The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of February 12

It's Adrien Broner fight week!

The Problem returns to the ring Saturday night in his hometown of Cincinnati for a showdown with the dangerous Adrian Granados, who knows a thing or two about pulling off a significant upset.

This is a tricky fight for Broner, especially if he isn't 100 percent focused on the task at hand.

He continues to face criticism for his perceived lack of commitment to the sport and cannot afford a loss here.

In other news, Top Rank made another huge splash with another 2016 Olympian joining the ranks. 

And this is the biggest one yet.

We take a look at how big a deal this move is for both the fighter and the promotion.

All that, plus, Kell Brook once again proving he's boxing's gutsiest fighter, Claressa Shields' historic Showtime fight and the latest on Gennady Golovkin's future plans, assuming he gets past Daniel Jacobs in March.

These are the hottest boxing storylines for the week!

Broner—whatever else you may think of him—has successfully channeled his many controversies into boxing marketability. You don’t have to like it, but it’s true. He fights, and people pay attention, positive or negative.

The Problem returns to the ring Saturday night in his hometown of Cincinnati against the rugged Granados, who is best known for pumping the brakes on the rise of top prospect Amir Imam with an eighth-round knockout in 2015.

And there’s already some controversy surrounding the fight.

Mitch Abramson of The Ring Magazine reports that Broner’s team contacted Granados last week and requested that the weight limit for the fight be moved from 142 pounds to the full welterweight limit of 147 pounds.

Granados described it as a “take-it-or-leave-it offer” and says he accepted because the opportunity to fight a big name like Broner was too much to pass up.

What that tells us about Broner’s preparation and conditioning is an open question. He wouldn’t have asked for a weight change this late in the game if he weren’t struggling to make the contracted weight, and that will once again raise questions about his commitment.

Those questions have dogged him over the past several years.

We can only hope—for his sake, at least—that he’s taking Granados seriously because this is a dangerous fight and a loss could be devastating for him and career-making for his opponent.

Bob Arum’s Top Rank has a knack for developing young talent into superstars, and it’s now home to perhaps the two most hyped prospects to emerge from the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.

Top Rank announced, via Twitter, last week that is has signed American Shakur Stevenson to a promotional contract. That’s a huge win for Arum, who was competing with Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s Mayweather Promotions and Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports (among others) for the right to promote the future star.

Stevenson joins Ireland’s Michael Conlan, who was screwed out of the chance to compete for a second Olympic medal in Rio by horrifically incompetent judging and signed with Top Rank in September, as the young stars the company will build around.

The 19-year-old from Newark, New Jersey, was considered the best hope for the United States to capture a men's boxing gold at these past Olympics, but he was defeated in the final by Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez and settled for a silver.

He’s managed by Andre Ward—the last American male to win Olympic gold—along with Ward’s manager James Prince and attorney Josh Dubin, per Keith Idec of Boxing Scene.

Hopefully that logjam of managers doesn’t create problems for Stevenson, who is likely to make his pro debut in the spring. 

Golovkin can't put the cart before the horse.

Jacobs represents his most dangerous challenger to date, and the Brooklyn, New York, fighter has more than a puncher's chance when the two meet for the unified middleweight championship March 18 at Madison Square Garden on HBO pay-per-view. 

That said, we aren't Golovkin, and we have the luxury of looking toward what might come next, assuming he emerges from New York City with his unbeaten record and treasure trove of 160-pound gold still around his waist.

Steve Kim of Boxing Scene reports that Billy Joe Saunders has been given an exception by the WBO to bypass his mandatory challenger Avtandil Khurtsidze (he took a step-aside fee) and pursue a bigger fight.

He's only defended the belt once since winning it late in 2015 and was lucky to emerge with it after a dreadful performance against Artur Akavov last December. 

Kim reports that Tom Loeffler (who promotes GGG) has remained in contact with both Frank Warren (who promotes Saunders) and Golden Boy Promotions about potential fights later in the year.

Obviously the fight in high demand is Canelo-GGG, but a unification match with Saunders would fit the bill for GGG as he continues along with his goal of holding all four major middleweight title belts. 

It would be the final piece of that puzzle.

So long as he gets by Jacobs, that is.

Brook shocked the world last year when he moved up to middleweight to challenge unified champion and human wrecking ball Golovkin. He gave a good account of himself, winning some rounds before a broken face forced him out in the fifth round.

The logical next fight seemed to be an all-British showdown with Amir Khan, but that fight fell apart over money. Nick Parkinson of ESPN reports that Khan wanted a 70-30 split of the revenue despite Brook being the champion.

Errol Spence Jr. is the top young fighter in boxing today, and he’s Brook’s IBF mandatory challenger at welterweight. That’s a fight many expected the Brit to pass on due to its relatively low reward for very high risk, but in yet another boon to his reputation, he’s taking it.

Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reports that representatives of the two fighters have asked the IBF to postpone a purse bid for an additional week as they work to finalize the details.

Brook’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, claims the sides are “close to a deal.”

That’s a big, bold move from Brook, especially in an era where fighters are so often criticized for taking soft touches and easy paydays. 

Spence is neither. 

Going from Golovkin to Spence is a statement to Brook's toughness and desire to seek out the toughest challenges, regardless of the outcome.

Shields became the first American boxer to repeat as an Olympic gold medalist with her dominant performance at the 2016 Rio Summer Games. She was barely challenged in either of her two Olympic appearances and emerged from Rio as one of the sport’s top prospects.

She won her professional debut last November and will now be making some more history.

Shields will headline Showtime’s “ShoBox: The Next Generation” against Szilvia Szabados March 10 at the MGM Grand Detroit just about an hour away from her hometown of Flint, Michigan.

This is the first time a women’s bout has headlined a card on one of the premium networks.

It’s obviously a huge moment for Shields and women’s boxing in general.

Female fighters work as hard (if not much harder, in many cases) than their male counterparts to get a fraction of the exposure and compensation.

Showtime Sports executive vice president Stephen Espinoza has said in the past that getting women’s boxing on the air is a priority of his, and to his credit, he’s now delivered. Hopefully this is the start of something big and Shields can carry that torch forward for all the women struggling to get recognition.