The Rock With The Problem: Rees And Broner

When Gavin Rees takes on Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner this Saturday in Atlantic City, New Jersey, he really will have a hard night’s work ahead of him.

Rees, 37-1-1 with 18 KO’s, is older, by nine years at 32. He is slower than Broner, both of hand and foot, the numbers say he doesn’t hit as hard, he has a shorter reach by seven inches and let’s be honest…he’s not as talented as Broner in the art of hitting and not getting hit.

As you can see, the record of Rees is not a “perfect” one, although his loss was to Andriy Kotelnik, a well skilled boxer and tough opponent, and his draw was more a technical decision as a head clash occurred with Derry Matthews before the fourth round.

His toughest opponents so far have been…well yeah, Andriy Kotelnik and Souleymane M’baye, from whom he grabbed the WBA light welter title off of back in 2007.

That was a good fight, Rees utilising his own skill set, jumping in with the jab, although he doesn’t want to be doing that against Broner, pounding away at Mbaye’s body to no effect and then fading late in the fight to scrape a narrow victory over a past his best Mbaye.

Then Kotelnik came along and reminded us that there are levels in boxing.

Rees’s best attributes are that he is tough as nails, and can be very aggressive. And don’t get me wrong, sometimes those qualities are all a fighter needs to be a really great fighter.

When Rees puts the pressure on he does get results…at domestic level or at European level, clearly not at world level, he was gassed out late in the fight against Kotelnik and that was five years ago…against an opponent that acts as a gatekeeper for world honours.

Broner 25-0-0 with 21 Ko’s, had his own version of the world class initiation; his gatekeeper was Daniel Ponce De Leon, for the WBO intercontinental belt.

De Leon is great fighter and a world champion at featherweight as we speak, he is another tough pressure fighter who can box, and Broner took him apart.

After he weathered the initial storm from De Leon, Broner started to counterpunch until De Leon didn’t really want to be jumping in aggressively anymore, so soon enough De Leon was on the back foot and fighting at Broner’s pace, which, sorry to make the comparison, but it’s the Mayweather syndrome.

Regardless of whether or not Broner actually looks like a mini Floyd Mayweather clone, as soon as he starts to control the pace and moves up through the gears, its game over. And against someone who is offering nothing more than just heart, guts and a chin.

Remember Gatti vs. Mayweather…Yeah, well, that’s what that looks like.

In fact, Rees’s trainer Gary Lockett knows all about levels, as his own career was ended when he first stepped up to world level and fought a prime Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik blew him away inside three rounds.

This is not an attack on Lockett or Rees, both were/are very entertaining, gutsy fighters and if there’s one thing you get with Rees, its value for money, and don’t get me wrong, I would love to see an upset; I like Rees as a fighter, but really…come on people.

Broner has gone on to beat Jason Litzau, Vincente Martin Rodriguez, Eloy Perez, Vincente Escobedo and Antonio DeMarco, talented fighters that in all honesty, probably bought more to the table than Rees does, and Broner stopped all of them.
Rees has a puncher’s chance. Even though he can’t punch, you still have to say it.

Expect a Broner shutout; the gulf in class is too wide.