When a fighter talks themselves up, and when the American boxing media tells us someone is the next big thing...I tend to have a personal warmth when they get exposed. We had one such case this past weekend when Adrien "The Problem" Broner (27-1, 22) got exposed as a loud mouthed fraud by Argentina's Marcos "Chino" Maidana (35-3, 31) who really did blow open the myth that Broner was the next Mayweather.
Maidana set off like a man possessed and really dominated Broner in the opening round. It was the sort of start that Maidana would have dreamed of having as Broner's bravado and confidence seemed to suddenly vanish. If Maidana had dreamed of winning the round his dream got even better in round 2 when he dropped Broner after repeatedly hurting him. It was clear that this wasn't what the American press or Broner, or almost expected. Maidana was there to not just beat Broner but to beat him up.
It wasn't until round 3 that Broner did anything of note in terms of aggression and it was the aggression that just saw him taking the round. He was however threatened with a point deduction for pushing off with his elbow. Bizarrely that same warning came up several times as Broner continued to push Maidana yet no point was ever taken.
With Broner taking round 3 it wasn't beyond thinking that he was going to turn things around. That didn't happen however as Maidana used his very under-rated jab in round 4 to neutralise the speed of Broner. It was only the speed of Broner that he actually seemed to have above Maidana who had power, aggression and more importantly desire. Real desire.
The desire of Maidana was on full show in round 5 as he again hurt Broner who lazy through out. Although Broner saw out that particular storm it was clear that he had no answer to the left hook of Maidana, the jab of Maidana or the flurries of wide shots that Maidana was landing at will.
Although Maidana seemed to slow in rounds 6 and 7 he was still doing the eye catching work. Broner was landing more than he had early in the fight but wasn't landing a significant number of shots and what he was landing looked light and slappy when compared to Maidana's thudding shots.
By the end of round 7 Maidana, according to commentators, had landed 60 more punches than Broner. Broner had landed more in round 7 (22 to 20) but with many of his shots being singles with little sting on them it was still clear that Maidana had the fire in his belly. That fire saw him dropping Broner for a second time in round 8. Unfortunately for Maidana he effectively the knockdown from the books by being deducted a point for a headbutt whilst Broner was holding him. Although the headbutt was stupid Broner's reactions were stupid with him selling it as if he was a WWE "superstar". The fans, knowing what Broner was up to, soundly booed the American who had by now become public enemy #1.
Maidana had come in to the bout assuming he would need a knockout to win. In round 9 he really went for the knockout as he dominated and battered Broner across the the ring. It was as close to a 10-8 round without a knockdown with the American taking a battering and landing very, very little in return. By now it had become obvious, Broner wasn't a special fighter, Broner wasn't the next Mayweather and Broner wasn't some great in the making. Broner was merely the human punch that Maidana was abusing
As with all good punch bags Broner took the shots well and was forced to take them again in round 10 and 11 as Maidana did all he could to prevent the judges from robbing him. The crowd egged on Maidana with chants of "Chino" and by round 11 the fight looked in the bag. Maidana's confidence was through the roof and and he went for the finish again in the 11th.
Having lost the 11th Broner flirted with a point deduction again for a shot well after the bell. Lawrence Cole, who seemed to "know the score" regarding Broner's status as the next American star gave Broner yet another warning but nothing else.
In regards to competitive action round 12 was the most competitive. Broner seemed to be aware he was trailing and he went for a tired Maidana throwing the kitchen sink at him. Maidana, being a South American, showed his machismo and fight back rocking Broner several times with left hooks despite being physically knackered. Thankfully for Maidana Broner's attack never had him in any distress, preventing any sort of dodgy stoppage, instead Maidana saw out the final bell.
There was a fear after the final bell that the judges, which have stunk this year, were going to do the impossible and rob Maiana of his clear victory. Thankfully the judges didn't. They had it 115-110, 116-109, 117-109 all to the right guy and the new WBA Welterweight champion, Marcos Maidana
Showing posts with label Adrien Broner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adrien Broner. Show all posts
Saturday, 14 December 2013
Saturday, 22 June 2013
Paul Malignaggi v Adrien Broner
American youngster Adrien Broner (27-0, 22) successfully leaped from Lightweight to Welterweight and claimed the WBA title from Paulie Malignaggi (32-5, 7) in a thoroughly competitive bout that defied the odds from the start to the end.
The defending champion started well with his work rate clearly taking him the first 2 rounds with out any issue at all, in fact the only issue was whether or not Broner should have been deducted a point for a flagrant low blow. Broner started incredibly slowly and appeared to looking to scout Malignaggi and it wasn't until round 3 that the highly touted youngster finally let his hands go and made a case for winning a round.
Having seen Broner move up a gear in round 3 Malignaggi came out for 4 to try and prove that he was still the champion and appeared to claim another round as Broner took the first minute off. In fact by the end of round 4 it was obvious that Broner wasn't so much an "elite boxer" than a boxer "with elite athletic abilities". Broner was looking one dimensional, technically limited and incredibly lazy in the ring despite having a huge power edge and incredibly fast hands. For those declaring Broner the next Mayweather questions need to be asked about what they were watching.
Broner picked up the pace in rounds 5 and 6 and despite landing an elbow at the end of round 5 he did look like a fighter who had the ability to move up the gears if he needed to. Going in to round 7 Broner looked like he was going to slowly break down Malignaggi but the local fighter showed off his toughness and landed his share of shots in round 7 that could well have gone either way.
In round 8 a pocket of fans did start what felt like a forced "Adrien Broner" chant though Malignaggi did actually have an excellent round that he may well stole with his flurries and activity whilst Broner,
Broner opened up again in round 9 as he really tested the chin of Malignaggi who showed his trademark toughness and fired back every time he as caught. It was a sure sign that Malignaggi wasn't going to be intimidated by the younger, stronger man who at one point appeared to be slowing and not as lightning quick with his hands as he had been earlier.
The final 3 rounds seemed to all belong to Broner as Malignaggi's work rate had slowed dramatically. Instead of the regular flurries and movement we had seen earlier from Paulie he was happy to try and smother Broner and fight closer up. This appeared to stop Broner from getting the leverage on his shots that he needed and gave Maliganaggi a chance to catch his breath.
Sadly it was probably in those final 3 rounds that Malignaggi failed to do enough to claim the rounds he needed for a victory with the result being a highly unexpected split decision in favour of Broner.
In the post fight interview with Jim Grey of Showtime Malignaggi made it very obvious what he thought of the outlandish scorecard of Tom Schreck who had the bout 117-111 in favour of Broner. Questions do need to be asked about what Schreck was seeing, though if the words of Malignaggi are to be believed, he's in Al Haymon's pocket.
One thing we learned from this bout is that Broner is certainly a long, long way from being as good as he thinks he is.
The defending champion started well with his work rate clearly taking him the first 2 rounds with out any issue at all, in fact the only issue was whether or not Broner should have been deducted a point for a flagrant low blow. Broner started incredibly slowly and appeared to looking to scout Malignaggi and it wasn't until round 3 that the highly touted youngster finally let his hands go and made a case for winning a round.
Having seen Broner move up a gear in round 3 Malignaggi came out for 4 to try and prove that he was still the champion and appeared to claim another round as Broner took the first minute off. In fact by the end of round 4 it was obvious that Broner wasn't so much an "elite boxer" than a boxer "with elite athletic abilities". Broner was looking one dimensional, technically limited and incredibly lazy in the ring despite having a huge power edge and incredibly fast hands. For those declaring Broner the next Mayweather questions need to be asked about what they were watching.
Broner picked up the pace in rounds 5 and 6 and despite landing an elbow at the end of round 5 he did look like a fighter who had the ability to move up the gears if he needed to. Going in to round 7 Broner looked like he was going to slowly break down Malignaggi but the local fighter showed off his toughness and landed his share of shots in round 7 that could well have gone either way.
In round 8 a pocket of fans did start what felt like a forced "Adrien Broner" chant though Malignaggi did actually have an excellent round that he may well stole with his flurries and activity whilst Broner,
Broner opened up again in round 9 as he really tested the chin of Malignaggi who showed his trademark toughness and fired back every time he as caught. It was a sure sign that Malignaggi wasn't going to be intimidated by the younger, stronger man who at one point appeared to be slowing and not as lightning quick with his hands as he had been earlier.
The final 3 rounds seemed to all belong to Broner as Malignaggi's work rate had slowed dramatically. Instead of the regular flurries and movement we had seen earlier from Paulie he was happy to try and smother Broner and fight closer up. This appeared to stop Broner from getting the leverage on his shots that he needed and gave Maliganaggi a chance to catch his breath.
Sadly it was probably in those final 3 rounds that Malignaggi failed to do enough to claim the rounds he needed for a victory with the result being a highly unexpected split decision in favour of Broner.
In the post fight interview with Jim Grey of Showtime Malignaggi made it very obvious what he thought of the outlandish scorecard of Tom Schreck who had the bout 117-111 in favour of Broner. Questions do need to be asked about what Schreck was seeing, though if the words of Malignaggi are to be believed, he's in Al Haymon's pocket.
One thing we learned from this bout is that Broner is certainly a long, long way from being as good as he thinks he is.
Saturday, 16 February 2013
Adrien Broner v Gavin Rees
After rapping his own entrance music WBC Lightweight champion Adrien Broner (26-0, 22) had to do something impressive and that's exactly what he did as he broke up and stopped Welshman Gavin Rees (37-2-1, 18) who was saved by his corner man close to the end of round 5.
The opening round was excellent for the challenger who showed an aggressive mindset and high work rate to really out work the champion who took his time to study the challenger and get used to Rees' speed and and size. From then on however the champion started to go throw the gears and appeared to hurt Rees in the second round as he started to show why he is so highly regarded. Despite hurting Rees in round 2 the challenger against made a strong case for the round on his work rate.
Whilst the second round had been close, Broner continued to go through the gears and in round 3 his class started to tell as he exploded in to action rocking Rees and pinning him on to the ropes before unloading. This was the first time Broner really opened up though it was obvious from then on that the bout was a lost cause for Rees who refused to just back down and instead showed his Welsh grit and kept coming forward.
Rees was punished for his bravery in round 4 as an excellent uppercut from Broner dropped him hard. Although Rees got up from the knock down the round turned into a painful one for the diminutive Welshman who was really tagged repeatedly as Broner continued to show his impressive power. Whilst Rees himself was landing plenty of shots they merely seemed to bounce off Broner whilst every shot from the American rocked the challenger to his boots.
If round 4 was painful round 5 was excruciating as Broner went up yet another gear and made Rees pay for the Welshman's own show boating. Broner scored a controversial knockdown with a body shot before beating the ever loving snot out of Rees for the remainder of the round before Rees' trainer Gary Lockett (himself a former Middleweight title challenger) waved the towel with a second of the round left.
Although Rees was a worthy challenger, Broner proved that he was by far and away the stronger, bigger and better man as he hurt Burns every time he landed. With the IBF/WBO unification bout between Miguel "Titere" Vazquez and Ricky Burns coming up, it'd be fair to say that the winner would be best off avoiding Broner who on this sort of form would take the best they have before stopping them.
Saturday, 17 November 2012
Antonio DeMarco v Adrien Broner
Highly touted American Adrien Broner (25-0, 21) scored his most impressive victory to date as he claimed the WBC Lightweight title by stopping the tough Antonio DeMarco (28-3-1, 21) in 8 one sided rounds. The bout, Broner's first world title bout at Lightweight, showed more than just a little resemblance to Floyd Mayweather's dominating victory over Aturo Gatti back in 2005.
The first round was slow with just 13 combined punches landed (according to compubox) though the following rounds saw Broner going through the gears and really dominate DeMarco from in the pocket as he landed power-shot after power-shot. Although DeMarco was game, especially in rounds 3 and 4 he was simply being caught too clean too often and by round 5 his spirit had been broken.
Although DeMarco was catching Broner though the American's somewhat loose shoulder roll, the American was rarely being tagged too clean whilst landing his own, fierce uppercuts up close. Those uppercuts started to take their toll on DeMarco who was marked up badly in the fifth with bruising and a small cut on his face. The fifth was arguable a 10-8 round as Broner landed something like 8 times as many punches (54 v 7) at an amazing 62% connect rate.
Although DeMarco did fight back in the 6th and 7th it was obvious that he was unable to hurt Broner who started to really hurt him, dropping him in round 8 before the bout was stopped.
Whilst DeMarco was tough he was completely out classed, and it showed that toughness cannot win a fight at this level. For Broner however this was a statement that HBO have been backing a real winner with genuine superstar potential. Whilst it's obvious that this was a style-up dream for Broner who was too quick, too smooth, too accurate for the generally crude DeMarco, he did the job much better than anyone expected and really, really did a number on DeMarco.
The first round was slow with just 13 combined punches landed (according to compubox) though the following rounds saw Broner going through the gears and really dominate DeMarco from in the pocket as he landed power-shot after power-shot. Although DeMarco was game, especially in rounds 3 and 4 he was simply being caught too clean too often and by round 5 his spirit had been broken.
Although DeMarco was catching Broner though the American's somewhat loose shoulder roll, the American was rarely being tagged too clean whilst landing his own, fierce uppercuts up close. Those uppercuts started to take their toll on DeMarco who was marked up badly in the fifth with bruising and a small cut on his face. The fifth was arguable a 10-8 round as Broner landed something like 8 times as many punches (54 v 7) at an amazing 62% connect rate.
Although DeMarco did fight back in the 6th and 7th it was obvious that he was unable to hurt Broner who started to really hurt him, dropping him in round 8 before the bout was stopped.
Whilst DeMarco was tough he was completely out classed, and it showed that toughness cannot win a fight at this level. For Broner however this was a statement that HBO have been backing a real winner with genuine superstar potential. Whilst it's obvious that this was a style-up dream for Broner who was too quick, too smooth, too accurate for the generally crude DeMarco, he did the job much better than anyone expected and really, really did a number on DeMarco.
Monday, 23 July 2012
Adrien Broner v Vicente Escobedo
Despite unbeaten American Adrien Broner (24-0, 20) maintaining his unbeaten record by stopping Vincente Escobedo (26-4, 15) in the 5th round he didn't manage to keep his WBO Super Featherweight title following a farcical weekend for the man known as "The Problem" which brought into question his professionalism and attitude to the sport of boxing.
At the official weigh in for what was supposed to be a Super Featherweight title defence Broner weighed in at 133.5lbs, the following morning Broner was 143lbs (despite agreeing to be 140lb) and by the time of the fight he had gone all the way up to 148lbs. Whilst talented his inability to make the contracted weight (130lbs) or the agreed weight (140lbs) brings into a lot of questions for the man who was tweeting images of Twinkies, Sundae's and Twix Ice Cream bars in the lead up to the fight.
Escobedo, for his part in the pre-fight shenanigans used his position of being able to call the bout off incredibly well to get a very nice cash pay off (rumoured to be around an additional $50,000 on top of his original purse). Sadly however he was simply too small and too slow in the ring to give Broner too many issues with Broner winning the opening 4 rounds before closing the show in the 5th round.
Broner started the bout well by out boxing Escobedo and whilst Escobedo managed to land a number of jabs and straights of his own they simply had no effect at all on Broner. Although the first round was moderately close the second showed the power difference with Escobedo looking wobbly legged at one point. Broner would then bust Escobedo's nose in round 3. Whilst Escobedo fought the 4th round bravely he was imply out classed and Broner walked him down in round 5 detonating solid head shots time and time again before the referee finally waved the bout off.
The title, only on the line for Escobedo, is now vacant throwing yet more confusion on the Super Featherweight division. Despite losing the Super Featherweight title Broner is now in line to fight for the WBO Lightweight title against either Ricky Burns or Kevin Mitchell due to some simply bizarre ruling by the WBO.
Whilst I'm not one for cheap jibes, I'm considering calling Broner "The Weight Problem" in future if he ever misses weight again.
At the official weigh in for what was supposed to be a Super Featherweight title defence Broner weighed in at 133.5lbs, the following morning Broner was 143lbs (despite agreeing to be 140lb) and by the time of the fight he had gone all the way up to 148lbs. Whilst talented his inability to make the contracted weight (130lbs) or the agreed weight (140lbs) brings into a lot of questions for the man who was tweeting images of Twinkies, Sundae's and Twix Ice Cream bars in the lead up to the fight.
Escobedo, for his part in the pre-fight shenanigans used his position of being able to call the bout off incredibly well to get a very nice cash pay off (rumoured to be around an additional $50,000 on top of his original purse). Sadly however he was simply too small and too slow in the ring to give Broner too many issues with Broner winning the opening 4 rounds before closing the show in the 5th round.
Broner started the bout well by out boxing Escobedo and whilst Escobedo managed to land a number of jabs and straights of his own they simply had no effect at all on Broner. Although the first round was moderately close the second showed the power difference with Escobedo looking wobbly legged at one point. Broner would then bust Escobedo's nose in round 3. Whilst Escobedo fought the 4th round bravely he was imply out classed and Broner walked him down in round 5 detonating solid head shots time and time again before the referee finally waved the bout off.
The title, only on the line for Escobedo, is now vacant throwing yet more confusion on the Super Featherweight division. Despite losing the Super Featherweight title Broner is now in line to fight for the WBO Lightweight title against either Ricky Burns or Kevin Mitchell due to some simply bizarre ruling by the WBO.
Whilst I'm not one for cheap jibes, I'm considering calling Broner "The Weight Problem" in future if he ever misses weight again.
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