Defeating Carlos Melina Saturday night for the International Super Lightweight title was not enough for Adrien Broner, the boxer-rapper who has been considered over-the-top by many. Rather, Broner, the former WBC welterweight champion, made racially insensitive comments about Melina.
“I’ve beaten Africans, and I just beat the f*** out of a Mexican,” Broner said to Showtime cable network’s Jim Gray.
Wednesday, the World Boxing Council issued a suspension and demanded a public apology. In a statement, the WBC said: “The World Boxing Council holds human equality as its banner and will not accept a former WBC champion to make racially offensive statements.
“Since words have different meanings and can be interpreted in different ways , the WBC is issuing this open letter to Adrien Broner to either clarify what he meant with his words or to issue a public apology if those words were intended to be disrespectful and offensive.
“Adrien Broner is hereby suspended from participating in any WBC-sanctioned championship and will be excluded from the WBC ratings until the time he makes a public apology satisfactorily to the public of the world.”
According to BoxingScene.com, Broner, 24, was immediately remorseful, apologizing to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer as soon as he got out of the ring, saying, “I’m sorry for what I said.”
“Sometimes [Broner] says stuff without really thinking, because as I came out into the ring the first thing he said to me was ‘I’m so sorry that I said what I said.’ He’s a young guy,” Schaefer said, “and I’m going to keep trying to explain to him, and maybe somebody like Bernard (Hopkins) who has the experience would certainly be a great coach in that regard.”
