When it was announced that Adrien Broner and Marcos Maidana were set to meet in the ring, many people predicted that Maidana would solely have a punchers chance in the bout. Most believed that Maidana would get picked apart by the quicker and more accurate Broner, and would likely loses either wide on points or get stopped, but when the two finally faced each other this past Saturday night in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, it was clear that Marcos Maidana had other plans in mind. ?El Chino? instantly rushed Broner from the opening bell and did not give the champion any breathing room by mixing up his shots, both to the head and to the body.
Maidana showed much more diversity in his attack than he had in previous bouts. He was able to effectively use a left hook which he disguised as a body shot to come over the top of ?The Problem?s? guard. In the second round Broner was floored for the first time in his professional career by a left hook. He went on to endure a high volume attack for the next two rounds, being unable to launch any sort of meaningful attacks of his own.
Towards the middle rounds, Maidana was visibly slowing down from the high pace that he set in the early rounds. This gave Broner a chance to recover and start getting some of his offense into play. Adrien seemed to still have the will to win midway into the fight and was landing the sharper and cleaner blows. Despite still taking shots to the body and to the head, he seemed to be the fighter in control.
However in the 8th round, the tide of the fight shifted again as Maidana knocked Adrien Broner down for a second time with a 3 punch combination. Broner was very hurt and he was beginning to realize that his power just wasn?t having an impact on the Argentinean fighter. Later in round 8, Marcos Maidana was deducted a point for head butting Broner during a clinch, the deduction evened the point split of the round. Maidana got a second wind after the 8th round and continued to pressure Broner, clearly outworking him in the following rounds, and even stunning him on a few occasions.
Going into the championship rounds, Adrien Broner was told by his corner that he needed a knockout to win. Broner certainly tried, but unfortunately for him, his power just doesn?t appear to be all that good at welterweight. The heavy handed Maidana pressed on and continued to land looping right hands to the head of Broner, as well as a heavy body attack. As the final bell rung, the judges all had Marcos Maidana winning by a significant margin, and he was crowned the new WBA welterweight champion of the world.
Broner was just unable to use his slick boxing abilities, mostly due to the game plan of Maidana, and perhaps also due to his lack of experience against high level opposition. Adrien was badly battered throughout the fight and was simply beaten by a hungrier and more determined fighter. As the fight ended, there was clear swelling on the jaw of Broner and Maidana was fairly clean, aside from a few marks around the eyes. When the score cards were read, there was a very clear victor, as Marcos Maidana was awarded a unanimous decision victory by scores of 115-110, 116-109, 117-109.
With this win Marcos Maidana is now in a position to fight any top fighter at welterweight, and with his fan friendly style, he can easily draw big hits as a headline fighter. I think boxing fans would salivate at the idea of a potential Maidana-Mayweather fight, and with this kind of upset performance, Mayweather may be far more open to the fight than he would ever be for the much talked about Manny Pacquiao bout.
As for Adrien Broner, this is a huge setback in his young career, as not only did he lose his unbeaten record, but he was badly punished and exposed to a certain point. I think Adrien Broner?s biggest issue will be overcoming the mental defeat more then the loss itself, and when he does return to ring he might never be the same, but only time will tell.
