In a predictable outcome, WBA World welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) dominated the serviceable former four division world champion Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs) in handing him a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in front of a large crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Pacquiao hurt Broner in rounds 7 and 9. Broner showed a good chin in making it through those rounds, but he took a pounding.
Broner was looking to counter Pacquiao all night, hoping to catch him with a big enough shot to knock him out. Broner succeeded in nailing Pacquiao from time to time with big shots, but he was being badly outworked in between those rare moments.
Pacquiao was landing shots and treating Broner like a punching bag, which is what he resembled much of the time due to his low work rate. This was always going to be a bad style match-up for Broner. He doesn’t do well against fighters that throw a lot of shots, and attack with heavy pressure. Those type of fighters are like kryptonite to Broner.
Pacquiao showed little respect for Broner’s offensive skills, as the 40-year-old attacked ‘The Problem’ for a full three minutes of every round. Broner looked exhausted by the sixth round. He had his mouth open, and was gasping for air. Broner never showed any real interest in fighting Pacquiao hard enough win any of the rounds other than the 4th.
Broner fought like he conserving energy to make into the second half of the fight. In the second half of the fight, Broner was even less willing to engage, as he was getting hurt, and he was tired and looking at the clock a lot.
Given how much was at stake in the fight, it was surprising to see Broner show so little urgency to win. Had Broner won the fight, it would have put him in position for a rematch with Pacquiao or a fight against the Errol Spence Jr. vs. Mikey Garcia match. We’re talking about another PPV fight for Broner. He could have made a lot of money if he’d won tonight.
The fight was televised on SHOWTIME PPV. The boxing fans that ordered the fight might not be too pleased with the value they got for their $74.99 that they spent to order the fight. You can’t blame it on Pacquiao for the lack of excitement. He took the fight to Broner the entire night, hurting him several times with big shots that had him holding on to get out of the rounds.
Broner came to survive tonight, and that was sad to see. He didn’t put in any effort to win, and it showed on the scorecards. The judges scored it 116-112, 116-112 and 117-111. Pacquiao fought well enough to win almost all the rounds except for the fourth.
Pacquiao now moves on to face either Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September or the winner of the Errol Spence Jr. vs. Mikey Garcia fight. There’s good money for Pacquiao to make in those fights.
Broner can go be useful fighting someone like Chris Algieri or some of the young contenders that need a good gatekeeper type fighter. Unfortunately for Broner, that’s all he is at this point.
