Beat Down in the Danger Zone

                   
by Joe Calvey
jcalvey@aol.com
@joecalvey
12-15-2013

San Antonio doesn’t normally see fight fans wrapped in bright red fur with matching silk shirt and pants topped with a fedora of the same color complemented with a statuesque woman sporting every color of the rainbow on each arm.

Such was the drawing power of Adrian "The Problem" Broner at the Golden Boy Promotions Danger Zone event. Well, drawing power might be too much of an accolade. At the first press conference promoter Mike Battah was heralding the early ticket sales. But the thousands of empty seats seemed to suggest fans preferred the free broadcast on Showtime rather than the abundant free tickets that were available locally.

So in addition to the local fight crowd that faithfully turned out for what was the near total destruction of Broner at the hands of Marcos "Chino" Maidana there was the goofy oddball cast of characters from a B grade hip hop movie that could be titled The Bad Cosby Kids.

The exceptionally sparse early live crowd was treated to a cure for insomnia by Ricardo Alvarez the older brother of Canelo Alvarez in his first fight on US soil against equally boring but less talented Rod Salka. For the crowd the most exciting part of the fight was when Canelo walked to the interview tower. Alvarez won a majority decision with one judge calling it a draw.

Promoting WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Beibut Shuminov fell on the shoulders of a clever PR team who managed to get his incredible back story in newspapers across the country under a variety of bylines. It’s incredible that changing a comma or ending a sentence early isn’t plagiarism but such is the nature of the budget thin newsrooms of today’s newspapers.

Beibut almost died as a kid, lived in poverty’s zip code, has hard working parents who got rich following the fall of communism in his native home of  Kazakhstan and now lives in a huge home in Las Vegas where he could easily be mistaken for a modern day Genghis Khan having won the belt quicker than anyone in history by knocking out 9 of his 14 opponents.

In his bout with over matched and unknown Tomas Kovacs from Slovakia he won easily with power hooks and a steady jab. Despite a 23-0 professional record Kovac’s lackluster effort caused referee Wilfredo Esperon to call a halt to the mismatch in the third round after Kovacs dropped to the deck for the third time in the fight. There was no argument from Kovacs who spit out his mouth piece and looked totally spent. In his post fight interview Shuminov said he would be honored to fight Bernard Hopkins as the 48 year champion stood nearby in the ring waving a souvenir towel with the likeness of Shuminov on it.

Mexico’s Leo Santa Cruz, 25-0 with 15 KO’s who now resides in Rosemead, California faced Puerto Rico’s Cesar Seda, 25-2 with 17 KO’s. These two bantamweights faced each other in the center of the ring and all four corners. Neither fighter could gain a prolonged advantage as each fought with as much determination as possible. Seda went down in the fifth round briefly and was able to turn out of the corners and fight along the ropes as Santa Cruz kept the pressure on throughout the fight. In the end Santa Cruz kept his WBC Bantamweight tile winning the 12 round battle with a unanimous decision.

The welterweight division is filled with Hall of Fame boxers who delighted fans with their skill, power and brashness. No one tops Adrian Broner in brashness, some would say boorish, department. Keith "One Time" Thurman at 22-0 with 20 KO’s is a modern day warrior that vows to take no prisoners when he enters the ring. Confident in his abilities the Clearwater, Florida fighter is as cocksure as anyone who has had his hands wrapped. By contrast Jesus Soto-Karass of Mexico is easy going, confident but not flashy. He lets his fists do the work and he himself is genuinely quiet and polite. His 28-9 record with 18 KO’s is indicative of his stand in front of you and fight style. 

This battle started off with nearly a quick end to Thurman as Soto-Karass delivered a big right hook to the chin power shot that stunned Thurman thrilled the crowd but failed to end the night early. Thurman recovered and began delivering punishment of his own. Then in the 5th round two left hands dropped Soto-Karass with less than a minute in the round but Thurman was unable to finish him off. While Thurman, 25, still looked fresh Soto-Karass began to show weariness after the 6th round that proves a fighter can begin to look old at just 31.

The end came at the end of the ninth round for the fighter who sported Winchell’s on the front and back of his black and blue trunks. Clearly Soto-Karass didn’t train by eating donuts but his face showed the results of the constant peppering by the stronger, faster shots from Thurman. When Thurman stood still he was in range of the nonstop longer arms of Soto-Karass but when he moved he was able to counter and use combinations that wore down and put away his opponent. Pressing forward as if on instinct alone Soto-Karass was spent as a Thurman left hook followed by two right hands and another left hook ended the fight. Referee John Schorle did his best to catch Soto-Karass on his way to the canvass.

As the main event participants gathered in the ring it was hard, no impossible to miss the About Billions coordinated clothing with red rhinestones and gold lame material worn by Broner’s camp. Broner’s gold encrusted short  rotund father brushed his hair. Robert Garcia shouted last minute instructions in Maidana’s ear. Jimmy Lennon, Jr. called off the participant’s names and records. Then the bell rang and all hell broke loose.

Marcos Maidana is from the streets of Argentina. He has large pistol tattooed to the left side of his waist that disappears into below his belt line. An array of other tattoos that quite frankly appear to be the work of an untrained ink jockey should have been Broner’s first clue that to disrespect his man has consequences. But Broner only has self awareness.

It took Maidana less than thirty seconds to drive Broner into the ropes.  As their feet and legs tangled Maidana swarmed as Broner fell back against the ropes and grabbed at Maidana’s arms to get relief. As the first round ended Broner danced along the ropes as Maidana followed him into the neutral corner. Broner grabbed Maidana and spun him around then began dry humping Maidana from behind. Referee Laurence Cole ignored the unsportsmanlike behavior as Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaffer grinned and laughed.

Broner had never been knocked down and was unbeaten in his 27 pro fights (22 KO’s). The second round saw Broner pay for his disrespect to Maidana.  Two left hooks sent Broner  down and when he got up looked like a drunken sailor on stilts. Watching the replay after photographing this fight in person Showtime announcer thought it was a long count. Referee Cole picked the count up from the time keeper at 6. Broner was already on his feet. The fight resumed at 14.5 seconds after the knockdown partially due to Maidana not staying in the neutral corner. Immediately Broner tried a takedown approach to clinching to give himself more time to recover.

Broner has compared himself to Floyd Mayweather and emulated his style of raising his left shoulder, turning his body away from his opponent, leans back and sticks the left elbow straight out. This creates space as an opponent’s punch has to travel much further to reach Broner. Maidana neutralized this defense with a long overhand right time and time again. That forced Broner to abandon the defense and made him vulnerable to the big left hooks of Maidana to the head and the body.

The middle rounds saw both fighters deliver hard shots to each other. Scoring was close and Broner though unable to blunt Maidan’s relentless attack was able to counter effectively at times. In the middle of the 8th round a left hook followed by a right to the body and another left hook put Broner down for the second time in the fight.

Throughout the fight Broner held, elbowed and fought dirty. Following the knockdown he grabbed both of Maidan’s arms and locked them to his chest. Maidana no stranger to dirty boxing tried to create space and in doing so rammed his head into the chin of Broner who immediately let go as Maidana then hit him in the head with a left hook.

Broner looked like he was about to cry and dove, not fell, dove for the floor and rolled around as Referee Cole shook his head and instructed Maidana to the neutral corner. He then deducted a point from Maidana and gave Broner a brief respite after a visit from the doctor. Cole is the son of Texas Boxing Commissioner Dicky Cole.

In the ninth as Maidana pressured and scored at will. To survive in the corners Broner would grab Maidana’s head and puch it downwards. But it was the shear volume of punches that staggered Broner early and lost him yet another round.
With the 12th round halfway gone Referee Cole once again gave Broner a warning for his dirty tactics but didn’t deduct a point, it was his second warning. Maidana the champion that he is, with the physique of a luggage handler, stayed in front of Broner the entire round. Bigger paydays ahead for Broner maybe The Problem. He was exposed throughout the fight and after his previous outing against light hitting Paulie Malanaggi his marquee value as a Pay Per View fighter are potentially over.

Will Golden Boy or for that matter Top Rank return to San Antonio now after a somewhat disappointing live gate for this fight? Time will tell if this problem can be solved but one thing is for certain, San Antonio fight fans have been living the dream with these great fight cards the last 24 months.