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Pac-Man V AB: 2017 A.D.

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Pac-Man V AB: 2017 A.D.

By now, everyone knows Adrien Broner won a 10 round MD over a gritty and determined Adrian Granados last Saturday night at Xavier University's Cintas Center in Cincy. What we don't know is where he goes from here in light of that performance at 147 lbs. Does he go back down to 140 or remain at 147?

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Will he face the winner of what is sure to be a firefight between WBC welterweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia and WBA welterweight champion Keith “One-Time” Thurman? Does he even deserve such a shot? Considering the 2017 MO of WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (almost certain to face massively overrated Amir Khan for ridiculous UAE bucks in April), Adrien Broner would qualify for a showdown for several reasons (we'll get to those). The first and last one's being he'd make Manny look amazing.

When I spoke to AB outside of the media room at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn prior to the Badou Jack V James DeGale card, I asked him about a fight with Pacquiao. In2he indicated that he'd “love to face Pacquiao's punk ass”. It was a PR tongue-in-cheek line delivered with nothing derisive behind it; but that could also characterize his performance against an inspired AG in front of 6,085 hometown fans of his that eventually started cheering for his opponent. Fighters do sometimes fight to the level of a lesser opponent, or, are sometimes lower versions of themselves in fights that aren't as marquee. Not to take anything away from Granados, but Broner's talent advantage over Granados is vast and the fight had no business being that close. AB was the more effective shot-maker, landing 41% of his __ punches to just 21% for AG. Still, I actually thought AG did enough to deserve the W, unofficially scoring the bout 96-94 in favor of Granados.

Assuming Pacquiao faces Khan in the impossibly wealthy desert oasis of Dubai and gobbles him up like, well, Pac-Man, how would Broner look against a 38 year-old Pacquiao of Old? Let's get into this.

PAC V AB

I think AB would get KTFO in about 8 rounds. He can't go 10 hard rounds at 147 and needed to break out of an agreed upon 142 against Granados? This is basically the closest thing that Pacquiao could do in terms of getting a rematch with arch-nemesis Floyd Mayweather. AB would do a lot of talking and make us all laugh while winning every press conference, but he would lose every round against Pacquiao. Why? His discipline sucks. For every trip to McDonald's that Mayweather makes, he takes 3 more to the pavement. And while he appears to play games in the strip club and have a ball in there while making it rain as T&A clouds the landscape– Floyd never loses sight of his “TBE” legacy. Greatness comes from an otherworldly commitment deep within, and Broner simply doesn't have that. While Floyd's cup is filled with Sprite, please believe AB's is spiked with some real bubbly.

At just 27, there were times in there against AG that AB stood for “About Breathing”, and he'd get hit about a billion times against a vengefully malicious Pacquiao. Fair or not, Broner has always been known as a somewhat bootleg version of “Pretty Boy Floyd”, and he's never been quite as good as any version of “Money”. Broner is heavy-footed at times, tight in movement and can't sustain effort for a full 3:00 round in what is now his prime. He's just not a consistently focused world-class athlete. For a full understating of how this fight would likely unfold, throw some popcorn in the microwave and revisit a savage Roberto Duran V Davey Moore from the year 1983.

That is Pac-Man V Broner.

Senior correspondent for NY Fights and author of upcoming book, "The Fist Club." Conscious indie recording artist "T@z" and humanist advocate for the Green Party.