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Three-division titleholder Adrien Broner earned a hard-fought 12-round unanimous decision over Emmanuel Taylor in their Showtime-televised main event on Saturday in Broner’s home town of Cincinnati, Ohio. Broner, who scored a knockdown in the final round, won by scores of 115-112 and 116-111 (twice).

Broner (29-1, 22 knockouts) had his hands full with Taylor during the first half of the bout. Taylor, a 23-year-old Maryland native, landed his share of punches when the two exchanged in the pocket and outworked his better-known opponent whenever he got the Cincinnati native on the ropes.

However, Broner, who won his second bout since suffering his first loss against Marcos Maidana last December, stepped his game up in the middle rounds by getting his jab off more and letting his hands go in combination from the outside. Broner landed right hands and left hooks to the body, but Taylor remained game and tried to rally in the late rounds. Taylor came on strong late in Round 10, which forced Broner to bite down and let his hands go in the final seconds of the round.

Broner sustained a cut on the outside of corner of his right eye in Round 11 and was being outworked by Taylor in Round 12, during which the underdog landed a number of head-snapping right hands, before the hometown favorite uncorked a flashy body-head combination punctuated with a left hook that dropped the visiting fighter.

The final round, final second knockdown secured the victory for Broner, who was gracious and somewhat humble (by his standards) during the post-fight interview.

“I want to give thanks to my man Emmanuel Taylor who came to Cincinnati to fight me, (there’s) a lot of people who wouldn’t come here to fight me, and he put up a hell of a fight,” Broner told Showtime’s Jim Gray. “No disrespect to you, Jim, but he’s an African American. I knew he’d be tough.

“I gotta thank God, man. I’m comin’ off some wars, a war with Maidana, and then I come back to fight a guy like Emmanuel Taylor. I’m blessed to come out on top.”

Taylor (18-2, 12 KOs) lost a decision to current WBO titleholder Chris Algieri in February but bounced back to win a decision over fringe contender Karim Mayfield in July. Taylor, who had to get up from a knockdown to beat Mayfield, had to do the same during his best performance to date against Broner.

“I stepped up my game for Broner,” Taylor said during his post-fight interview. “I just got caught with a good shot. Nobody expected me to do as good as I did but I was ready for this fight. I felt good the whole fight. Tonight just wasn’t my night.”

Broner, a young veteran at age 25, said he wants to fight Lucas Matthysse, who scored a second-round KO against Roberto Ortiz in the co-featured bout of Saturday’s Golden Boy Promotions card.