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Adrien Broner controls, stops Allakhverdiev to reclaim relevance

Fighters Network
03
Oct
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Adrien Broner scored his first stoppage victory in six fights, beating up an overmatched Khabib Allakhverdiev before the referee stopped the fight at 2:23 of Round 12 at the U.S. Bank Arena in Broner’s hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

The win earned Broner the vacant WBA junior welterweight title — his fourth title belt in four weight divisions — and recovered his standing in the sport after his unanimous-decision loss to Shawn Porter in his most recent fight in June.

Broner (31-2, 23 knockouts) was in control from the opening bell as he took advantage of the plodding aggression of the southpaw Allakhverdiev (19-2, 9 KOs), potshotting with straight right hands and uppercuts with regularity.

Allakhverdiev, 32, of Kurush, Russia, who hadn’t fought since losing a decision to Jessie Vargas in April of 2014, was unable to penetrate the defense of Broner, 26, with any regularity and looked discouraged as his eyes swelled in the middle rounds.



Broner showed improved conditioning after weighing in at 138.5 pounds (his lightest weight in over two years) but threw few combinations until Allakhverdiev had been broken down in the late rounds.

Looking to close the show impressively, Broner continued to pound away in the final moments of the 12th, hurting Allakhverdiev with a left hook to the body, and followed his attack up with head shots before the referee stepped in to waive the bout off.

Broner, ranked No. 5 by THE RING at 140 pounds, offered assurances of his renewed dedication to the sport after incurring a pair of losses in his previous five fights. That doesn’t mean he’s going to tone down his personality, however.

“I’m still AB, but this next half of my career I’m all about business and about boxing,” Broner said in the post-fight interview with Showtime Sports.

Broner’s reemergence as a top fighter in the junior welterweight division was just one of the major developments at 140 pounds on Saturday, as THE RING’s No. 7 contender, Viktor Postol, scored an upset 10th-round knockout of No. 1 contender Lucas Matthysse to win the vacant WBC junior welterweight title.

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