MANILA – Manny Pacquiao showed the world that he is still far from done after a clinical unanimous decision win over Adrien Broner to retain the WBA welterweight belt on Sunday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The judges’ score of 117-111, 116-112, 116-112 did not reflect how dominant the 40-year-old Pacquiao has been since the opening bell that chances of him flooring the backpedalling Broner came thrice.
After testing each other in the opening round, Pacquiao picked up the pace in the second with flurry of shots to the body of Broner. The Filipino caught the American napping in the third to unload a left straight to the head.
Broner owned the fourth round as he pushed Pacquiao to the ropes before hitting him with straight. Pacquiao, however, was back at it in the fifth as he rocked Broner with a huge left to the head.
Pacquiao continued to pour in in the sixth as he lands a huge left to the body followed by back-to-back 1-2 combos. In the seventh, it was all Pacquiao as he had Broner to the ropes with a flurry of punches.
Broner was aggressive early in the eighth frame but Pacquiao landed lefts and rights on his opponent. Pacquiao landed a series of flurry on the cornered Broner in the ninth but the latter was saved by the bell.
Pacquiao became cautious in the tenth but still manages to land some punches on Broner. The American tried to go for the kill in the last two round but could not land a punch to turn the fight around.
“I really don’t believe my career is over,” Pacquiao said after the match. “I proved it again at the age of 40 I can still give my best. Manny Pacquiao’s boxing career still continues.”
“Although I wanted to be aggressive more, my camp told me don’t be careless and to counter him and wait for opportunities,” added the only eight-division world champion in boxing history.
Broner, whose head seemed to be rocked by the punches of Pacquiao, exclaimed after the match that he clearly won the bout and the verdict was just rigged to set up a rematch between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I beat him, everybody out there knows I beat him. I clearly won the last seven rounds,” Broner said. “The result was clearly rigged to set up a Pacquiao Mayweather rematch.”
With the victory, Pacquiao has improved his boxing record to 61-7-2 win-loss-draw, including 39 stoppage wins. The 29-year-old Broner saw his record dropped to 33-4-1 with 24 stoppage wins./PN
