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<\/a>Former four-division world champion Adrien \u201cThe Problem\u201d Broner returned from his two-year hiatus from boxing with a unanimous decision victory over Jovanie Santiago in the main event of Saturday night\u2019s SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast, live on SHOWTIME from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., in a Premier Boxing Champions event.<\/p>\nThe popular, must-see attraction Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs), who last fought against the legend Manny Pacquiao in January 2019, started slowly but used the second half of the fight to surge ahead on the judges\u2019 scorecards. The fight was scored 116-111, 117-110 and 115-112 and all three judges had Broner winning rounds seven through ten.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was cool,\u201d said Broner, who had his hand raised for the first time in four years. \u201cI want to go home and really look at my fight. I haven\u2019t fought in two years. But I felt good, I felt like I won the fight. I felt like I beat him with the jab, honestly. But it felt good to get my hand raised though.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cincinnati\u2019s Broner landed just 35 of 138 punches in the opening six rounds of the fight while the previously undefeated Santiago (14-1-1, 10 KOs) landed 93 of 305 during the same stretch. At the end of the fourth round, Santiago was deducted a point for a punch that landed after the bell. Over the final six frames, Broner landed 63 of 300 punches while Santiago landed 114 of 392. Broner was most active in the ninth round when he connected on 14 of 38 punches. Though outworked over the entirety of the fight, Broner landed quality punches over the second half of the bout which earned him the victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew he was going to be tough because he\u2019s 14-0,\u201d added Broner. \u201cAnd anybody with that \u20180\u2019 wants to keep that \u20180\u2019 so they\u2019re going to fight like a bum fighting for a sandwich. I came in and I got the job done. There is a lot of work out there at 140. Right now we\u2019re going to the drawing board with Al Haymon to see what\u2019s best for me. But I\u2019m definitely going back to the gym and I\u2019m looking forward to getting one of those titles this year at 140.\u201d<\/p>\n
SHOWTIME\u2019s unofficial scorer Steve Farhood scored the fight 114-113 in favor of the Puerto Rican Santiago, much to the chagrin of Broner. Santiago, on the other hand, was not surprised by the judges\u2019 scorecards.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, the decision doesn\u2019t surprise me,\u201d he said. \u201cBroner did a nice job in there. The decision could have gone both ways. He fought a great fight. We were in it to win this fight and he got the decision. I think boxing fans know who I am now, but in this fight I should have applied more pressure and the fight would have gone my way.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the co-main event, Swedish heavyweight contender Otto Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs) continued his rise in the division with a unanimous decision over former world title challenger Dominic Breazeale (20-3, 18 KOs). The judges scored the fight 117-111, 116-112 and 118-110.<\/p>\n
The veteran Breazeale, whose only previous two losses came to unified champion Anthony Joshua and former WBC titlist Deontay Wilder, showed signs of ring rust after a 21-month layoff. He started slowly and it was Wallin who was able to get his offense on track early and often. The southpaw Wallin landed a huge left hand that caused swelling over Breazeale\u2019s right eye in the fifth round. He out-jabbed Breazeale 103 to 37 and landed more than twice the number of power shots than Breazeale did (129-54).<\/p>\n
Wallin, who constantly stated his desire to move past the Tyson Fury fight that he nearly won in 2019 in the pre-fight leadup, earned the most impressive win of his career in his second appearance at the Mohegan Sun \u201cFight Sphere\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I had an advantage because I fought here before,\u201d said the 30-year-old, who lives and trains in New York City under former world champion Joey Gamache. \u201cI was more focused this time and I think I came out better than what I did last time. We knew coming in that I had better footwork, better speed so I wanted to use that. And I have good defense too. He hit me here and there but nothing too serious. I said before the fight that I just gotta do what I\u2019m good at and that\u2019s what I tried to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy ultimate goal is to be champion. But I have to keep improving, I\u2019m not there yet. I\u2019ve got a lot of work to do, I\u2019m getting better. I\u2019m not so focused on who I fight, I just want to fight, keep it stepping it up and when I get another shot, I\u2019ll be ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI let the early rounds get away from me,\u201d said the 2012 U.S. Olympian Breazeale. \u201cOtto is a good boxer and did a good job of sticking and moving the whole fight. I did a little bit too much head-hunting at the start and paid for it on the back-end.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the opening bout of the evening, former world champion Robert Easter Jr. (23-1-1, 14 KOs) showed his championship pedigree with a dominating unanimous decision victory over Chattanooga, Tenn.\u2019s Ryan Martin (24-2, 14 KOs). The judges scored the fight 117-111 and 118-110 twice.<\/p>\n
With the win, Easter improves to 5-1-1 in fights that have gone all 12 scheduled rounds, while Martin went 12 rounds for the first time in the losing effort.<\/p>\n
Easter was sharp from the onset of the fight, using his jab and movement to effectively dictate the pace. The former IBF Lightweight World Champion, fighting for the first time in 16 months, was successful in his second contest at 140 pounds. He showed no signs of ring rust as he landed 82 of 339 jabs and connected on 40 percent of his power punches. While Martin was busier, throwing 90 more punches than the Toledo native, it was Easter who was far more accurate as he outlanded Martin 161-118 in total punches.<\/p>\n
Easter was cut for the first time in his career after an accidental headbutt in the eighth round, but still continued his dominance for the remainder of the fight in a composed and masterful performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just comfortable,\u201d said the 30-year-old Easter. \u201cOnce I stay boxing, I get comfortable. I get a little bored but everybody says when I box, when I use my jab, keep my distance, I make the fight that much easier. So that\u2019s what I was working on the whole camp. Me and my dad have been stressing on using the jab, keeping your distance and that\u2019s what we did. I wanted to fight but as you see, when I wanted to fight, I got headbutted. So it was best to keep our distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever has those straps, whoever is in the way is going to feel this wrath. Me and AB, we\u2019re coming to stir up the 140-pound division and that\u2019s that. There ain\u2019t no particular fighter, I want them all. We\u2019re coming for all those straps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin, who was denied the opportunity to represent the United States at the Summer Games in London as an alternate when he lost to Easter in the amateurs, was unable to exact revenge or execute the game plan that trainer Mark Ferrait curated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I was competitive but obviously I could have done a lot of things better,\u201d said the 27-year-old Martin. \u201cI followed him too much and he was able to take away our game plan. He did a great job of keeping me on the outside. There\u2019s not too much to say, he was the better man tonight. His jab didn\u2019t bother me too much but it did keep me from getting on the inside. He never stunned me or affected me with it, but I should have sped up on him a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast will replay on Sunday at 8:05 a.m. ET\/PT on SHOWTIME and Monday at 10 p.m. ET\/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[AdSense-A] Former four-division world champion Adrien \u201cThe Problem\u201d Broner returned from his two-year hiatus from boxing with a unanimous decision victory over Jovanie Santiago in the main event of Saturday night\u2019s SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast, live on SHOWTIME from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., in a Premier Boxing Champions event. The popular, must-see attraction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[25605],"class_list":["post-100758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-adrien-broner-wins-in-comeback-fight-after-being-out-the-ring-for-two-years-breaking-boxing-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100758"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}