Boxing columnist Keith Idec revealed on Boxing with Chris Mannix that Adrien Broner knew he was unlikely to fight at 144lbs - having already moved up from 140lbs - in his upcoming bout with Jovanie Santiago on Saturday 20 February.
Earlier today Broner ultimately weighed in at 146lbs, a pound under the fresh limit of 147.
There is a suspicion that Broner arrived at his camp to prepare for the fight at around cruiserweight level, which had left him too much work to do to cut weight, particularly given the lack of equipment available in coronavirus-afflicted training bubbles.
Idec spoke to Broner in the last week and claimed when asked about the proposed weight for the fight that he said: “I don’t care, that doesn’t matter to me.”
The Boxing Scene senior writer pointed out that, particularly as this is not a title fight, “What is Santiago going to do?
“He’s never made this much money for a fight. It’s the biggest fight of his career, the biggest opportunity of his career.
“Santiago’s contract weight says 144lbs, what the contract says in Adrien Broner’s mind... we could have an issue here but the fight will move forward - it’s not a title fight.”
Idec continued, “When he got to the camp he was a cruiserweight, but I could see him getting into this environment, and not having the sauna in the final days, and saying: ‘This is not happening.’"
The journalist had little patience for Broner’s lack of professionalism, despite his sympathy for any personal problems.
He said: “Who’s buying it at this point? It’s the same story.
“I understand that he has battled some serious mental health problems, and as a human being you want to be sympathetic towards him.
“He has some demons, I get it. You don’t want to be cavalier about that.
“But how many times is he going to tell you the same story? You could go back five years. It's the same, one year, the same, two years, it’s the same, then he doesn’t fight for two years.”
Idec made a stark prediction about Broner’s performance against Santiago this weekend.
“On Saturday night, he will give you several reasons why he did not perform in the way he said he was going to perform.
“He’s abused his body. The drinking, gaining massive amounts of weight between fights. He parties a lot, it does catch up with you.
“When does the public tap out on Broner?”