By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – If Adrien Broner isn’t as impressive against Adrian Granados as he expects, it won’t be because Broner isn’t properly prepared.

The polarizing Broner insists he is more committed to training than ever following a trying year in which he fought just once, experienced a highly publicized mental health scare, was charged with felonious assault and aggravated robbery, and spent 30 days in jail for violating terms of his probation. The former four-division champion anticipates his stronger commitment to lead to a sound defeat of Granados in their 12-round junior welterweight fight February 18 in Cincinnati, Broner’s hometown.

Broner recently discussed multitasking for this 12-round fight, which Showtime will televise from Xavier University’s Cintas Center. In addition to participating in the main event, Broner’s company, About Billions Promotions, is co-promoting this show with Mayweather Promotions.

“I’ve got a lot on my plate, but I’m on a diet this camp,” Broner joked. “I’m doing things different. I’m getting older. I’m wising up. I always trained hard, but it is about being smarter. So, as you said, I do have a lot on my plate, I’ve got a lot on my shoulders. But I’ve been here before. So I’ll be OK.”

At 27, Broner believes he still has time to maximize his potential, despite defeats to Marcos Maidana and Shawn Porter. To do that, he knows he can’t cut corners the way he did when he was younger.

“Just training my ass off and ain’t taking no shortcuts,” Broner said. “When you have the talent that God’s given me, you can do less of things and still win the fight. This time I’m really not taking no shortcuts and I’m trying to reach my fullest potential in the boxing game.”

Broner (32-2, 24 KOs) has fought just twice since he lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Porter (26-2-1, 16 KOs) in a June 2015 fight in Las Vegas. By the time he boxes Granados (18-4-2, 12 KOs), of Cicero, Illinois, Broner won’t have fought in 10½ months, not since he stopped England’s Ashley Theophane (40-7-1, 11 KOs) in the ninth round April 1 in Washington, D.C.

“I’ve been through some humbling situations over the past year,” Broner said. “Like last year, I fought one time. And that was because a lot of the things that I’ve done. At the end of the day, I just wanna do better for myself, for my kids and for the other kids that’s looking up to me.”

In addition to Broner-Granados, Showtime will televise two other fights February 18.

Showtime’s tripleheader will open with a 10-round bout between junior middleweights Marcus Browne (18-0, 13 KOs), of Staten Island, New York, and Thomas Williams Jr. (20-2, 14 KOs), of Fort Washington, Maryland. Immediately before Broner-Granados, Russia’s David Avanesyan (22-1-1, 11 KOs) will defend his WBA world welterweight title against Washington’s Lamont Peterson (34-3-1, 17 KOs).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.