Adrien Broner more punchline than 'Problem' in loss to Shawn Porter

LAS VEGAS – Adrien 'The Problem' Broner’s corner gave him a tongue-lashing following the 11th round of his welterweight fight Saturday at the MGM Grand with Shawn Porter.

Clearly, he needed it eight or nine rounds earlier.

Porter outpunched, out-worked and out-boxed the over-hyped Broner to win a unanimous decision in a fight that was marked mostly by Broner’s holding and fouling.

Spurred on by his corner’s harsh words after the 11th, Broner opened the 12th in sensational fashion by dumping Porter with a wicked lead left hook. The crowd, which had been booing Broner’s holding and referee Tony Week’s seemingly unlimited patience with it, rose in unison and was roaring.

But Porter recovered quickly and survived the round. At that point, it was a foregone conclusion he’d win. Judges had it 118-108, 115-111 and 114-112 for Porter. Yahoo Sports had it 117-109 for Porter, who had a 149-88 edge in punches landed.

After the bout, Broner acted as if he didn’t much care. He earned $1.35 million, and clearly didn’t give an effort matching his purse. He seemed fine dropping to 30-2 with the loss.

“Listen, I still will fight anybody,” Broner said. “It don’t matter, man. I’m a real animal. I’m an animal. This time I didn’t get the decision, but it’s OK. At the end of the day, everybody in here will take my autograph and take my picture.”

That comment shows what is important to Broner, and it’s not winning an important fight against a former world champion in a nationally televised bout.

It was hardly surprising, though, as Broner has given a lackluster effort throughout his career.

Porter, who made $1 million, did everything Broner did not. He came to fight, and threw 281 more punches than Broner did. He was landing the cleaner, harder shots throughout and was attempting to actually fight.

Broner frequently moved forward, but didn’t seem to be willing to trade too much. Whenever Porter let his hands go, Broner would clinch and hold and foul.

He was warned repeatedly by Weeks, who finally got sick of it and deducted a point in the 11th. By that point, it was academic and didn’t have an impact on the match.

Porter, who is now 26-1-1, scored perhaps the biggest win of his career.

“That’s how you beat a great fighter, intelligently,” Porter said. “We did everything we needed to do in preparation for this fight and coming out, we wanted to establish our jab and establish that we are the better boxer. I think we did that over the course of the fight. We tried to stick in some pressure as well, just to establish dominance and I think that’s what got us to the scores that we got and the win.”

The fight held a lot of promise, but didn’t turn out as well as it could have because of Broner’s reluctance to engage, as well as to foul.

But Porter took at least part of the blame himself, saying he wanted to push harder.

“Honestly, my dad wanted a quicker and faster pace,” Porter said. “That’s why you have a corner. I think if I would have listened to him a little bit better, I would have fought a little bit better. [Those are] things you can learn about and you can build upon. This was a great fight for us and a great win. We are going to enjoy this fight and keep going.”

Broner is a protégé of pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, but he shows none of Mayweather’s dedication or effort and Saturday’s loss was just another in a long series of disappointing performances.

He fights as if he’s already accomplished 10 times more than he has and, despite the loss, he had a cavalier attitude afterward.

Even when he attempted to be gracious, he came off as cocky and self-absorbed.

“I’m OK, my kids are OK and I’m financially fine, so it’s OK,” Broner said of his loss. “At the end of the day, great champions can take a good loss and great champions can take a good win, just like they take a loss. It’s OK.”

Broner’s name should never be included in the same sentence as the word great, because despite his championships and impressive record, he’s far from great. He’s a talented fighter with a lousy attitude who acts as if he expects everything to be given to him.

Porter is more of a blue-collar fighter and it was that work ethic that made the difference in Saturday’s bout.

Broner is young – he won’t be 26 until next month – and given his fast hands and obvious talent, it’s not wise to rule him out.

If he ever figures it out and doesn’t fight like an entitled, spoiled rich kid, he still could become great.

But now? He’s far, far, far from being even remotely considered great.