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Who is Adrien Broner?
American professional boxer Adrien Jerome Broner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio USA, on 28 July 1989, making Leo his zodiac sign. He’s known for having boxed in four weight classes, and having won world championships in all four; Adrien’s also known for his rather inappropriate behavior both in and out of ring.
In December 2012, the magazine “The Ring” ranked Adrien #5 best active boxer in the world.
Education and early life
Adrien and his brother Andre Broner were raised in Cincinnati by their mother Dorothy Broner and father Thomas Knight; Adrien rarely speaks about his family in public, but it’s believed that his parents divorced before he turned 10, and that he and his brother were then raised by their mother.
Adrien grew up in a rather rough neighborhood, and his mother struggled financially to raise him and his brother; Adrien was six when he took on boxing, and it later became a way to keep himself off the streets. He began showing potential during his early teenage years, and it was while attending a local high school that Adrien began considering making a career out of it.
He also played football while at high school, then after matriculating in 2007, chose not to pursue a college degree but to continue boxing.
Adrien’s boxing career
Adrien boxed as an amateur until turning professional on 31 May 2008; his amateur record was 300 wins and 19 losses.
He won his first three professional bouts in the super featherweight category, all via first-round knockouts of Ramon Flores, David Warren Huffman and Allante Davis. He flew to Las Vegas, Nevada to face Terrance Jett for his fourth match, and Adrien defeated him by stoppage in round six. His fifth and final fight in 2008 was a ‘no contest’ match against Eric Ricker.
Adrien won against Jose Alfredo Lugo at the Staples Center in January 2009, and then defeated Eric Ricker via a unanimous decision in March, and in April, he knocked out Angel Rodriguez in round four. Adrien went on to face Fernando Quintero in a controversial fight; he won via majority decision, but most people believed that Fernando was the real winner. Adrien next knocked out William Kickett in the sixth round at the Staples Center in June, and he then knocked out Edgar Portillo in the first round. He ended the year 2009 with wins against Henry White Jr and Atencio.
He had four fights in the 2010, beating all his four opponents – Ilido Julio, Guillermo Sanchez, Carlos Claudio and Rafael Lora.
On 5 March 2011, Adrien faced former Super Bantamweight Champion Daniel Ponce de Leon; it was once again a controversial victory for Adrien, but this time unanimous. He then faced Jason Litzau, who was a Top 10 Super Featherweight contender; Adrien knocked him out in the first round. He then earned the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) Super Featherweight World title by knocking out Vicente Martin Rodriguez in the third round. Adrien defended his title against Eloy Perez on 25 February 2012, but was forced to vacate it after becoming overweight for the category; he nevertheless faced Vicente Escobedo, knocking him out in the fifth round.
His debut in the Lightweight division was a win against Antonio DeMarco on 17 November 2012, which was Adrien’s second title win; he successfully defended the title against former World Boxing Association (WBA) champion Gavin Rees in December 2012, defeating him in the fifth round.
Adrien then moved up to welterweight and faced Paulie Malignaggi on 22 June 2013, defeating him via split decision; this made Adrien the world champion in three weight categories at the age of 23, while earning $1.5 million for the fight. He failed to defend the title against former light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana on 14 December 2013, thus losing his first professional bout.
Adrien then began boxing in the light welterweight category, and his debut was a win via unanimous decision against Carlos Molina on 3 May 2014. Adrien and Emmanuel Taylor boxed for the WBA International title on 6 September 2014, with Adrien winning via unanimous decision.
Another man solves the ‘Problem’, as Shawn Porter outclasses Adrien Broner #PorterBroner http://t.co/hsmjdNpcaR pic.twitter.com/291SnMsTU1
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 21, 2015
He returned to welterweight in 2015 and faced former International Boxing Federation (IBF) Welterweight Champion Shawn Porter on 20 June; this was Adrien’s second defeat, as he lost via unanimous decision. He then switched back to light welterweight in the same year, and won the vacant WBA title by defeating former WBA Champion Khabib Allakhverdiev by knocking him out in the 12th round, then defended the title against Ashley Theophane on 1 April 2016, knocking him out in the ninth round.
He returned to welterweight on 18 February 2017, when he defeated Adrian Granados via split decision, after which Adrien once again returned to light welterweight and faced Mikey Garcia on 29 July, losing via a unanimous decision.
Adrien faced Omar Figueroa Jr. on 21 April 2018, which ended in a draw.
On 10 January 2019, he lost via unanimous decision to Manny Pacquaio for the WBA welterweight title.
Most recently, on 20 February 2021, Adrien won against previously undefeated Jovanie Santiago via unanimous decision.
Love life and wife
Even though Adrien can rarely be heard speaking about his love life in public, it’s known that the popular boxer is today a married man. He and American non-celebrity Arie Nicole became engaged in 2015 – he gave her a $140,000 engagement ring; the two haven’t disclosed the date of their wedding, but it’s believed that they exchanged vows sometime in the summer of 2016.
Adrien and Arie have five children together: Na’Riya, Admire, Broner, KJ and Adrien Jr; pictures of all the children, as well as of his wife can be found uploaded onto Adrien’s Instagram account.
He’s yet to mention the girls whom he’d dated prior to meeting Arie; Adrien’s married to Arie Nicole as of June 2023 and they have five children together.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Adrien’s fans became worried about him in October 2016, when his posts on the internet implicated that he wanted to commit suicide; on 17 October, he choked a waitress at the Las Vegas nightclub Drai’s and was thus arrested.
He was re-arrested on 20 April 2017, after having failed to appear in court.
A video was uploaded onto the internet on 10 September 2017, which featured Adrien knocking out a fan; he was ordered to appear in court but didn’t, and thus a warrant for his arrest for issued. Adrien then contacted the authorities and claimed that he didn’t know about the court hearing, and that he would’ve appeared if he had known.
He was booked on a misdemeanor sexual battery charge on 13 February 2018, and was issued a restraining order on March 2019, after he’d made homophobic threats on the internet.
Adrien sexually assaulted a woman at a nightclub on 18 June 2018, and on 18 December 2019 was ordered to pay her $830,000.
He spent some time behind bars in the second half of 2021, after failing to enroll at an alcohol rehab program.
Height, eyes and wealth
Adrien’s age is 33. He has brown eyes and black hair, is 5ft 6ins (1.69m) tall and weighs around 150lbs (67kgs).
Because of unsubstantiated legal fines, costs and debts, Adrien’s net worth’s variously estimated at between $1 and 6 million, as of June 2023.
