Garcia Outworks Broner To Decision Win/Charlo Defeats Heiland

By Jason Pribila: Brooklyn – Showtime Boxing continued their banner year by televising the much anticipated Mikey Garcia – Adrien Broner junior welterweight showdown at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

A crowd of 12,084 showed up for a mian event that has had fight fans debating the outcome since it was made official. Many held their final predictions until after seeing the results of Friday’s weigh-in.

The fight was being contested at junior welterweight. The division was new to Garcia, who currently holds a lightweight title. The division was new-again to Broner, who had been campaigning as a welterweight. Many doubted Broner would make the 140 lb. limit, and when he weighed in over a pound under, some felt a motivated Broner would have the skills to turn away the Garcia challenge.

One minute into the fight the fans started to boo due to lack of action. Perhaps, unfairly, this would not be the only time the crowd expressed displeasure with the pace of the fight.

Both fighter had been known to start fast, and they stayed true to form during the opening frame.

In round two Broner went into a peek-a-boo defense, which gave Garcia the chance to chop away at his defense, and often times end a rally with a body shot.

Early on, Broner did not do much in return other than shake his head to say that Garcia didn’t have enough power to hurt him.

As the rounds piled up in Garcia’s favor, Broner continued to shake his head. Only at this point he seemed to be shaking his head in disbelief that he was unable to pull the trigger against the foe that was in front of him.

Garcia remained steady and consistent throughout the fight. He took what Broner gave him, which often times was a target with his back to the ropes.

Broner did his best work in the 9^th round, which was the first round that Showtime gave to the Cincinnati fighter.

Unfortunately for Broner, he was unable to maintain momentum as the championship rounds came and went.

The judges at ringside handed in scorecards that reflected the action in the ring. All scores were in favor of Garcia: 117-111, 116-112, 116-112

Team Garcia are now in a good place, but I would choose their opponents carefully. Although he was busy, he did not seem to have snap on his punches when the fight took place in the middle of the ring. His body seems as if he could still shed the weight necessary to defend his lightweight title if a big fight presents itself.

Broner may now be reduced to being a gate-keeper. He could forget about Billions, and accept some low level, low 6-figure bouts so that he could regain his ring identity.

Following the bout, Broner tried to give credit to Garcia, but he soon became angered by the crowd booing him. He then snapped and declared that he is still “AB” and no matter what fans will still pay to either see him win or lose.

I believe that finding his name on the top of the marquee will prove to be a problem for Broner.

The televised co-feature welcomed undefeated Jermall Charlo to the middleweight division. Charlo moved up in weight after knocking out Julian Williams in their junior middleweight grudge match last December.

Charlo faced Argentina’s Jorge Sebastian Heiland (29-5-2, 16 KO) in what appeared to be a mismatch on paper. After only a few moments of action, the mismatch came to life inside the ring and it was broadcast in HD.

Charlo sent Heiland to the canvas in the second round. Following the round, the physician came to Heiland’s corner where they checked on his left knee. Moments later the one-sided action resumed, only at this point Heiland was clearly a compromised fighter.

Charlo remained composed, and did not rush what had now become a question of “when”?

In the fourth, Charlo landed a combination, and when Heiland attempted to step back his leg failed to support him. He fell to the canvas, and when he rose the fight was waved off.

With the victory Charlo (26-0, 20 KO) becomes the mandatory challenger to Gennady Golovkin, should “Triple-G” take care of business in September.

Charlo is a gifted athlete, who does not know what it is like to lose. He has the skills and confidence to be a problem for anyone with the middleweight division. I would love to see him come back to Brooklyn to face Danny Jacobs.

Jason Pribila is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He could be reached for questions or comments at pribs2000@gmail.com and followed on twitter.com@PribsBoxing.