I don’t know if they’re dancing in the streets of Argentina, but there’s no doubt more than a few pockets of celebration in the U.S., as Argentine born Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) dethrone’s what many consider an annoyance in Cincinnati, Ohio’s now formerly undefeated Adrien “The Problem” Broner (27-1, 22 KO’s). This in front of an ecstatic and impulsive crowd at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.Wresting Broner’s WBA World welterweight title in only Adrien’s first defense, Maidana would drop “The Problem” to the canvass in both rounds 2 and 8, to land by far the abundance of power punches throughout the course of a riveting twelve round bout. As a result, “El Chino” would garner a unanimous decision verdict by scores of 117-109, 116-109, and 115-110, to have solved “The Problem” Adrien Broner who talked the talk but couldn’t walk the walk.
Photo: The Ring
Stated Maidana, “the plan was to fight the way I had to fight to win.” Sending the ex-champion to the locker room in a hurry, Broner would avoid post fight interview attempts more efficiently than Maidana’s left hook, as Adrien battered and swollen looked to be suffering the effects of a broken jaw.
Immensely talented and thought by many the heir-apparent to Floyd Mayweather Jr., no doubt that consideration is currently off the table as Marcos Maidana, who coming in had fought the better opposition, would early on set the tone.
Attempting to separate the defending champion’s head from his shoulders in the opening round to wobble his foe, the Argentine shifting to southpaw and punching from varied angles would not only prove unpredictable, but in retrospect was totally effective, mixing in a solid body attack and timely jabs that would mainly keep the flat footed Broner off balance and out of rhythm.
And although Adrien would find momentary success in landing combinations, that success was limited, perhaps more due to Maidana fatiguing during portions of the fight rather than Broner taking the initiative. Otherwise when the kayo artist from Margarita, Santa Fe would let loose, he did so while for the most part avoiding with good head and upper body movement counters from his front running and clowning opponent.
All told a rock solid performance from “El Chino,” who with no help from referee Laurence Cole who all but refused to take points from Broner for repeated infractions, would finally strike paydirt after knocking off the ninth rated pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
After a boxing exhibition, Thurman seals the deal with 9th round kayo of Soto Karass
With both promising WBA welterweight interim titlist Keith “One Time” Thurman (22-0, 20 KO’s) of Clearwater, Florida and battle tested Mexican veteran Jesus Soto Karass (28-9-3, 18 KO’s) coming off solid wins, Thurman a competitive scrap to register a late stoppage of worthy Argentinian opponent Diego Chavez while Karass would stop former world champion Andre Berto, people were expecting a war in the co-main event.
That war would last less than a round, as after an early exchange where Karass would land a thudding overhand right, Thurman would flip the script. That’s to say dancing around a very large ring Thurman would easily outbox his come forward opponent, who unable to cut off the ring would run into an endless variety of hard shots.
Rugged as they come, the Mexican fighter would hang tough, only to finally succumb to the same left hook that had tagged him earlier, the end coming at 2:21 of round 9. “They can take it for a few rounds,” said Thurman, “but they’re not going to take it for twelve rounds. I finished the show. The ref knew it was over before it was over. I just turned 25 years old and I’m destroying the welterweight division.”
Santa Cruz better to retain title against a competitive Seda
In an action-packed bout from start to finish, 25 year-old two-division champion Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz (26-0-1, 15 KO’s) would in the far majority of rounds land the better punches and more of them in the face of a competitive showing from southpaw title challenger Cesar Seda (25-2, 17 KO’s) of Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico.
The end result would see the entertaining Santa Cruz retain his WBC junior featherweight distinction by scores 117-110, 116-111, and 115-112 after twelve rounds of boxing. Stated Santa Cruz, “the southpaw style made for a difficult fight. I wanted to give the fans in San Antonio a better fight than I gave tonight.”
With that the Mexican born pugilist now residing in the Los Angeles area looks forward towards bigger and better opportunities as he continues to impress.
Shumenov stops title challenger Tomas Kovacs
Kazakh fighter Beibut Shumenov (14-1, 9 KO’s) after a fourteen-month layoff wouldn’t miss much of a beat, stopping now formerly undefeated challenger Tomas Kovacs (23-1, 14 KO’s) at 2:55 of round 3. This in the 5th defense of both his WBA Super & IBA light heavyweight titles to ruin the bid of Kovacs to become the first ever world champion from Slovakia.
Now fighting under the banner of Golden Boy Promotions so as get his career in gear, Shumenov would drop Kovacs in each round, the last knockdown coming by way of a strafing right lead that would leave Kovacs looking unsteady upon rising to his feet, enough to prompt referee Rafael Ramos to call a halt.
In the end Shumenov after only 15 professional bouts would profess his desire to get in the ring with legendary fighter seated ringside Bernard Hopkins. “My main goal is to unify all the titles. Bernard I know he wants to fight me, and I’d be honored to fight such a legendary champion.
