ADRIEN BRONER MAKES TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO RING WITH UNANIMOUS DECISION OVER JOVANIE SANTIAGO

Published by Shawn C.

Former four-division world
champion *Adrien “The Problem” Broner *returned from his two-year hiatus
from boxing with a unanimous decision victory over *Jovanie Santiago* in
the main event of Saturday night’s SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast,
live on SHOWTIME from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., in a Premier
Boxing Champions event.

The popular, must-see attraction Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs), who last fought
against the legend Manny Pacquiao in January 2019, started slowly but used
the second half of the fight to surge ahead on the judges’ scorecards. The
fight was scored 116-111, 117-110 and 115-112 and all three judges had
Broner winning rounds seven through ten.

“That was cool,” said Broner, who had his hand raised for the first time in
four years. “I want to go home and really look at my fight. I haven’t
fought in two years. But I felt good, I felt like I won the fight. I felt
like I beat him with the jab, honestly. But it felt good to get my hand
raised though.”

Cincinnati’s Broner landed just 35 of 138 punches in the opening six rounds
of the fight while the previously undefeated Santiago (14-1-1, 10 KOs)
landed 93 of 305 during the same stretch. At the end of the fourth round,
Santiago was deducted a point for a punch that landed after the bell. Over
the final six frames, Broner landed 63 of 300 punches while Santiago landed
114 of 392. Broner was most active in the ninth round when he connected on
14 of 38 punches. Though outworked over the entirety of the fight, Broner
landed quality punches over the second half of the bout which earned him
the victory.

“I knew he was going to be tough because he’s 14-0,” added Broner. “And
anybody with that ‘0’ wants to keep that ‘0’ so they’re going to fight like
a bum fighting for a sandwich. I came in and I got the job done. There is a
lot of work out there at 140. Right now we’re going to the drawing board
with Al Haymon to see what’s best for me. But I’m definitely going back to
the gym and I’m looking forward to getting one of those titles this year at
140.”

SHOWTIME’s unofficial scorer Steve Farhood scored the fight 114-113 in
favor of the Puerto Rican Santiago, much to the chagrin of Broner.
Santiago, on the other hand, was not surprised by the judges’ scorecards.

“No, the decision doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “Broner did a nice job in
there. The decision could have gone both ways. He fought a great fight. We
were in it to win this fight and he got the decision. I think boxing fans
know who I am now, but in this fight I should have applied more pressure
and the fight would have gone my way.”

In the co-main event, Swedish heavyweight contender *Otto Wallin *(22-1, 14
KOs) continued his rise in the division with a unanimous decision over
former world title challenger *Dominic Breazeale* (20-3, 18 KOs). The
judges scored the fight 117-111, 116-112 and 118-110.

The veteran Breazeale, whose only previous two losses came to unified
champion Anthony Joshua and former WBC titlist Deontay Wilder, showed signs
of ring rust after a 21-month layoff. He started slowly and it was Wallin
who was able to get his offense on track early and often. The southpaw
Wallin landed a huge left hand that caused swelling over Breazeale’s right
eye in the fifth round. He out-jabbed Breazeale 103 to 37 and landed more
than twice the number of power shots than Breazeale did (129-54).

Wallin, who constantly stated his desire to move past the Tyson Fury fight
that he nearly won in 2019 in the pre-fight leadup, earned the most
impressive win of his career in his second appearance at the Mohegan Sun
“Fight Sphere”.

“I think I had an advantage because I fought here before,” said the
30-year-old, who lives and trains in New York City under former world
champion Joey Gamache. “I was more focused this time and I think I came out
better than what I did last time. We knew coming in that I had better
footwork, better speed so I wanted to use that. And I have good defense
too. He hit me here and there but nothing too serious. I said before the
fight that I just gotta do what I’m good at and that’s what I tried to do.

“My ultimate goal is to be champion. But I have to keep improving, I’m not
there yet. I’ve got a lot of work to do, I’m getting better. I’m not so
focused on who I fight, I just want to fight, keep it stepping it up and
when I get another shot, I’ll be ready for it.”

“I let the early rounds get away from me,” said the 2012 U.S. Olympian
Breazeale. “Otto is a good boxer and did a good job of sticking and moving
the whole fight. I did a little bit too much head-hunting at the start and
paid for it on the back-end.”

In the opening bout of the evening, former world champion *Robert Easter
Jr. *(23-1-1, 14 KOs) showed his championship pedigree with a dominating
unanimous decision victory over Chattanooga, Tenn.’s *Ryan Martin*(24-2, 14
KOs). The judges scored the fight 117-111 and 118-110 twice.

With the win, Easter improves to 5-1-1 in fights that have gone all 12
scheduled rounds, while Martin went 12 rounds for the first time in the
losing effort.

Easter was sharp from the onset of the fight, using his jab and movement to
effectively dictate the pace. The former IBF Lightweight World Champion,
fighting for the first time in 16 months, was successful in his second
contest at 140 pounds. He showed no signs of ring rust as he landed 82 of
339 jabs and connected on 40 percent of his power punches. While Martin was
busier, throwing 90 more punches than the Toledo native, it was Easter who
was far more accurate as he outlanded Martin 161-118 in total punches.

Easter was cut for the first time in his career after an accidental
headbutt in the eighth round, but still continued his dominance for the
remainder of the fight in a composed and masterful performance.

“I was just comfortable,” said the 30-year-old Easter. “Once I stay boxing,
I get comfortable. I get a little bored but everybody says when I box, when
I use my jab, keep my distance, I make the fight that much easier. So
that’s what I was working on the whole camp. Me and my dad have been
stressing on using the jab, keeping your distance and that’s what we did. I
wanted to fight but as you see, when I wanted to fight, I got headbutted.
So it was best to keep our distance.

“Whoever has those straps, whoever is in the way is going to feel this
wrath. Me and AB, we’re coming to stir up the 140-pound division and that’s
that. There ain’t no particular fighter, I want them all. We’re coming for
all those straps.”

Martin, who was denied the opportunity to represent the United States at
the Summer Games in London as an alternate when he lost to Easter in the
amateurs, was unable to exact revenge or execute the game plan that trainer
Mark Ferrait curated.

“I thought I was competitive but obviously I could have done a lot of
things better,” said the 27-year-old Martin. “I followed him too much and
he was able to take away our game plan. He did a great job of keeping me on
the outside. There’s not too much to say, he was the better man tonight.
His jab didn’t bother me too much but it did keep me from getting on the
inside. He never stunned me or affected me with it, but I should have sped
up on him a little more.”