Next up for Adrien Broner: Ashley Theophane. After that? Setting up shop outside of the ring and on an iTunes playlist near and dear to your phone.
Adrien Broner has a record label to tend to after he fights Ashley Theophane on April 1. (Photo by Stephanie Trapp / Mayweather Promotions)
Before he started preparing to face Ashley Theophane on April 1 at the DC Armory in the nation’s capital (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET/PT), Adrien Broner was assembling a stable of Cincinnati-area talent for his About Billions record label. It paid dividends in December when Broner signed the label to Rick Ross’s Maybach Music Group, an imprint of Atlantic Records that’s home to the likes of Wale, Meek Mill and French Montana.
About Billions dropped the About Time mixtape, featuring Dae Wun, Big Bern, Young Butta, B. Luck, Prince Bopp and K.I.D. earlier this month.
“We got MMG on our side,” Broner says. “Rick Ross, he's definitely on our side. He's helping us promote and get the brand out there. He comes around, and he's going to help me get some corporate money.
“We just dropped a hell of a mixtape on [the app] MyMixTapez called About Time. We doing big things. Right now, the big focus is this fight April 1.”
It’s not just about the record label, though. Broner just launched an About Billions app for iOS that spotlights everything from his fight schedule and ticket information to his lifestyle documentary About Billions webisodes.
It's no secret that these are just pieces of the puzzle when it comes to Broner’s brand-building. While his side businesses take a back seat to fighting, they’re never completely out of mind, even during camp. If anything, business life gives Broner a chance to engage a side of his personality that the fight game has no room for.
“Boxing is boxing and business is business," Broner says. "When it pertains to boxing you've got to focus and think about 12 rounds and be in shape. But when it pertains to business, you have to stay level-headed. There are certain things you have to do to promote a fight. There are certain things you can say and can't say. With me, I'm always in a no-censor zone. I'll always be me.”
For complete coverage of Broner vs Theophane, make sure to hit up our fight page.
