An aggravated Adrien Broner immediately rushed Showtime Boxing’s Jim Gray after his post-fight interview with Manny Pacquiao to claim he felt he won the fight by setting the pace and making Pacquiao miss.
Showtime Boxing
“I beat him,” protested Broner. “Everybody out there knows I beat him. I controlled the fight; he was missing, I hit him clean more times. I beat him!”
Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs) tried to make a case for himself within the allegations; however, his claims could all be debunked by merely analyzing his plan- or lack of, in the ring against a much older opponent. Though Broner had his moments of effective aggressiveness at the beginning of some rounds, Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) was the aggressor for the entirety of the fight constantly stalking Broner and cornering him into the ropes and unleashing a fury of his signature combinations. Perhaps if Pacquiao were ineffective at cutting off the ring against the former three-division world champion, the narrative that he controlled the fight would hold validity.
Perhaps Broner could argue his claim that he was making the Filipino legend miss, however, with a reach disadvantage of 1 1/2 inches for Pacquiao, a lower accuracy percentage is expected against a more defensive fighter. Boxing fans are no strangers to the adage “Make them miss, make them pay,” and if Boner was making the eight-division world champion miss, he definitely wasn’t making him pay. Landing only a total of 50 punches in the entirety of the bout and averaging 24.6 punches per round, the Ohio welterweight fell victim to Pacquiao’s average of 47.3 punches per round and overall cleaner accuracy.
The promises of a much more focused camp to deliver a shocking performance were once again broken by an overly cautious Broner who though was more offensive than in his recent previous fights, still failed to take risks and let his hands go in perhaps the biggest fight of his career against an aging future Hall of Famer. From being called “The Problem”, it seems as his name should be changed to Adrien “If He Lets His Hands Go” Broner, due to that always being a factor when making predictions for his fights.
Broner had the best performance in the fourth round landing crisp power punches and effective counter right hands. He continued to counter with more regularity throughout the next two rounds but failed to put together any combinations as Pacquiao targeted the body.
The seventh round had the crowd on their feet as Pacquiao pummeled Broner against the ropes following his trademark left hand. As “Pac-Man” continued his attack, Broner would clinch onto him to buy time and put an end to the fury of punches.
After surviving the round, Broner maintained his composure through the eighth but failed to make any adjustments to gain an edge over his much faster opponent. In the ninth, Pacquiao landed another left hand which sent Broner knee-buckling across the ring and looking at the distance for the clock to see how much time was left in the round.
Broner had another competitive round in the 10th with effective aggression behind his counters, but the lack of combinations made him fall short for the remainder of the championship rounds. After the 12th round finishing bell, Broner immediately ran to the ropes in celebration thinking he had won the fight.
After 12 rounds the judges had it more generously scored than the majority of fans on social media scoring the bout 117-111, 116-112, 116-112 for Pacquiao.
Outraged by the majority decision, Broner assured the fans the decision for Pacquiao was in the best interest to promote a rematch between the Filipino senator and Floyd Mayweather.
“What they’re trying to do is they’re trying to get that money again with Pacquiao and Floyd,” said Broner in his post-fight interview. “But it’s cool, I ain’t worried about it.”
Calm and collected in his post-fight interview, Pacquiao didn’t initially call out Mayweather as most fans expected. However, after Gray asked about a possible rematch with the event’s co-promotor sitting ringside, Pacquiao didn’t shut down the possibility of a second fight with the undefeated legend.
“Tell him to come back to the ring,” Pacquiao said. “I’m willing to fight again to Floyd Mayweather if he’s willing to come back in boxing.”
In the post-fight press conference, Broner promised he’d be world champion again, “And all you motherfuckers will still tune in.” He went on to say we’d never seen him train or fight like this after he put the work in and worked his ass off. However, most fans and boxing analyst would agree Broner has entered the ring a different man after his loss to Argentinian warrior Marcos “Chino” Maidana. In his fights against both Mikey Garcia and Jessie Vargas, Broner failed to take risks and let his hands go, gaining him a loss and a draw on his record.
Through his dominating performance at 40-years-old, Pacquiao proved he’s still a threat in arguably the most competitive division in boxing. Aside from a possible rematch against Mayweather, Pacquiao can give his younger opponents problems before passing the torch over to a new champion whenever that happens.
As for Broner, regardless of his continuous lack-luster performances, he is right about one thing. Fans will continue to watch and be at his fights Whether is to root for him or pray for his downfall, Broner will continue to attract viewers and score championship fights for the remainder of his boxing career. Even if he only scores 50 punches in total with only three of those 50 being body shots.
