Brandon Adams’ journey to where he currently stands in boxing was not easy, nor was it anything most current-day stars have encountered.
After losing a fight against John Thompson all the way back in 2015, Adams vanished from the sport of boxing with no real indication that the once-rising prospect would ever return to the ring. Even though Adams knew he would fight another day, the journey to getting to this point was not easy.
“The three years that I had off, I really started to self-reflect, figure out what went wrong in the fight. Understanding that was a shell of myself and that I was capable of much more, I had three years to reflect on that. It was dark times, dark hours, but I needed that. It molded me into the person that I am today. That’s why I’m looking forward to challenge myself and challenge the boxing world and to prove that I belong at the top,” Adams told Fightful in a recent media call.
But Adams’ journey back to boxing began with an offer: be a part of the cast of the reboot of The Contender, a reality boxing show that pitted rising prospects and contenders against each other with a large cash prize at the end of the tournament and a head start to title contention..
Having been out of the ring for three years, Adams had to essentially re-invent and re-establish himself as a legit contender. After running through the gauntlet and winning the tournament, Adams is now on the verge of potentially crashing the middleweight division when he takes on Jermall Charlo on June 29 for the interim WBC middleweight title. Despite having to fight five-round bouts throughout most of his run in The Contender, Adams believes he will be ready to go the distance if need be against one of the best fighters in the middleweight division.
“The preparation for this fight was kind of similar to how I prepared for a 10-round fight. The one thing about the five rounds that we had on The Contender was that we had to show everything we got in those five rounds to get the victory. Then making that transition to go to 10 and 12-round fights is about the work that you put it, the conditioning and training,” Adams said.
Joining Adams in his corner are long-time trainer Dub Huntley and legendary trainer Freddie Roach, who served as a trainer during the show last year. In a division that features the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin, Demetrius Andrade, Daniel Jacobs and Charlo just to name a few, Adams is looked by many perhaps as nothing more than a fighter enjoying a brief run of great success but whose ceiling is still short of the aforementioned fighters. But Adams relishes the opportunity to prove any doubters wrong.
“I feel like me and my team went over [the gameplan] pretty well. I’m excited go 12 rounds if need be or whatever. I’m just excited to get this opportunity and to be in the ring with one of the top fighters in the world and establish myself,” Adams said.
Charlo vs. Adams for the interim WBC middleweight title will headline a Showtime-televised card from the NRG Arena in Houston, Texas on June 29. Also on the card is a WBC junior middleweight title eliminator between Erickson Lubin and Zakaria Attou as well as Eduardo Ramirez vs. Claudio Marrero in a WBA featherweight title eliminator.
