Adrien Broner has credited a shift in mentality for getting him out of a dark place ahead of his boxing return next month.
Former four-weight world champion Broner, 33, makes his return to the ring on February 25 after a two-year absence against short-notice replacement Michael Williams Jr who has himself replaced stand-in Hank Lundy. Once a protege of ring legend Floyd Mayweather, Broner's career has been plagued by inactivity in recent years which has largely been because of his mental health battles.
It has been a tough past 18 months for 'AB', who admitted he used to drink alcohol every day and was eventually mandated into a rehabilitation program. Broner is now in a much better mindset heading into his fight against Lundy and credited boxing for saving him from a slump.
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"I say this thing, work or die, I've been saying it a lot recently," Broner told Mirror Fighting. "Sometimes you've just got to look in the mirror and say f it. Don't think about nothing else just go to work, no matter how your body feels or what emotions you're feeling that day. Just say f it and go to work."
"I'm in a good place, I look myself in the mirror and tell myself 'let's get at it' so that's what I've been on. Once you get into the routine and your body gets used to working out intensely every day, I've been doing this since I was six years old. This is definitely the second half of my career and I'm going to make sure we do it right."
Broner has promised to show a new version of himself against Williams Jr, with the 33-year-old being criticised for not throwing many punches in his last few fights. 'AB' has only won one of his past four fights, but a $10million deal he signed with BLK Prime will see him compete three times in the next 12 months as he looks to get back to winning ways.
"I'm training to fight the best whoever, I'm working my a** off and I'll be 100 per cent on February 25. I'm a do whatever I got to do to get the victory, if it's the first round or the tenth round I'll still get paid the same so I'll take it whenever it comes. I'm still fast, I've still got the power. We're going to shut up all the naysayers. This is definitely the second half of my career and we're going to make sure it ends right," he added.
