Mikey Garcia set himself up for a big fight with an impressive performance at Barclays Center
He wasn’t able to accomplish what he has become known for — the crushing knockouts — but Mikey Garcia used his superior ring skills to outclass and handily defeat Adrien Broner in a 12-round super lightweight bout Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. the fight was aired on Showtime.
Garcia (37-0,30 KOs) won a unanimous decision in his third fight since returning from a 2 1/2-year hiatus due to a lengthy contract dispute. He greatly outworked Broner, throwing nearly 400 more punches (783 to 400) and landing 80 more power punches (152 to 72) .
For Broner, now 33-3 with 24 KOs, it was a disappointing end to his three-fight win streak, and the former four-division world champion from Cincinnati, who turned 28 on Friday, stayed upright for all 12 rounds but showed the damage inflicted by the devastating power and constant barrage of Garcia’s punches. Those punches kept Broner on the defensive much of the fight.
His face showed some swelling, especially around his right eye. But Garcia was especially effective with his body punches, too, which at times took the wind out of Broner’s sails. But “The Problem” never quit and looked stronger over the final three rounds than he often was in the first half of the fight.
“I kept the activity level up, ” Garcia said. “He’s a great fighter. He’s got great skills. I was just the better fighter tonight.”
Garcia won by scores of 116-112 twice and 117-111 from the ringside judges. The victory is expected to move him up in the pound-for-pound rankings, where he’s already in the top 10 on many lists.
Garcia credited his timing for what might have been one of his most impressive performances to date.
“I always said I have very good timing, and it’s underestimated when you’re outside of the ring, ” Garcia said, “but when you get in the ring with me, you find out that when you’re in front of me, my timing’s just a step ahead of them.”
With the victory, Garcia, the WBC lightweight titlist and three-division world champion, sets himself up for a big fight in the near future, possibly a unification bout against champion Vasyl Lomachenko at lightweight, perhaps staying at 140 to fight undefeated unified 140-pound champ Terence Crawford, or even going up to welterweight (147) if the right fight can be made.
“Anybody that wants to come and join us on Showtime, give us a phone call. We’re ready for anybody, ” Garcia said.
Broner, who said before the fight he had the ability to stop anybody in the ring, including Garcia, fell well short of that goal. But he was still fairly happy with his performance in front of what started out as a pro-Broner crowd but ended up booing him at the end of the night.
“I gotta thank all the people that came to see me lose, and that came to see me win, ” Broner said. “Because at the end of the day you’re the reason I make all this money.
“It was a good fight. At the end of the day I’m a fighter. I come to fight, I come to win and I put my heart on the line.”
Broner got fired up when Showtime’s Jim Gray told Broner “you said it was a do-or-die fight . .”
“They said it’s a do-or-die fight, ” Broner snapped. “If I fight tomorrow everybody here’s still going to come see me. At the end of the day, I’m still a four-time world champion, still a champion in four different weight classes, and when I’m done in the sport, I’m going to be in the history books.”
Broner earlier inferred that he had to chase Garcia much of the night, but the punch stats told a different story. “It was Tom and Jerry, ” he said. “I had to catch the mouse.”
If that’s the case, at the end of the day, the mouse was just busier, better and smarter than the cat.
Jermall Charlo wins: Undefeated Jermall Charlo (26-0,20 KOs) made his debut at middleweight and stopped Argentine contender Jorge Sebastian Heiland (29-5-2,16 KOs) in the televised co-feature. The stoppage came at 2: 13 of the fourth round after Charlo delivered a devastating left hook followed by a big right to end the fight.
