Broner sees blue skies ahead after lightweight title win

• Adrien Broner defeated Antonio DeMarco to win the WBC lightweight title
• Promoter Gary Shaw says Broner could be the next Floyd Mayweather Jr.
• Says Broner: "I am the new era of boxing. I will take over boxing."

ATLANTIC CITY -- After moving up to lightweight and making easy work of champion Antonio DeMarco in his first try at the weight, Adrien "The Problem" Broner was asked what's next.

Should the new WBC champion, who thrust himself into the conversation as boxing's most exciting young fighter, remain at 135 pounds for at least one more fight or move up to 140 pounds, where the competition would be more plentiful?

Holding in his lightning-quick hands a future as bright as his smile, the 23-year-old wunderkind from Cincinnati, who improved to 25-0 with 21 KOs after his eighth-round stoppage of DeMarco, said it really didn't matter because he didn't see anyone on the horizon who could handle him.

"I'm elite, and I'm an elite fighter who can make a great fighter look like an amateur," Broner said. "And that's what I did today.

"I am the new era of boxing. I will take over boxing."

Gary Shaw, DeMarco's promoter, agreed.

"I think he could be the next Floyd Mayweather," Shaw said. "I think he's the total package. He's special."

Oscar De La Hoya, Broner's promoter with Golden Boy and once a star with a bright future himself, said there's a strategy involved in deciding the future of a star who's on the cusp of greatness.

"You have to sit down with the team and the matchmaker, you have to analyze different fights, other fighters," De La Hoya said. "But from what I saw tonight, who else could he fight at 135 that's going to give him a challenge?

"He can unify (the titles) if he wants, but he should just fight the very best. He's ready. But there's a plan. We have to analyze what the next move is, not only for him, but also for the sport of boxing."

De La Hoya said there have been discussions with Scotland's WBO lightweight titlist Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KOs). He was asked about undefeated former lightweight champion Brandon Rios, who fights under rival Top Rank's banner.

"We want to make the best fights happen. And the good thing about Broner is he will fight anyone," De La Hoya said. "Whoever wants to fight Broner, we're right here. Come knock on our door. Let's make fights happen."

Broner was asked if he looked too good against DeMarco, which could make lightweights shy away from challenging him.

"I don't think I looked too good. I think I looked ten good," he said, cracking up the audience of reporters and family.

Broner said he's in no rush to pick his next opponent. "Twenty three years old," he said. "A lot of guys want to fight me -- well they say they want to fight me.

"You still have Mayweather and Pacquiao out there, but after that, who do you have?"

He answered his own question by saying he thought Juan Manuel Marquez, who will fight Pacquiao at welterweight on Dec. 8, is an option.

Asked what he sees in his future, Broner cracked, "Five letters -- M-O-N-E-Y, and lots of it."

About building his legacy: "I don't lose. I don't even like to lose weight."

Then the brash champion summed himself up in one paragraph.

"At the end of the day, I'm Adrien 'The Problem' Broner. Everybody don't have everything. I have everything. I'm exciting, I can make anybody laugh. I can make anybody mad at the same time, then make them laugh again. I'm me. And there's only one of me."

Boxing's misfortune, no doubt.