Adrien Broner is showing a different side ahead of his bout against Mikey Garcia

Adrien Broner is known as much for his brushes with the law as for the success he has enjoyed inside the boxing ring.

Despite his multiple championships, some people feel he has not lived up to his potential because he’s lacked focus on his fighting career.

Broner doesn’t think all of the criticism has been fair.

In Los Angeles on his second stop of a bi-coastal media tour, Broner (33-2, 24 knockouts) and Oxnard’s unbeaten Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) met for a news conference at the Conga Room at L.A. Live.

They are scheduled to fight July 29 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in a match broadcast on Showtime.

“I think a lot of the media and reporters, they let what I get into and my outside life interfere with my boxing life, and they let that cross, and that should never cross,” Broner said. “Just because I get in trouble or into a situation outside of boxing, don’t let that make your statement on my boxing. When it comes to boxing, I’m a four-time champion in four different weight classes. I did it at the age of 26. You can’t down talk that.”

Broner, whose nickname is the Problem, has been involved in a string of criminal cases, including arrests on suspicion of assault and burglary, dating back more than a decade. None has led to a conviction.

But he also seems to enjoy the grind of the sport, not just the flashy lifestyle that he’s become known for.

“I don’t like going into a clean gym,” Broner said. “A gym is supposed to stink. I like the smell of the gym. Sweaty, dusty shoes. Kids that only got nothing but a dream. The ambition in the gym. Everybody in the gym is training. Everybody is fighting for something. The grind ... that’s the thing I love about boxing.

“When I go back to Colorado, it gives me all those memories because that’s when I first started when I had nothing. Going back to the gym and they still have my pictures up there and it’s still the same.

“I’ve helped upgrade the gym that I trained at. It’s a lovely place. It’s an uncomfortable place because you wake up and all you see is dirt and mountains. You have good weather and there’s nothing to do up there but box.”

Broner was predictably swarmed with questions about his thoughts on the upcoming boxing bout between his promoter, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Conor McGregor, the UFC lightweight champion and MMA’s biggest star.

“That’s going to be the first televised bank robbery, and he’s not going to get in trouble for it!” Broner said.

“The same people that say that McGregor has a chance beating Mayweather are probably the same people that say I’m a 5-1 underdog against Garcia. That’s kinda crazy.

“You give McGregor a chance, but you just say I’m a 5-1 underdog. You give someone that’s 0-0-0 a chance to beat this man, who beat all of these world champions, but I’m a 5-1 underdog?”

Broner has put aside his outlaw persona for this fight and has shown an unusual level of respect toward Garcia and the media.

“This has always been me,” he said. “A couple of reporters probably know because they are with me more in the back scenes. You just see the headlines and what makes the news. If everybody in here hung out with me every day, I would be your favorite boxer. And it wouldn’t be forced. Y’all would love me.”

sports@latimes.com