) captured the WBC bantamweight title with a UD 12, rematch win over Rau’shee Warren (16-3, 4 KO’s) on Saturday night, also on the Pacquiao-Broner undercard.

-The post-fight interview with Broner was a quick, but accurate, view into the insecurity and delusion of Broner. When someone continually goes out of their way to remind everyone how great they are, even after losing (and losing most of the big fights in their career), it gets old and tired - and Broner’s predictable, post-fight rants are all of that. And, refusal to take any responsibility for anything that goes against him in a fight is just childish. When Gray pointed out that “The most shots you landed in a round was 8 and you seemed to be having trouble getting close”, Broner replied, “It sounds like you already against me so I ain’t gotta fair shake talking to you”. Gray points out a statistical fact from the fight; however, it doesn’t fit into the Broner narrative of being the best fighter on the night, so somehow the announcer is against him? C’mon; enough. When Jim Gray initially called Adrien Broner over for a post-fight interview in the ring, Broner spewed, “Ya, bring you mother f***in’ ass over here, I gotta lot to say”. To which Gray responded, “We’re going to conduct this professionally or we’re not going to have an interview; it’s up to you”. Suddenly, Broner quickly got himself together and conducted himself accordingly. Boom – KO Gray!

Post-fight presser closing quotes

Adrien Broner - “I will be back and I will be a champion again and you mother****ers will still tune in. I’m still A.B. If they ask me to fight anybody. We are going back to the gym. I’m ready. I ain’t having no f***ed up night tonight…it’s time to cash checks and have sex.”

Manny Pacquiao - “It was a nice to be back. This was a good win for me and my team. Our strategy was to counter and that’s his style. So we had to make adjustments. Buboy told me not to get careless in there. Adrien Broner is a good boxer. He is a former champion. You can’t take him lightly. I respect him and his team for giving a good fight tonight.”

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