Adrien Broner: Proof That Personality (Unfortunately) Trumps Performance

Adrien Broner looks like he'll be fighting again - and people seem excited. It doesn't matter who he'll be fighting, or how much his star has dimmed, or if he's even particularly relevant to the fight game anymore, people are excited. Broner, after all, is a character - perhaps not a great character, but a character nonetheless. And people love characters. In fact, it's pretty clear people put personality over performance, not just in the boxing world, but universally.

This, however, is a boxing site, so let's stick to the sweet science. We're told over and over again that boxing is more entertainment than sport. If that's the case, then, yes, may the most popular or notorious man win. Let's just make Broner our pound for pound king, followed by Tyson Fury and up and comer Conor McGregor (hey, he IS officially a boxer now) and call it a day. What boxing ultimately comes down to, though, is what happens in the ring. You can run on personality for a while, but it's going to catch up with you - even if your name is Adrien Broner.

Say, for instance, that Broner loses his next outing - or perhaps the one after that - to a second tier opponent. You'll begin to see the ratings and guffaws start to fade away, just like the love for Julio Caesar Chavez is finally diminishing (for the record, JCC Jr was loved for his family connections, not his personality, but you get the point). Personality, no matter how engaging, ultimately fades in the face of chronic failure. People  simply move on to the next  popular person.

At least this is true for boxers, but what about boxing's journalists? Many boxing scribes/video personalities, even ones I like and admire, ride on their personalities. And guess what? People like them for it. We're told that making yourself the story isn't something a journalist is supposed to do - but many today want self-promoting journalists at least as much, if not more, than they want quality journalism. And it's understandable why. As with boxers, boxing journalists who are characters are fun to watch.

At what point, however, should objectivity come into play? In the case of Broner and some noted journalists, probably sooner rather than later.