He will not be the first lightweight champion to go straight for the welterweight title in the era where there's a 140 lbs. class in between. Roberto Duran did it in the late 70s but he first fought and beat some welterweight contenders en route to that historic bout and win over Sugar Ray Leonard. Sugar Shane Mosley also did it in the late 90s but in his first fight at 147 lbs lifting the welterweight crown from Oscar de al Hoya's head. In Duran's case, he bypassed Aaron Pryor at 140 lbs. though he had a previous win over Saoul Mamby who later became 140 lbs. champion and Esteban de Jesus who was virtually a junior welterweight when they fought for the first time in a non-title bout. In the case of Mosley, he bypassed Kostya Tyszu and Miguel Cotto which somewhat opened him to questions.

Then there's the case of Robert Guerrero who also essayed a successful transition from lightweights to the welterweights beating not one but two legit 147 pounders in title fights. Tim Bradley and Amir Khan were the 140 lbs. champions at the time but nobody raised a hoot.



But seeing how many badasses there are today at 140 lbs.---Garcia, Judah, Matthyse, Rios, Peterson---it is not without basis the suspicion that Broner is looking for a homerun at 147 lbs. without first passing the gaunlet at 140 lbs. And he conveniently targets Paulie Malignaggi who happens to be perceived as the weakest of the `147 lbs. champions today.

P.S. Broner also has unfinished business at 135 lbs. against the likes of Burns, Vasquez and Abril, what the heck?

Got to admit, if Broner skips to 147 he will either lose a huge amount of fame because he is young and talented, still has the chance to destroy 135, then 140 OR, he will be Pacquiao's opponent after Paulie... With Pacquiao not being the demon he was back in the day, there is actually a chance that Broner might beat him convincingly. Broner's Mayweather rip-off show is enough to earn him some nice bucks and fame but if you add a Pacquiao victory on his resume... I pray for ears of the boxing fans -_-

The bleacher report dont know **** about boxing. Probably the worst place to go for boxing information. Box rec is update on who the next opponant is, other good sights are www.fightnews.com, maxboxing.com (although its a pay site) and fighthype.com can be good.

Check out the Bleacher reports top 50 fighters of all time, its absolutely mind boggling.

If the fight did happen (doesnt make sense that it would) Malinagi brings nothing to the table and could eeck out a win, he has a great chin and hes fast, I could see him beating Broner.

Adrien would kill this guy. He has NO power, Adrien would just walk through his punches even at 147.

Sure looks that way.

http://bleacherreport.com/tb/d9Tpc?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=boxing

Why would he skip 140 when there are so many good matches that can be made for him? Is Broner already starting to avoid the toughest competition?