On This Day: Manny Pacquiao Beat Adrien Broner Into Disbelief at Age 40

It’s one of those fights that challenges the conventional norms of labeling. Whether it should be remembered on account of its fifth anniversary? Or whether fans might recall it because of an unhappy Adrien Broner‘s hyperbole. Or perhaps the fight produced the oldest champion in the welterweight division’s history—Manny Pacquiao.

It was a regular vanilla title defense. ‘The PacMan’ became the WBA regular welterweight champion on July 15, 2018. Six months later, on January 19, 2019, he came back to fend off the verbose Adrien Broner’s challenge. Almost a decade younger than the Filipino champion, the latter, after a loss and then a draw, staked a claim to the world title. However, he had to return empty-handed. The world champion overwhelmed him despite his advancing age. But remaining true to his character, the Cincinnati-born four-division champion defied the judges verdict in a now memorable post-fight diatribe.

It Ain’t Him: Adrien Broner claims victory over Manny Pacquiao

Soon after conversing with Pacquiao, Jim Gray held the microphone in Adrien Broner’s face. The American boxer launched a salvo of expletives, forcing Gray to shoot a warning. A conversation between them would happen in the most professional manner. “We’re gonna conduct this professionally; we’re not gonna have an interview; you make the decision,” said Jim Gray. Switching over to the more pressing matter, he asked Broner for his views on the fight.

‘About Billions’ replied, explaining how he controlled the fight from the beginning. He had outboxed Manny Pacquiao completely. But Jim Gray corrected him: “You averaged 8 punches; less than 8 punches was the most punches that you had in the round, and it seemed as though you couldn’t get.”

However, it only succeeded in further infuriating Broner. Blaming Gray for being biased, he said, “It already sound like you was against me.” When the commentator highlighted that wasn’t the case, Broner continued, “So I already ain’t got a fresh take talking to you.” Then his discourse veered to an all together different direction that even touched base with the famous Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight.

Clearly, that was one unhappy boxer. With just 50 overpunches making the connection out of the 295 that he threw, the fight recorded the lowest-ever punches from Adrien Broner. In terms of the power shots, too, only 39 out of the 180 he threw made it, against Pacquiao’s 82 out of 197. To the Filipino champion’s credit, through the match, he never appeared flustered. After the match, Broner went on a two-year break, only to return by February 20, 2021, to face Jovanie Santiago.

Read More: Manny Pacquiao’s Olympic Dream Is Far-Fetched, Here’s Why

‘The PacMan’, on the other hand, returned six months later to take away Keith Thurman‘s super welterweight belt. He also went on a nearly two-year-long break. On August 21, 2021, at age 42, he fought for the last time against Yordenis Ugas. He lost the fight unanimously and announced his retirement from professional boxing.

Have you seen the Pacquiao-Broner fight? What are your views on the final decision? Please share your views with us in the comments below.

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