By Victor Salazar
Three-division world champion Mikey Garcia kept his undefeated record intact with a dominant 12-round performance against four-division world champion Adrien Broner in the main event of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, Saturday on SHOWTIME from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING®.
In what could be considered one of the best performances of his career, Garcia (37-0, 30 KO’s) won a unanimous decision by scores of 117-111 and 116-112 twice.
Garcia took the lead early on, showcasing fundamentally sound technique and backing Broner into the ropes midway through the second frame. A flurry of body shots put Broner in trouble in the second round. While Broner was able to stay on his feet, Garcia emerged with another round in his favor.
Garcia showed a combination of jabs, power punches and body shots all night long. He cornered Broner on the ropes with a huge left hook halfway through the third frame, and backed him in to the ropes again with 39 seconds remaining in the round. While Broner showed some movement in the fourth round and hit Garcia with a succession of 1-2 combinations, Garcia’s bodywork kept Broner at bay.
Broner (33-3, 24 KOs) looked to get back in the fight as he started the eighth round with a succession of sharp combinations, however his lack of consistency couldn’t withstand Garcia’s phenomenal body shots and overall punch output. Through eight rounds, Garcia had thrown a total of 500 punches, while Broner had just thrown 291.
Although Garcia had amassed an early lead from the first three-quarters of the fight, Broner continued to walk through heavy fire from Garcia in an attempt to connect with a big punch and change the tide of the fight. While he was able to ignite the crowd and land several big punches over the final three rounds, none of it proved to be enough to slow down Garcia.
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