Adrien Broner Defeats Pauli Malignaggi After Months Of Trash Talking

Adrien Broner backed up months of trash talking by defeating Pauli Malignaggi on Saturday night.

In a superlative but late start effort, Broner won over the judges who scored the match 115-113 (Tom Miller), 117-111 (Tom Schreck), and 115-113 (Glenn Feldman). According to CompuBox, Broner landed 32 more punches, 246-214, while throwing fewer than his opponent.

Broner dominated the latter part of the match with faster and stronger punches and a higher degree of accuracy that allowed him to claim the welterweight title. The men battled it out in front of a crowd of 11,461 at the Barclays Center.

It almost appeared as if Broner was prepared to give away the match. During the first four rounds, Broner would take Malignaggi’s punches, then smile, shake his head no, and then trash talk his opponent just as he had done for the months leading up to the match.

It wasn’t until the fifth round that Broner began regularly landing punches. At one point, Broner ended up with his back to Malignaggi but still managed to land a punch that he threw over the top of his head.

While Broner began to get the match under control, he did receive a two warnings including one warning early in the match when he threw a knee while in a cinch.

The 23-year-old Broner is now a welterweight title holder, a decidedly quick jump in weight class for boxings 23-year-old rising star.

After the match, Malignaggi announced that he would retire if an immediate rematch was not offered. Asking about the split-decision loss, Malignaggi added:

“I’m not saying it was fixed, but it’s always the most connected fighters who get the decisions.”

The match was a special one for Broner who fought for the win as his idlo Floyd Mayweather Jr. sat at ringside.

Are you surprised by the Adrien Broner victory?