How Broner Beat Demarco

Published

12 years ago

November 19, 2012

Lee Wylie

BronerDeMarco Hogan55 It didn’t matter in the slightest that his opponent was supposed to be his most challenging to date. Eight rounds in, the towel was waved and the fight was called off. Antonio DeMarco had just been dismantled in spectacular fashion and Adrien Broner had just shown yet again why he’s considered by many as the next big superstar of boxing.

Here, I’d like to take a look at what led to Adrien Broner being so superior to Antonio DeMarco at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City Saturday night.

Changing the range

Right from the off, it was immediately apparent that in order for the visibly taller Tony DeMarco to be at his most effective, he needed to keep the shorter Adrien Broner at distance and on the end of his longer punches so that his southpaw angles would be at their most operative.

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This is what I’d consider to be a good range for Tony DeMarco to be in -Broner is clearly outside of his contact range but is well inside of DeMarco’s. At this distance, Broner could find himself on the end of DeMarco’s straighter punches and unable to touch him with a counter.

Broner found a way of taking DeMarco’s length away from him and eventually forced an inside fight. First, Broner took DeMarco’s jab away from him.

When one fighter is a southpaw and the other is orthodox, both fighters’ lead hands will be lined up with one each other’s. Right from the opening bell, Broner made a conscious decision to smother DeMarco’s lead hand with his own lead hand, nullifying DeMarco’s southpaw jab in the process.

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Notice in these photographs how Broner is closing the distance and covering DeMarco’s lead hand with his own lead hand. DeMarco’s best way of establishing his length advantage is by keeping Broner on the end of the jab. Here, Broner has prevented DeMarco from even throwing it.

On the rare occasions when DeMarco did find the room to let his jab go, Broner had it timed and avoided the shot easily, either by blocking it or parrying it.

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Here, Broner stuffs two attempted jabs by DeMarco. The first jab is slapped down by Broner’s lead glove, while the second jab is stopped short because of Broner’s forearm.

With DeMarco’s most significant offensive weapon taken away, Broner set about implementing some offense of his own, again using DeMarco’s lead hand as a bridge.

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Because DeMarco was now familiar with having his lead glove touched and covered often, Broner began to use his lead hand as a feint to disguise his follow up shots. Here, Broner uses his lead hand cover as a decoy to dip low and land a jab to DeMarco’s body.

In this sequence, Broner uses his lead hand to first cover DeMarco’s lead hand before pulling his arm down and firing a straight right hand inside of DeMarco’s now open guard.

Here, Broner gains outside position with his lead hand. This time he pulls back and lands a jab over the top of DeMarco’s lead hand.

Broner continued to vary his offense in the early rounds, particularly with his jab to the body. Again, because Broner was using DeMarco’s lead hand as a precursor, DeMarco became confused and wasn’t sure what to expect next from Broner. The jab to the body is a great way of causing an opponent to lower their guard slightly in order to compensate. As a result, shots aimed up top became easier to land for Broner.

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Here’s Broner landing his jab to the body. At this stage in the fight, DeMarco had no idea what type of shot was coming next from Broner.

By the middle rounds, Broner had already neutralized DeMarco’s length by taking away his jab. Not only that, but Broner was now starting to take over the fight using his own jab along with unpredictable offense –jabs aimed high and low, straight right hands and left hooks. DeMarco’s jab and length, considered to be his best tools before the fight, were now actually working against him. This is where DeMarco decided to change tactics and try his luck on the inside against Broner. This, I believe, would have been part of Broner’s plan; to cast self-doubt upon DeMarco by taking away his jab and forcing him into believing that his best shot at winning would be to work inside. It’s been said here before, Broner is excellent at limiting his opponent’s attacking options by manipulating them into thinking he’s vulnerable in close. Once a fighter is on the inside with Broner, it’s very hard for them to throw anything other than right or left hooks, such is the way that Broner positions his body in relation to his opponent. Broner reads everything at close quarters.

And so, because DeMarco felt that fighting from the outside wasn’t working, he decided to go shoulder to shoulder with Broner. Mission accomplished for “the problem”.

Infighting

Look at the difference in range between the two fighters at the start and the middle of the fight in the two photographs. Regardless of what was happening, standing shoulder to shoulder with Broner clearly wasn’t the way forwards for DeMarco. Notice Broner’s body shape in the second photograph in relation to DeMarco’s –Broner is standing side on with chin behind his lead shoulder, offering little to aim at and is in perfect position to land a right uppercut. DeMarco, on the other hand, is squared up to Broner, his shoulders and feet are parallel and he’s wide open for an uppercut through the centre. In this position, straight punches are pretty much impossible to throw for DeMarco, leaving only wide hooks in close. Broner’s body shape is designed to pick wide shots off at this range.

Once the distance was shortened, the fight became a lot more difficult for the taller fighter and a lot simpler for the shorter, slicker fighter, who is one of the best inside operators in all of boxing. There aren’t many fighters as refined as Adrien Broner inside the pocket. It’s one thing for a fighter to bury his/her head into an opponent’s chest and wail away blindly with rights and lefts, it’s another thing altogether what Adrien Broner does on the inside.

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Here’s Broner using the elbow to push into DeMarco’s chest and create space for himself so that he can land his right uppercut.

Here, Broner uses his lead shoulder to bump DeMarco and create space for his right uppercut to the body.

In this sequence, DeMarco attempts to land a straight left, only for Broner to parry and counter with the same hand. As DeMarco tries to come back with a right/left combo, Broner rolls and catches both shots on his right forearm and and left elbow. Again, once an opponent gets too close to Broner, many of their attacking options are gone.

Broner is also brilliant at controlling his opponent using his non punching hand as he’s punching. Combination punching is considered one of the best forms of offense and is taught in every boxing gym around the world. While Broner is a very good rhythmic combination puncher, I believe he’s an even better puncher when he’s using broken rhythm. Watch Broner throw his punches. You’ll see him punch, hold, maneuver, and then punch again. Combination punching patterns can be taught and memorized. On the other hand, Broner’s intermitting punching style seems like it would be very difficult for an opponent to forecast and defend against.

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Notice here how Broner uses his left glove to push into DeMarco’s face before landing a right uppercut to the body. Broner then holds on to the back of DeMarco’s neck before landing a short left hook just as he’s releasing DeMarco. Grappling and holding is a big part of Broner’s infighting style.

Here’s another example of Broner controlling his opponent on the inside using his grappling ability and non-punching hand. Notice how Broner holds on to DeMarco’s head before landing a right uppercut, followed by a left cross. After landing the cross, Broner holds and fires another right uppercut before grabbing hold of DeMarco’s head again.

Another one of Broner’s inside tricks is to launch a surprise attack immediately after pushing off.

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As Broner pushes DeMarco away, he lands a left uppercut followed by a straight right hand. Broner is excellent at attacking an opponent when they least expect it. DeMarco can’t block Broner’s attack just as he’s being pushed back.

All in all, Tony DeMarco was systematically taken apart by one of the most cerebral practitioners in the game. Broner’s level of craft, and in particular, his level of defense, is clearly world-class. But what I find fascinating is how Broner uses his evasive technique as a way of inflicting violence instead of using it to avoid it. There has been many a defensive technician –Willie Pep, Nicolino Locche, Pernell Whitaker- who’ve used their defensive craft to avoid a fight. Broner is the polar opposite, using his defensive ingenuity to get himself inside and take his opponents out. There’s a mean streak in Broner that is usually missing in other defensive minded fighters.

The closing moments of the fight illustrated this vividly.

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Notice how Broner lands a left hook to the body, then slips a left cross. Because Broner hasn’t used his legs to avoid the attack, he’s in a position to counter. Broner then lands a right uppercut followed by a short left hook. As DeMarco is hurt, Broner brings his attack down stairs, throwing a straight right and a right uppercut to the body. Broner punctuates the fight ending combination with a left uppercut to the head of DeMarco’s. Broner’s precision during this sequence was chilling. It wasn’t so much about the speed and power of each punch as it was delivered, in as much as it was about the placement. Broner sees everything. There’s never any wildness in any of his attacks as he’s very relaxed and very methodical. Not to go overboard here, but Broner’s punch placement kind of reminds me of Archie Moore’s, another fighter who used his defensive wisdom to help secure knockout victories.

Boxing seems easy to Adrien Broner. At this moment in time, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s going to take someone a bit special –and someone probably weighing more than 135 pounds- to defeat Adrien Broner. Even at this early stage in his career, Adrien Broner appears to be the finished article.

I can’t see anyone at 135, or possibly even at 140 solving the problem just yet. Can you?

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Lee Wylie

Results and Recaps from Riyadh where Artur Beterbiev Unified the 175-Pound Title

Published

2 hours ago

October 12, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Resukts-and-Recaps-from-Riyadh-where-Artur Beterbiev-Unified-the-175-Pouns-Title

For the first time in the history of the 175-pound class, all four meaningful belts were on the line when Artur Beterbiev locked horns with Dmitry Bivol today at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When the smoke cleared, Beterbiev prevailed on a majority decision, adding Bivol’s WBA and lineal title to his own collection of belts to emerge as the undisputed light heavyweight champion.

This was a classic confrontation between a boxer and a puncher. Beterbiev had won all 20 of his pro fights inside the distance. Bivol was also undefeated but had scored only nine stoppages among his 23 wins and nine of his 10 previous fights had gone the full 12 rounds. As an amateur, Beterbiev had lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk, the second of those setbacks in the quarterfinal round of the 2012 London Olympics, and it was no surprise that the 33-year-old Bivol, the younger man by six years, went to post a small favorite.

This proved to be a tactical fight that was a disappointment when measured against the pre-fight hype. Neither man was ever in jeopardy of going down and at the conclusion both acknowledged they could have done better.

In the first two rounds, Bivol was credited with out-landing Beterbiev 26-10. But the template was set. Although Bivol landed more punches in the early-going, one could see that Beterbiev was stronger and that his straight-line pressure would likely pay dividends over his opponent who burned up more energy moving side-to-side.

Beterbiev showed no ill effects from the torn meniscus that forced him to withdraw from the originally scheduled date (June 1). At the conclusion, two of the judges favored him (116-112, 115-113) and the other had it a draw (114-114).

IBF Cruiserweight Title Fight

Australian southpaw Jai Opetaia, widely regarded as the best cruiserweight on the planet, took charge in the opening round and wore down Jack Massey whose trainer Joe Gallagher wisely pulled him out at the two-minute mark of the sixth round.

Opetaia, who repeated his win over Maris Briedis in his previous bout, sending the talented Latvian off into retirement, improved to 26-0 (20 KOs) in what was his third straight appearance in this ring. A 31-year-old Englishman, Massey lost for the third time in 25 pro starts.

Opetaia’s next fight is expected to come against the winner of the forthcoming match between Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith. They risk their respective belts next month on a Golden Boy Promotions card here in Riyadh.

Other Bouts of Note

The bout between heavyweights Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke was the semi-wind-up. It was a rematch of their March 31 tussle in London. At the end of that bruising 12-round barnburner, Wardley was more marked-up but remained undefeated and retained his British title when the judges returned a draw. Clarke likewise skirted defeat after opening his pro career 8-0.

Today’s sequel was a brutal, one-sided fight that never saw a second bell. It was all over at the 2:22 mark of the opening round, dictating a long intermission before the featured attraction even though it would commence 15 minutes ahead of schedule, going off at 3 pm PT.

Both men came out swinging but the Ipswich man, Wardley, had heavier ammunition. A big right hand left Clarke with a visible dent near his left ear. When the end came, Clarke, was slumped against the ropes, his eyes glazed and his jaw looking as if it may have been broken. (He was removed to a hospital where he was reportedly being treated for a fractured cheekbone.)

Wardley, who carried 242 pounds on his six-foot-five frame, never had a proper amateur career, but having knocked out 17 of his 19 opponents, he stands on the cusp of some big-money fights. “I’d be shocked if he’s not fighting for a world title next year,” said his promoter Frank Warren.

In a battle between two 35-year-old middleweights, Chris Eubank Jr advanced to 34-3 (25 KOs) with a seventh-round stoppage of Poland’s Kamil Szeremeta (25-3-2). A 25/1 favorite, Eubank had his Polish adversary on the canvas four times before the bout was halted at the 1:50 mark of the seventh frame. The match played out in a manner mindful of Szeremeta’s bout with Gennady Golovkin in 2020, another bad night at the office for the overmatched Pole.

The knockdowns came in rounds one, six, and twice in round seven. The final knockdowns were the result of body punches. Szeremeta had his moments, but these were due largely to Eubank’s lapses in concentration; he was never really in any danger.

After Eubank had his hand raised, Conor Benn entered the ring and confronted him. The sons of British boxing luminaries were initially set to fight on Oct. 8, 2022. That match, expected to draw a full house to London’s 20,000-seat O2 Arena, was shipwrecked by the British Boxing Board of Control. Benn’s antics in Riyadh are an indication that it may yet come to fruition.

In a 10-round contest, Skye Nicolson outclassed Raven Chapman, winning by scores of 99-91 and 98-92 twice. The Aussie was making her fourth start of 2024 and the third defense of her WBC featherweight title.

Nicolson, who improved to 12-0 (1), hopes that her next title defense is in Australia where she has fought only once since turning pro, that back in 2022, but she would gladly put that on the backburner for a date with Amanda Serrano. It was the first pro loss for Chapman (9-1), a 30-year-old Englishwoman.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 300: Eastern Horizons — Bivol, Beterbiev and Japan

Published

1 day ago

October 11, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 300: Eastern Horizons — Bivol, Beterbiev and Japan

All eyes are pointed east, if you are a boxing fan.

First, light heavyweights Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol meet in Saudi Arabia to determine who is the baddest at 175 pounds. Then a few days later bantamweights and flyweights tangle in Japan.

Before the 21^st century, who would have thought we could watch fights from the Middle East and Asia live.

Who would have thought Americans would care.

Streaming has changed the boxing landscape.

Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs), the IBF, WBC, WBO light heavyweight titlist meets WBA titlist Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) for the undisputed world championship on Saturday Oct. 12, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The entire card will air on DAZN pay-per-view. In the United States, the main event, expected to start at 3:15 pm PT, will also be available on ESPN+.

A few decades ago, only Europeans and Asians would care about this fight card. And only the most avid American fight fan would even notice. Times have changed dramatically for the worldwide boxing scene.

In the 1970s and 80s, ABC’s Wide World of Sports would occasionally televise boxing from other countries. Muhammad Ali was featured on that show many times. Also, Danny “Lil Red” Lopez, Salvador Sanchez and Larry Holmes.

Howard Cosell was usually the host of that show and then denounced the sport as too brutal after 15 rounds of a one-sided match between Holmes and Randall Cobb at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas in 1982.

That same Cobb would later go into acting and appear in films with Chuck Norris and others.

Streaming apps have brought international boxing to the forefront.

Until this century heavyweights and light heavyweight champions were dominated by American prizefighters. Not anymore.

Beterbiev, a Russian-born fighter now living in Canada, is 39 years old and has yet to hear the final bell ring in any of his pro fights. He sends all his opponents away hearing little birdies. He is a bruiser.

“I want a good fight. I’m preparing for a good fight. We’ll see,” said Beterbiev.

Bivol, 33, is originally from Kyrgyzstan and now lives in the desert town of Indio, Calif. He has never tasted defeat but unlike his foe, he vanquishes his opponents with a more technical approach. He does have some pop.

“Artur (Beterbiev) is a great champion. He has what I want. He has the belts. And it’s not only about belts. When I look at his skills, I want to check my skills also against this amazing fighter,” said Bivol.

The Riyadh fight card also features several other world titlists including Jai Opetaia, Chris Eubank Jr and female star Skye Nicolson.

Japan

Two days later, bantamweight slugger Junto Nakatani leads a fight card that includes flyweight and super flyweight world titlists.

Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs), a three-division world titlist, defends the WBC bantamweight title against Thailand’s Tasana Salapat (76-1, 53 KOs) on Monday Oct. 14, at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. ESPN+ will stream the Teiken Promotions card.

The left-handed assassin Nakatani has a misleading appearance that might lead one to think he’s more suited for a tailor than a scrambler of brain cells.

A few years back I ran into Nakatani at the Maywood Boxing club in the Los Angeles area. I thought he was a journalist, not the feared pugilist who knocked out Angel Acosta and Andrew Moloney on American shores.

Nakatani is worth watching at 1 a.m. on ESPN+.

Others on the card include WBO super flyweight titlist Kosei Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs) defending against Phumelele Cafu (10-0-3); and WBO fly titlist Anthony Olascuaga (7-1, 5 KOs) defending against Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KOs) the WBO light fly titlist who is moving up in weight.

It’s a loaded fight card.

RIP Max Garcia

The boxing world lost Max Garcia one of Northern California’s best trainers and a longtime friend of mine. He passed away this week.

Garcia and his son Sam Garcia often traveled down to Southern California with their fighters ready to show off their advanced boxing skills time after time.

It was either the late 90s or early 2000s that I met Max in Big Bear Lake at one of the many boxing gyms there at that time. We would run into each other at fight cards in California or Nevada. He was always one of the classiest guys in the boxing business.

If Max had a fighter on a boxing card you knew it was trouble for the other guy. All of his fighters were prepared and had that extra something. He was one of the trainers in NorCal who started churning out elite fighters out of Salinas, Gilroy and other nearby places.

Recently, I spotted Max and his son on a televised card with another one of his fighters. I mentioned to my wife to watch the Northern California fighter because he was with the Garcias. Sure enough, he battered the other fighter and won handily.

Max, you will be missed by all.

Fights to Watch

(all times Pacific Time)

Sat. DAZN pay-per-view, 9 a.m. Beterbiev-Bivol full card. Beterbiev (20-0) vs Dmitry Bivol (23-0) main event only also available on ESPN+ (3:15 pm approx.)

Mon. ESPN+ 1 a.m. Junto Nakatani (28-0) vs Tasana Salapat (76-1).

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Junto Nakatani’s Road to a Mega-fight plus Notes on the Best Boxers from Thailand

Published

2 days ago

October 10, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Junto Nakatani’s Road to a Mega-fight plus Notes on the Best Boxers from Thailand

WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani, whose name now appears on several of the Top 10 pound-for-pound lists, returns to the ring on Monday. His title defense against Thailand’s Petch CP Freshmart is the grand finale of a two-day boxing festival at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.

One of several Thai boxers sponsored by Fresh Mart, a national grocery chain, Petch, 30, was born Tasana Salapat or Thasana Saraphath, depending on the source, and is sometimes identified as Petch Sor Chitpattana (confusing, huh?). A pro since 2011, he brings a record of 76-1 with 53 TKOs.

In boxing, records are often misleading and that is especially true when referencing boxers from Thailand. And so, although Petch has record that jumps off the page, we really don’t know how good he is. Is he world class, or is he run-of-the-mill?

A closer look at his record reveals that only 20 of his wins came against opponents with winning records. Fifteen of his victims were making their pro debut. It is revealing that his lone defeat came in his lone fight outside Thailand. In December of 2018, he fought Takuma Inoue in Tokyo and lost a unanimous decision. Inoue, who was appearing in his thirteenth pro fight, won the 12-rounder by scores of 117-111 across the board.

A boxer doesn’t win 76 fights in a career in which he answers the bell for 407 rounds without being able to fight more than a little, but there’s a reason why the house fighter Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs) is favored by odds as high as 50/1 in the bookmaking universe. Petch may force Junto to go the distance, but even that is a longshot.

Boxers from Thailand

Four fighters from Thailand, all of whom were active in the 1990s, are listed on the 42-name Hall of Fame ballot that arrived in the mail this week. They are Sot Chitalada, Ratanopol Sor Varapin, Veeraphol Sahaprom, and Pongsaklek Wonjongham. On a year when the great Manny Pacquiao is on the ballot, leaving one less slot for the remainder, the likelihood that any of the four will turn up on the dais in Canastota at the 2025 induction ceremony is slim.

By our reckoning, two active Thai fighters have a strong chance of making it someday. The first is Srisaket Sor Rungvisai who knocked Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez from his perch at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings in one of the biggest upsets in recent memory and then destroyed him in the rematch. The noted boxing historian Matt McGrain named Sor Rungvisai (aka Wisaksil Wangek) the top super flyweight of the decade 2010-2019.

The other is Knockout CP Freshmart (aka Thammanoon Niyomstrom). True, he’s getting a bit long in the tooth for a fighter in boxing’s smallest weight class (he’s 34), but the long-reigning strawweight champion, who has never fought a match scheduled for fewer than 10 rounds, has won all 25 of his pro fights and shows no signs of slowing down. He will be back in action next month opposing Puerto Rico-born Oscar Collazo in Riyadh.

The next Thai fighter to go into the IBHOF (and it may not happen in my lifetime) will bring the number to three. Khaosai Galaxy entered the Hall with the class of 1999 and Pone Kingpetch was inducted posthumously in 2023 in the Old Timer’s category.

Nakatani (pictured)

Hailing from the southeastern Japanese city of Inabe, Junto Nakatani is the real deal. In 2023, the five-foot-eight southpaw forged the TSS Knockout of the Year at the expense of Andrew Moloney. Late in the 12^th round, he landed a short left hook to the chin and the poor Aussie was unconscious before he hit the mat. In his last outing, on July 20, he went downstairs to dismiss his opponent, taking out Vincent Astrolabio with a short left to the pit of the stomach. Astrolabio went down, writhing in pain, and was unable to continue. It was all over at the 2:37 mark of the opening round.

It’s easy to see where Nakatani is headed after he takes care of business on Monday.

Currently, Japanese boxers own all four meaningful pieces of the 118-pound puzzle. Of the four, the most recognizable name other than Nakatani is that of Takuma Inoue who will be making the third defense of his WBA strap on Sunday, roughly 24 hours before Nakatani touches gloves with Petch in the very same ring. Inoue is a consensus 7/2 favorite over countryman Seiga Tsatsumi.

A unification fight between Nakatani and Takuma Inoue (20-1, 5 KOs) would be a natural. But this match, should it transpire, would be in the nature of an appetizer. A division above sits Takuma’s older brother Naoya Inoue who owns all four belts in the 122-pound weight class but, of greater relevance, is widely regarded the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

A match between Junto Nakatani and the baby-faced “Monster” would be a delicious pairing and the powers-that-be want it to happen.

In boxing, the best-laid plans often go awry, but there’s a good possibility that we will see Nakatani vs. Naoya Inoue in 2025. If so, that would be the grandest domestic showdown in Japanese boxing history.

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