Boxer Adrien Broner apologises to Jay Z for blasting ‘disrespectful’ contract offer

Boxer Adrien Broner has issued a heartfelt apology to rapper-turned-sports agent Jay Z after blasting his offer to sign the athlete to a $40 million (£25 million) five-year contract. Representatives from the Empire State of Mind hitmaker’s Roc Nation Sports agency recently approached Broner with the offer, but the fighter rejected the contract and then slammed Jay Z for failing to recognise his true worth.
In an interview with TMZ.com last week (09Jan15), the 25 year old said, “I wasn’t happy with it. The capacity of the contract was $40 million for five years, that’s just bulls**t.
“I mean, it is what it is. At the end of the day, I felt disrespected. If you gon’ (sic) come to me and tell me that I’m gonna fight two times a year getting $8 million a year for five years straight. You got me f**ked up. I’m not old. I’m scheduled to fight four times this year.”
Broner refused to name his price publicly, but insisted Jay Z should speak to the boxer directly if he still hopes to persuade him to join the growing Roc Nation Sports roster.
He added, “I wanted to tell him, and hopefully this gets to him, stop sending your workers to come talk to me. I’m a boss, man. Bosses talk to bosses.”
Now a calmer Broner appears to have had a change of heart about his approach to the deal and has expressed his sorrow for failing to handle the situation professionally.
In a video message to fans, released to TMZ.com, he says: “I was caught up in the moment and I wanna apologise to Jay for that… I’m wrong and I can admit when I’m wrong… I’m sorry and if Jay wanna talk to me (sic), you can get in touch with me and… we can talk about it.”
Broner’s snub hasn’t stopped Jay Z from signing other boxers – on Friday (09Jan15), super middleweight champion Andre Ward became the rap superstar’s latest client.