Adrien Broner KO’s Antonio DeMarco for WBC Lightweight Title

Those boxing fans who were anxiously waiting to see Adrien Broner of Cincinnati taste defeat for the first time on Nov. 17 were out of luck as the 23-year-old won the WBC Lightweight Championship from Antonio DeMarco with an eighth-round KO in Atlantic City. Broner dominated most of the bout and eventually broke his Mexican opponent down with his accurate punching at the Boardwalk Hall.

After the bout Broner said he knew that DeMarco was a good champion, but he didn’t possess the skills needed to successfully defend his title for the third time. With the win, the undefeated Broner upped his pro record to 25-0 with 21 Kos while the 26-year-old DeMarco fell to 28-3-1 with 21 Kos. It’s Broner’s second world title as he previously held a version of the junior lightweight crown.

Broner displayed speed, a good defense and pretty solid punching power as the fight went on. He started slowly, but after a few rounds picked up the pace and DeMarco found it pretty difficult to keep up with him. DeMarco has fought some decent boxers in the past, but none of them are on the level of Broner. The ex-champion won the vacant WBC title just over a year ago when he staged a terrific comeback against Jorge Linares and stopped him in the 11th round. Up until then he had lost just about every round. His last defense was against John Molina Jr., who he knocked out in less than a minute back on September 8.

Many boxing fans figured DeMarco would give Broner a good fight and in some instances it was true. DeMarco is a natural lightweight while Broner was moving up a division. Also, DeMarco is a southpaw who has displayed a solid chin in the past and a lot of heart. He managed to win the first round against Broner on all three judges’ scorecards, but didn’t win another after that.

Broner landed numerous right uppercuts during the fight since DeMarco was leaning into him. He also landed his fair share of solid left hands along the way. It looked like the bout might be halted in the fifth round as Broner teed off on his opponent at will and it looked like DeMarco was about to fold or his corner was going to stop the beating at the end of the round. Broner threw 78 power punches in the round and landed 52 of them, busting up DeMarco’s face during the three-minute onslaught.

DeMarco managed to talk his corner into letting him continue, but by the time it got to the eighth round his corner and the referee had seen enough and the bout was stopped by referee Benjy Esteves at the 1:49 mark. Broner had decked the former champion just before the stoppage with a superb left hand to the head. He threw 50 punches in the eighth round and landed 50 of them. Overall, Broner threw a total of 451 punches and landed with 241 of them for a connect percentage of 53 per cent. DeMarco threw 351 shots and landed 93 of them for 26 per cent.

Ian Palmer