John Locher/Associated Press

Pacquiao vs. Broner Results: Pac-Man Defeats Broner Via Unanimous Decision

Paul Kasabian

Manny Pacquiao successfully defended his WBA welterweight title belt on Saturday, defeating Adrien Broner by unanimous decision at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times provided the judges' scores:

The win marked Pacquiao's first successful title defense since beating Lucas Matthysse by seventh-round TKO for the belt in July 2018.

Pacquiao dominated the match from start to finish. Dan Rafael of ESPN noted Pacquiao's excellence in the second and third rounds:

That trend continued in the seventh round, which MMA and boxing reporter Kevin Iole tweeted was Pacquiao's best at the time:

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated also wrote about Broner's reticence to punch:

Pacquiao continued his success and almost finished it off in the seventh and ninth, per Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times:

Ryan O'Hara of FightNights.com placed some numbers on Pacquiao's dominance through nine rounds as well:

More of the same continued in the 10th and 11th rounds, and CompuBox posted another notable statistic:

Markazi tweeted that Pacquiao wasn't fighting conservatively even though he was far ahead in the 11th round:

Pacquiao didn't get the knockout, but he did earn the comfortable win.

The 29-year-old Broner fell to 33-4-1 with one no-contest. He has gone winless in his last three matches. 

The 40-year-old Pacquiao, who improved to 61-7-2, told TMZ Sports in November 2018 that he will retire in three years. Given his reduced boxing schedule (he's contested just eight fights in five years and only three times in the last two), fans will only have a few opportunities to see the octuple champion before he hangs up his gloves.

We'll see who he defends his belt against next, but one has to wonder if Freddie Roach will be in his corner again. The longtime Pacquiao trainer was fired after the boxer lost to Jeff Horn in 2017, but he reunited with Pacquiao to oversee training for the Broner fight. Given Pac-Man's win on Saturday, the two could potentially work together in the future

As for Broner, his three-match winless streak is concerning. However, he's still never been knocked out in any match. The Cincinnati native is also just 29 years old, so it's not as if Broner is on the downside of his career. Furthermore, BoxRec had him as the 12th-best welterweight in the world prior to the Pacquiao fight, so he's clearly thought highly of in respected boxing circles.

The issue is that Broner has a long road ahead to get another title shot at this point. He lost to the 15th-ranked welterweight in Jessie Vargas, so one has to assume Broner has to work his way back up to get another chance.

He isn't a stranger when it comes to championships, though, as Broner notably won the WBA super lightweight and welterweight belts. It remains to be seen if he can recapture his former glory in the future.   

   

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