Marcos Maidana overpowered Adrien Broner to take the WBA welterweight championship, knocking him down twice in a unanimous decision Saturday night at the Alamodome.
The target of heavy trash talking leading up to the fight, Maidana was dominant in handing Broner his first loss in 28 bouts. After the judges’ scores of 115-110, 116-109 and 117-109 were announced in favor of Maidana, Broner ran out of the ring.
Broner is nicknamed “The Problem,” but Maidana (35-3) had the answer with power that the three-time world champion had never faced before.
With the victory, the Argentine star set up a possible fight against Keith Thurman. On the undercard, Thurman stopped Jesus Soto Karass in the ninth round.
Maidana staggered Broner early in the opening round with an overhand right to the back of the head, causing the Cincinnati fighter to stumble trying to regain his footing. Broner attempted to wrap up Maidana as Broner attempted to wrestle free to land more power punches.
Maidana spent the entire opening round charging at Broner, trapping him against the ropes and throwing powerful combinations.
Maidana sent Broner tumbling into the ropes early in the second round with a lunging left hook to the chin. After a standing eight count, Broner charged and wrapped up Maidana’s upper legs in an attempt to recover.
Maidana landed 57 punches in the opening two rounds to only 13 for Broner, according to Showtime. Broner regained his balance after the second round, spending the next five rounds trading punches and clenches before Maidana regained control.
Maidana floored Broner in the eighth round with a left to the midsection and an overhand right. After a standing eight count, Broner again went to the canvas after taking a headbutt to the jaw. Amid heavy booing, Broner remained on the canvas and in a corner for about 3 minutes before returning to action.
In the ninth round, Maidana again stunned Broner, unleashing combination after combination that Broner was struggling to avoid. Broner again regained his feet in the 10th round, but was only able to exchange blows with Maidana the remainder of the fight.
On the undercard, Thurman (22-0) stunned Soto Karass (28-9-3) with a left hook to the chin that had the Mexican fighter out on his feet. Defenseless, Soto Karass took four more heavy blows before the referee stopped the bout.
Soto Karass caught Thurman with an overhand right to the chin in the opening minute of the bout, staggering the Clearwater, Fla., fighter. Soto Karass followed it with another crushing right, but Thurman withstood the flurry and delivered his own staggering shots to the body and head to close the round.
“He made me bring it out from round one,” Thurman said. “He was ready Round 1. I was dilly dallying in Round 1 and he turned the lights on and woke me up.”
Earlier, Leo Santa Cruz (26-0-1) successfully defended his WBC super bantamweight championship, unanimously outpointing Cesar Seda. The judges scored the bout 116-111, 115-112, 117-110 for Santa Cruz, who landed 43 percent of his power punches in handing Seda his second loss in 27 fights.
Also, Beibut Shumenov stopped Tomas Kovacs in the third round to retain his WBA super light-heavyweight championship. Shumenov, from Kazakhstan, improved to 14-1. Kovacs, from Slovakia, dropped to 23-1.