The last time Adrien Broner won a fight, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was still six months away from taking on Conor McGregor.
That changed on Saturday night as Broner beat Jovanie Santiago by unanimous decision (117-110, 116-111, 115-112) from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn. DAZN News scored the fight 114-113 for Santiago.
The story of the fight is the same as it customarily is when Broner fights. Santiago came out and took the first half of the fight by being the more active boxer of the two. He was walking Broner down and connecting on combinations and ripping the body. Broner was rarely throwing and not doing much of anything beyond throwing one jab at a time and keeping his back on the ropes.
In Broner fashion, he came on in the second half of the bout, starting in the seventh round. The former four-division world champion let his hands go, used his lightning-quick combinations, and his patented check left hook, which nearly sent Santiago to the canvas in the eighth round.
Still, it was anyone's fight going into the 12th and final round. Santiago's corner told him that he needed a finish as they didn't feel confident that he'd get a decision victory. Santiago came out giving it everything he had by unloading on Broner and not letting up by connecting on 32 of 95 punches in the final three minutes while Broner only connected on seven of 34.
According to Compubox, Broner landed 98 out of 338 punches (29 percent), while Santiago landed 207 out of 697 (29.7 percent).
The judges didn't reward Santiago's activity and aggression and instead awarded Broner his first win since a split decision over Adrian Granados in February 2017.
Here is what happened at Adrien Broner vs. Jovanie Santiago.