**At the time of this article release, a warrant has been issued for Adrien Broner's arrest for assault and robbery. By all indications, this bout will go on as scheduled.
The “Treasure” has come a long way since his humble beginnings on the tougher side of the tracks of a central London borough. Starting his professional boxing career in 2003, Ashley sports an enviable record of 39 wins, 6 losses and 1 draw. The first ten years of his career was nearly self-made - without the benefit of a huge promotions company or world-class mentor that most top professional boxers have in their corner. Having learned from both his victories and defeats through the years, Ashley now exhibits the perseverance and humility of a seasoned warrior and a positive will to keep fighting for the top and improve his craft. "My career shows that if you believe in yourself and never give up, you will get your opportunity. At that point, it's just up to you to take it.” Says Theophane (age 35).
In one week from now, underdog Ashley Theophane (39-6-1, 11 KOs) will be in the biggest fight of his career with the opportunity to take it from the current WBA Super light welterweight champion Adrien Broner (31-2, 23 KOs) on April 1 at the DC Armory in Washington, DC. As boxing fans across the world tune in to view this bout, they may be wondering what makes this different from all the others. Ashley may be in his prime and have the backing of a very well-resourced Mayweather Promotions and, more importantly, the mentorship of retired boxing legend Floyd Mayweather himself, but is it enough to counter the size and power of Adrien Broner - who remains undefeated at this weight class?
After having unsuccessfully stepped into the higher welterweight divisions with losses to Maidana and Porter within the past two years, Adrien is back at the lighter weight class (140lb) which he has so far dominated. However, it seems the distractions of trash talking (the back and forth with master trash-talker Floyd Mayweather) and even the legal troubles that have recently come to light (felony warrant in Cincinnati) put into question whether Adrien has really taken training camp seriously and is ready to counter the strategy of Ashley Theopane and the Mayweather team in his corner.
Adrien has made his strategy pretty clear - a knockout within the first four rounds. However, history has shown that if a fighter can endure into the middle rounds (with Broner), then he (Ashley) can exploit by working the combinations, moving and preventing the holds and winning rounds. Porter was very successful with this strategy just last year - taking it to a 12-round unanimous decision and defeat for Broner.
"The focus is to go in there and outwork him on fight night. At the end of the day I have to set the pace. I can't go out there and outbox him because he's got tremendous skill and speed. So I have to be able to go out there and outwork him and make it a war.” - Ashley
From the all the video and press, Ashley seems intent to stay focused on the prize - refusing to partake in the trash talking circus that Broner has generated. If he can bring this command and focus into the ring on April 1st, then it will be the “Treasure” of London that humbles and solves “The Problem” of Adrien Broner.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOUT:
Theophane takes on super lightweight world champion Adrien "The Problem" Broner in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Spike beginning at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT. Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by About Billions Promotions and Mayweather Promotions in association with HeadBangers Promotions, are priced at $200, $100, $50 and $25, and are on sale now. To purchase tickets visit www.ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster locations or call (800) 745-3000.
By Ron Parungao
Boxing/MMA Correspondent
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