Marcos Maidana stunned the boxing world by outpointing Adrien Broner to win the WBA welterweight title Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Maidana, a slugger who always seemed to fall just short, put Broner down twice and hurt him other times – and lost a point for an intentional head butt – in a brutal fight for both boxers to win a unanimous decision.

The scores were 115-110, 116-109 and 117-109. I had it 115-110 for Maidana.

Maidana (35-3, 31 knockouts) got off to a quick start, hurting Broner badly with a big left hook that sent the then-titleholder to the canvas in the second round. Broner (27-1, 22 KOs) survived but it was clear at that point that he had a fight on his hands.

Broner, clearly the quicker and more skillful of the two, was competitive the rest of the way but was just as clearly outworked by the Argentine. Maidana landed 269 of 964 punches, Broner only 149 of 400.

The eighth round was wild, as Broner went down against from a left hook. When he was back on his feet, he tied up Maidana and wouldn’t let go. In response, Maidana intentionally butted him to lose the point he gained with the knockdown.

Broner, given time to recover, acted if he was hurt by the butt, but the fight continued. He did well in the final two rounds, fighting out of desperation, but it was too little too late.

A full report will follow shortly.

Photo by Ronald Martinez-Getty Images