Adrien Broner wins title in fourth weight class, stops Khabib Allakhverdiev in 12th
CINCINNATI - Adrien "The Problem" Broner bounced back from a loss in his last fight and put on a show in front of his hometown crowd in Cincinnati Saturday night.
Broner overwhelmed Khabib Allakhverdiev with power and won by technical knockout in a WBA super lightweight world title bout at US Bank Arena in front of 5,932 fans, improving his record to 31-2. Despite all the skepticism about whether the former three-time world champion had fallen off at the age of 26 due to a lack of focus, Broner was sharp on Saturday night.
The fight was stopped with a little more than 40 seconds left in the 12 th round. Broner caught Allakhverdiev with a straight jab to the face that stunned him, and then unleashed a left hook, right uppercut, left hook combination, connecting on all of it and forcing referee Harvey Dock Jr. to call the fight.
"Honestly, a young guy like me and they just threw me a lot of cash at a young age. It was hard to adjust to the fame, to the lights," Broner said. "After my last fight I wasn't putting my all into it."
He continued: "I've always, always worked hard, but I'm at a point in my career where I have to do more than just work hard. That's something I've learned from Floyd (Mayweather)."
With the win, Broner became the second youngest boxer to win world titles in four different divisions. Oscar De La Hoya accomplished the feat as a 22-year-old.
"I dreamed of getting one world title," Broner said. "Now I have four. You never know what God has planned."
From the opening bell, Broner was intent on making sure this fight was different from his previous bout, against Shawn Porter in June, when he was criticized for being ill-prepared and essentially sleepwalking through the majority of the fight. He outworked Allakhverdiev on Saturday night, throwing 685 total punches to Allakhverdiev'vs 591. Broner landed 34% of his punches, including a deadly 50% of his power punches, while Allakhverdiev connected on 27% total and 31% of his power shots.
Both fighters exchanged blows through the first four rounds, but Broner's punches were clearly more powerful as evidenced by the blemishes on Allakhverdiev's face.
"After a few seconds in the first round, I was like, 'I got him,' " Broner said.
Broner ended the sixth round with a flurry of power punches, connecting on a handful of them and clearly hurting Allakhverdiev.
Broner's confidence continued to build as he roughed up Allakhverdiev's face. Midway through the eighth round, Broner began talking to spectators sitting ringside. One told him to get off the ropes, and Broner responded, "he can't hit me," while looking at the fan and continuing to throw punches at his opponent.
The crowd came to its feet with a roar in the 11 th round when Broner caught Allakhverdiev with a fierce uppercut, but the Russian managed to stay on his feet just long enough to make it into the 12 th round where the fight was eventually stopped.
"Everything was on point," Broner said of his performance. "Tonight everything was working."