So one myth I have been hearing on this forum about last nights fight is this notion that Broner never hurt Paulie and his punches were weak. So I went through the youtube Broners facebook page put up of the fight and picked out several moments where Paulie was staggered or hurt. Now I know people will respond with "he was never in any serious trouble" and thats definitely true, but that was really more due to activity lulls then punching power. Broner stunned Malignaggi several times. 2:40 of Round 3. Start at 19:00 into the video. Paulie gets hit with a HUGE hook, tries to play it off by dancing, but he was clearly affected. 1:55 of Round 6. Start at 31:40 of the video (or go back to around 31:10 for better context if you wish). Malignaggi CLEARLY takes a knee, plays it off like Broner pushed him down and the ref buys it. Literally the very split second after Broner takes his elbow off to throw a punch Paulie takes a knee. Now was he hurt here? I don't think so, but Broner had been chasing him around the ring and punishing him, and he took a knee. :27 seconds of Round 8, start at 41:15. Broner comes out of a clinch in a flurry, and clearly stuns and backs up Paulie with a big straight right hand. Paulie retreats to the corner, and actually responds quite well by sending Broner into one of his activity lulls and throwing punches, but Paulie was certainly stunned by the shot. Very end of Round 9, start at 45:40. Broner lands 2 solid shots, pivots and lands a big right hand that staggers Malignaggi. The bell rings pretty much immediately. Very end of Round 10, start at 49:45, Broner is doing some infighting, then lands a big left hook that made Paulie's whole body shake. The bell rings, and Paulie gets back to his corner where his trainer is frantically telling him to take deep breaths. 1:00 of Round 11, start at 52:50. Broner is fighting out of the shoulder roll, lands 2 rapid left hooks followed by 2 body shots, followed by another 2 lightning fast left hooks, the final one of which staggered Malignaggi. Paulie again responds with a flurry of punches, almost all of which miss, but they send Broner into another lull in activity. This seems to be Broner's major weakness. Paulie spends the rest of the round running around the ropes. At the conclusion of the fight, around 1:00:15, you get a pretty good shot of the damage done to Malignaggi's face. He didn't have any huge mouses or anything, but he had clearly been in a fight while Broner didnt have a mark or scratch on him. So this notion that Broner never once hurt Paulie and Paulie wasn't impacted by any of Adrien's shots is nonsense. Broner fought a guy with an iron chin who gave him a great test, but really Broner's activity lulls hurt him more then any perceived lack of punching power. [YT]****s://***.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2hdsurvKWF8[/YT]
I think that's his major weakness at this moment, he has activity lulls and needs to be more willing to throw those big flurries. There were honestly two flurries (one of them which I highlighted) where Broner landed all 6 punches in raid succession. There's no reason that he can't be a better finisher if he ups the activity. I think this fight was the best thing that could've happened for Broner, 12 rounds with an experienced vet will lead to huge improvement in the next fight.
That and getting outboxed by the likes of Ponce. Can I ask you a question- why are you should and avid fan of him- he's a horrible wretch of a man and has no good qualities whatsoever.
I think he has defensive skills that are already top 5 in the sport at age 23. But what makes Broner special is that he fights behind that defense and uses those skills to walk down and punish instead of to pot shot and run. It leads to many moments like last night where Paulie backed himself into the ropes throwing shots that didnt land, it's gotta be a pretty helpless feeling. But what is most remarkable about Broner is his punch accuracy. I think it is elite in boxing, though part of it is that he only throws good shots and should probably throw more. But when you land 72% of your power shots in a round against a world champion (round 9 for Broner) you are a special talent.
Paulie took those shots pretty good. Each time he came back with machine gun flurries. Bottom line, Broner ain't no big deal.
Paulie ate those shots, his legs didn't even buckle once. He would clown adrian when they landed so obviously he was not hurt.
Paulie's knees never buckled, but it was clear that Paulie was put off balance from many of Broner's punches. Last night I mentioned this and some clown called me a "Broner nug hugger" LMAO. i'm the farthest possible thing from that, i was just being honest that Paulie's body language was not as good as Broner's, who stayed in a dominant stance all night. i think that was the difference, i thought if Paulie could stun Broner, it could have been huge but it never happened. Paulie tried to play it off, like he wasn't hurt, but he certainly was put off balance many times throughout that fight. His head snapped back a lot and that's what the judges see.
