Adrien Broner's love affair with boxing is back on, with the former four-division world champion hoping to show off his renewed motivation toward the sport during Saturday's bout with Jovanie Santiago.
Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs) hasn't stepped into a ring since losing to Manny Pacquiao in January 2019, and the 31-year-old is eager to put himself back into the world title conversation with a dominant performance against his relatively unknown opponent.
“I’ve found my love for boxing again," Broner said. "I gave myself some time to miss boxing and I’m ready to go in there and win some more world titles. My children are what fuel me now."
Any discussion about Broner's extended layoff from the sport has to include his run-ins with the law. A DUI arrest in Florida in March 2020 preceded a week-long stint in jail due to a probation violation for a 2018 arrest for "gross sexual imposition, a fourth-degree felony, misdemeanor sexual imposition and abduction, a third-degree felony." Broner has been in and out of legal trouble for years, but he recently said that he's learned from his past and focused on improving his life through boxing.
“Even if I didn’t have these pending court cases against me, I’d still be working my ass off to come back and make a fortune," he said. "That has nothing to do with my motivation. God gave me a blessing and gifted me with some great talent and I’m not going to let it go to waste. The motivation is that I miss the sport. I miss being on top. I miss being champion and I’m going to take another run at being champion."
Despite holding a long-term outlook of getting himself back into the title conversation, Broner acknowledged that Santiago (14-0-1, 10 KOs) will pose a real challenge in his comeback fight on Saturday. Even so, the Cincinnati native known as "The Problem" is full of confidence ahead of the bout.
“He’s a hell of a fighter," Broner said of Santiago. "He’s got great skills. But I just think I’m on a different level. February 20 people are going to see that I’m still the Adrien Broner who can take over the sport.
"In boxing I’ve learned that it only takes one performance to bring everybody back. All I have to do is go out there and perform and everybody will be back on the bandwagon."