Boxing Results: Adrien Broner beats Jovanie Santiago by questionable 12-round decision

By Boxing News - 02/21/2021 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) looked like a badly faded fighter in defeating little known replacement opponent Jovanie Santiago (14-1-1, 10 KOs) by a highly questionable 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

The 31-year-old Santiago outworked the former-four division world champion Broner in out-landing him by a 2 to 1 margin in connecting on 207 to AB’s 98, but that wasn’t enough to impress the judges.

They gave it to Broner by the scores 115-112, 116-111, 117-110. Boxing News 24 had Santiago winning seven rounds to five.

Santiago lost a point for nailing Broner with a late shot after the round had ended in the fourth.

Broner was supposed to have been working on his punch output, but it didn’t look like he made any problem in that area. He averaged 8 punches landed per round for the 12 round fight against Santiago, who isn’t a top 15 contender.

Santiago had never fought a notable fighter until tonight and looked better than Broner. That tells you a lot about where Broner is at in terms of what he’s got left.

What’s interesting about Broner’s win tonight is the similarity it has to his last victory against Adrian Granados in 2017.

That was a controversial 10 round decision for Broner over Granados in a fight that took place in AB’s hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Many boxing fans felt that Granados deserved the win. So now Broner’s last two wins have been controversial in the eyes of boxing fans.

Broner was fighting for the first time in two years, and he looked it. This wasn’t even the Broner that Manny Pacquiao dominated in their fight in March 2019. That version of Broner, which was poor, looked a lot better than what we saw of him tonight.

We’ll see what’s next for Broner. Showtime is paying Broner to fight on their network, so we’ll see if they agree to let him fight another non-contender in his next fight.

It would be good to see Showtime insist on Broner fighting Regis Prograis, Jose Zepeda, Jose Pedraza, or Shakhram Giyasov next. At least Showtime would get value for their money if they insist on Broner fighting one of those fighters.

The way that Broner looked tonight, there’s not coming back to the fighter that he once was 8 to 11 years ago.

Broner has lost valuable hand speed, and his reflexes don’t look anywhere close to what they were when he was winning division titles against less than the best contenders.

Additionally, physically, Broner looks older than his 31 years, and he’s not the young lion that he was when he had boxing fans thinking he was the next Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Broner lost a lot of weight during training camp, but that’s not the problem holding him back. He has a lot of mileage on him, and he’s not taken care of his body in between fights.

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Otto Wallin defeats Dominic Breazeale

Heavyweight contender Otto Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs) beat former two-time world title challenger Dominic ‘Trouble’ Breazeale (20-3, 18 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision. In the 12th, Breazeale was letting his hands go and getting the better of Wallin. Other than that, Breazeale was getting worked over by Wallin.

Breazeale, 35, looked sloppy, slow, and old in getting outworked by the light-hitting Wallin. The judges scored the fight as follows:

  • 16-112
  • 117-111
  • 118-110

This was the first action for Breazeale in close two years since he was knocked out in the first round by former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder in May 2019.

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Robert Easter Jr defeats Ryan Martin

In light-welterweight action, former IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. (23-1-1, 14 KOs) had an easy time defeating Ryan ‘Bluechip’ Martin (24-2, 14 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision.

It was a one-sided affair with Easter winning by the scores: 17-111, 118-110, 118-110.