NEW YORK — Mikey Garcia, already a three-division world titleholder and one of the best fighters in the world pound-for-pound, added nicely to his resume Saturday night.
Garcia, a reigning lightweight titleholder, moved up to junior welterweight and put on a masterful performance as he easily outboxed and outfought Adrien Broner to win a unanimous decision before a crowd of 12,084 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Broner, a former four-division world titleholder, moved down in weight from welterweight for the fight but was a considerable underdog in a nontitle showdown between two of the top names in boxing that came together when neither could find a top opponent to fight this summer in their own weight division.
In the end, it was all Garcia, whose technical superiority was obvious. His punches were precise, crisp and accurate with few that were wasted. Broner? He didn’t throw much at all, rarely threw combinations and did not do much of anything unless shaking his head after getting hit as if to say, “That didn’t hurt.”
The judges all had it for Garcia, 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112, which seemed generous. ESPN.com had Garcia winning by shutout, 120-108.
Garcia landed a hard left hand in the third round that had Cincinnati’s Broner, who turned 28 on Friday, in a little trouble and looking to get away. But Garcia continued to stalk him and landed a few more shots. Broner shook his head as if to say he wasn’t hurt, but he clearly felt the punches.
Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) continued to work the body and stick his jab against a Broner who barely threw any punches. When he did throw shots they were one at a time and not nearly enough to do any damage.
By the fifth round, Garcia, 29, of Moreno Valley, Calif., was in total control. He landed left-right combinations and Broner (33-3, 24 KOs) mustered nothing in return but an occasional punch. With 30 seconds to go in the fifth round, Garcia snapped Broner’s head straight back with a clean right hand.
It was more of the same in the sixth round, when Garcia continued to land combinations against an inactive Broner, who had no answers.
With Garcia dominating, the crowd came to life in the eighth round and began to chant “Mikey! Mikey! Mikey!” But while it was an outstanding performance from Garcia, the fight, which had high expectations, lacked excitement because of Broner’s inactivity and ineffectiveness.
Broner landed a good left hook late in the ninth round, but it did not seem to be nearly enough to win the round.
Broner had a lot of fans in the crowd and they tried to lift him in the 10th round with chants of “AB! AB! AB!” But they couldn’t box for him and Garcia continued to pick Broner apart for the rest of the fight.
