If you’re familiar with Adrien Broner at all, you know that the line on him is that he’s a Floyd Mayweather clone, or pretender, depending on the reviewer. He’s basically hijacked Money’s personality, and he’s got moves, speed, flash and power; but, so do a lot of people. To make it to Floyd’s gargantuan level, it takes even more. And the jury is still out on whether the 23-year-old will make the leap.
With that said, Broner continues to do his thing, most recently defeating Paulie Malignaggi to maintain his undefeated record (27-0) and attracting an impressive 1.3 million PPV viewers in the process. He has 22 KOs and captured three titles in three different weight classes in the last 19 months. Not even Floyd had three titles by his 27th pro fight.
However, Floyd fought and beat Hall of Famers Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo by his 27th fight, defending his second lineal title in the rematch with Castillo in fight No. 27. Holding multiple belts in a division is what really demands respect in the sport of boxing, a sport that continues to hand out paper championships – like the one Broner took from Malignaggi.
While Floyd earned his cred in the ring, Broner has skated past the sport’s toughest divisions, including the loaded junior welterweight division (a division that features seven former champs), which he bypassed altogether.
Still, Broner has impressed against decent-to-good competition, has barely looked hurt and is making a lot of money. No shame in that, at all. But his new reality show, “About Billions,” is profoundly absurd for someone who would like to be taken seriously, or mentioned with Floyd Mayweather in a positive sense. Though Broner appears to be following Floyd down the bad-boy path, which has certainly been lucrative, he hasn’t reached the same level of greatness to really pull it off. The show is almost a carbon copy of Mayweather's 24/7 series on HBO but at a whole new level of ridiculous, a dangerous bubble of popularity to inflate before facing anyone who would truly pose a threat. With that said, lets dive in.
The first episode of his show starts in Las Vegas with Broner completely stealing Floyd’s manner of speaking and going to hang out with him. Then the money-throwing starts and has yet to stop through Episode 3. Before going out, he and his crew swap stories, and show a kid, later revealed to be a part of the crew, who appears to be bugging out on molly in their limo (5 min. mark). Afterwards, Broner announces that they’re going to the club, but that he’ll go running once they’re done partying. The next few minutes are basically like a behind-the-scenes look at a rap video, as several World Star wannabes break it down and, yes, money is thrown. Broner never makes it for a run.
In the second episode, Broner does his best Meek Mill impression in the studio and spends the rest of the 11 minutes flaunting obscene amounts of money – though he does find time for 16 straight rounds and a ton of pushups, a ridiculous condition to be in more than two months before a fight. After picking up two different “platinum pieces” for his girl, and deciding to put it on his “light card” because it’s not that expensive and he doesn’t feel like parting with the cash he’s carrying around, he then gives two grand in cash to his daughter.
At the very least, it would seem wise to not put these videos out for the world to see, since pushing the bad-boy image too far can have negative consequences. Floyd’s undefeated record and legitimacy within the boxing world gave him space to act out and still demand respect. He also knew he had the talent to remain undefeated, and that losing that would mean the loss of every fan who only tuned in to see him lose. At 23, without a signature win, Broner is pushing the limits of how far he can turn people off. Even though Broner’s still within the Mayweather realm of flashing money, at least May lets TMZ try to pick up the ridiculous footage, not HBO. Broner is putting it out there himself, which makes you wonder how many yes-men he’s surrounded by. Especially, when Episode 3 is based in Atlanta and Miami and it turns into the most ridiculous nine minutes on YouTube.
Yes, the next episode does begin in a club. Yo Gotti performs and Allen Iverson shows up and says he’s ready to play Russian Roulette. Then it’s off to Miami for two days, where Broner has a court date. But he didn’t bring any clothes or shoes, just several stacks of cash. He immediately spends $15,000 on Ace, Goose and Patron, before spraying bottles of Ace on the street with two friends, one of whom looks just like Trinidad Jame$. Two women end up in his bed counting money. He makes it to court on time (wearing different clothes, though). By the time they hit the club again, I was too drunk from osmosis to continue watching.
