Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman Win by UD and Boxing Makes Its Glorious Return To The Mainstream!
By Travis Fleming
Last night marked the return of boxing to network TV after a 30 year hiatus. The last fight featured Heavyweight kingpin Larry Holmes successfully defending his Heavyweight championship against top challenger Carl Williams. Now, 30 years later, boxing is back in the public eye on free network TV and what a return it was!
From the moment the intros were played, we knew we were in for the best production quality in the world on NBC. The goose bumps began to appear and didn’t subside until Keith Thurman was awarded a clear unanimous decision over Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero at the end of a 2 hour extravaganza.
The mastermind behind this return, Al Haymon, pulled out all the stops and the incredible announcing team was of the highest caliber featuring the legendary Marv Albert on the blow by blow, Laila Ali in the corners and Sugar Ray Leonard on color commentary giving the best on the spot analysis I have seen in over 20 years. Leonard’s eye for exactly what was going down tactically was uncanny and a welcome form of education for all of us who could only wish to have the insight of an all-time great.
The production was amazing, the best I’ve ever witnessed for a fight, including major pay per views. In the lead up, the pieces on Thurman, Guerrero and Broner gave a poignant account of their careers, their personalities and the struggles they’ve faced to get where they are today. It was a great introduction for the casual fans that allowed them to get behind a guy without even seeing him fight.
The first fight featured cocky Adrien Broner strutting out in his half leather/half leopard robe with a big bedazzled “AB” on the front against humble power puncher John Molina. Just last year, Molina gave the highly ranked Lucas Matthysse one of the toughest fights of his career, knocking him down and almost out before getting stopped by Matthysse’s assault late in the fight.
Molina would show none of the same heroics. He seemed to be handcuffed by Broner’s speed and Adrien “The Problem” Broner was a problem Molina was unable to solve. From round 1, Broner showed he was in another class as his speed, defense, countering and precision allowed him to toy with Molina and eventually batter him with unanswered combinations. Molina would have been lucky to win a round. It was Broner’s best fight since his first loss to Marcos Maidana and it would be very interesting to see Broner against Maidana’s countryman Lucas Matthysse who is still highly regarded yet had a lot more trouble with Molina than Broner did. Broner showed great speed and composure. Broner vs Matthysse would be an excellent crossroads fight.
In the main event, Keith Thurman dominated a courageous Robert Guerrero. Much like Broner, Thurman did whatever he wanted aside from scoring a KO. He battered a game Guerrero and would have taken out a man with less heart, but Guerrero’s warrior spirit saw him to the finish line despite getting battered, bruised, knocked down and beat up. The ghost would not disappear but Thurman showed great power and skill. Thurman also showed toughness and composure by fighting with a nasty goose egg on his head resulting from an early fight clash of heads. The swelling increased throughout the fight but Thurman remained focused and came away with a win over his best opponent to date.
It was great to see boxing back in the mainstream and I was excited to see old friends who are sports fans talking about the fights and getting genuinely excited that there are more on the come up.
Next month features an even higher quality card with light welterweight king Danny Garcia vs IBF champ Lamont Peterson and WBO Middleweight champ Andy Lee against undefeated Peter Quillin who vacated the same belt. Please spread the word, tune in and enjoy the return of the noble art to the masses!
