After a fight week full of disrespect, after the final bell rang Saturday night, there was nothing but respect from both Adrien “The Problem” Broner and Eammanuel Taylor.
In a fight that many thought that the 23-year-old Taylor had no shot at keeping up with Broner, early on it looked as if Taylor would pull off the big upset. Broner showed he had heart and dug deep and pulled it together taking most of the latter rounds, despite still taking some big shots from Taylor.
When it looked like Taylor was running out of gas in the final few rounds, he got a second wind and was competitive the rest of the fight.
As the bout wound down Round 12 was looking like it would go in Taylor’s favor, that was before Broner landed a crisp, strong left hook, flooring Taylor. Taylor got up and survived the round, but the round that was almost his, went 10-8 in the end, but with the judges score cards, it wouldn’t have changed the final outcome.
The judges saw the fight 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112, but some of the rounds Broner won weren’t blow out rounds, which Taylor deserves credit for, despite the loss.
At the post fight presser Broner gave his opponent praise and that was big of the normally brash fighter, especially in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Broner turned his attention to what he hopes is his next fight,a showdown with the heavy-handed Lucas Matthysse, who won via Round 2 TKO in the co-main event, calling out the Argentine fighter as he did earlier in the week at the final presser.
A Broner-Matthysse bout would be a tough fight for “The Problem” as he has shown in his last few bouts that he is susceptible to taking some shots and doing so against Matthysse could mean trouble for the former three-division champ.
Watch the Round 12 knockdown below courtesy of Showtime:
