Plenty of people really do enjoy seeing a big mouth shut. Closed. Silenced. Humbled. And in this great sport of ours, a fan favourite in this department took place a decade ago today. Adrien Broner, AKA “The Problem,” absolutely went into overdrive as he hyped up his fight with Marcos Maidana. Broner was almost unbearable at times, and how Argentine warrior Maidana used the fuel of his dislike for Broner to great effect in both training camp and in the fight itself.
Broner, lazily dubbed “The Next Floyd Mayweather” by some, was unbeaten at 27-0(22), and the man from Cincinnati was already a three-weight world titlist. Maidana was 34-3(31) and he was a never-stopped former WBA interim champ at 140 pounds. The fight that took place at The Alamodome in San Antonio was dubbed “Danger Zone.”
Broner got the shock of his life in the opening round, this as “El Chino,” boxing with more patience than before, but being his usual aggressive self, cracked his tormentor with hard shots to the head. Broner smiled, the smile being fake. Broner also crudely dry-humped Maidana at one point in the opening session. Maidana made Broner pay badly for his antics in round two.
Maidana dropped Broner heavily with a left hook to the head, this a key weapon for Maidana in the fight, and Broner was reeling and no longer smiling. To his credit, Broner got up and tried to fight back. But Maidana was the boss now. Broner did win some rounds, the middle rounds and some of the later rounds, but Maidana was landing the hurt, the heavy stuff.
In round eight, with Maidana trying to get loose from Broner who was holding him from behind, the challenger unleashed a butt and down went Broner. Looking for sympathy and maybe a DQ ruling, Broner got neither, and the fight carried on (Maidana was docked a point). Again to his credit, Broner sucked it up in making it to the final bell. A lesser fighter may well have quit. After 12 rounds that had the crowd hollering with delight at times, it was pretty wide on the cards. There was no way Maidana would be robbed on this night. Maidana would not be denied. It was conclusive at 117-109, 116-109 and 115-110, all for Maidana, the new WBA welterweight champ.
The sight of Broner after the fight, walking unsteadily back to his corner all by his lonesome, really did inspire all sorts of emotions: glee and sympathy perhaps the two most obvious, with both being felt at the same time. Not too long ago, Broner had been commanding his father to “brush my hair” as he was in his corner.
Now, Broner was a beaten, humbled former champion. No, Broner would not be humble for long, but he would never quite be the same fighter he had been, either.
It’s a corny line, but this fight could be summed up as follows: problem solved!
Maidana’s big reward came in the form of not one but two lucrative fights with Floyd Mayweather, the man Broner had unsuccessfully modelled himself on. And Maidana came pretty darn close to beating Mayweather in their first fight.
