Two New Light-Welterweight Boxing Champs Crowned Over the Weekend

This past weekend, two fights were contested to determine the succeeding titleholders of the WBC and WBA crowns that former 140lb champ Danny Garcia vacated two months prior. While both bouts produced clear winners, it did not help clarify a clear champion in the division.

First was boxing's favorite media clown Adrien Broner, making a successful attempt at a fourth title in a fourth weight class against Russian light-welterweight contender Khabib Allakhverdiev in Broner's hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Fans may know Broner for his crude antics inside and outside the ring, from flushing $20 bills down the toilet to his controversial post-fight comments to his outlandish in-fight actions. It appeared as if the antics had finally caught up as Broner has dropped decision losses anytime he stepped up in competition, most recently against Shawn Porter last June. Leading up to this fight, Broner began calling himself a "new and focused Adrien Broner", refusing all media interview before the bout. To the surprise of many, he actually kept his word.

The fight itself was nothing terribly exciting. The first half of the fight matched how he approached promoting it: a quiet presence in the ring without any real sort of real engagement. Broner potshotted Allakhverdiev around the ring and did a mediocre Mayweather impression up until about the 7th round, where the Cincinnati native began taking control by walking Allakhverdiev down to make a clear stake in dominating the ring generalship. Glimpses of the Adrien Broner of old would return in the 8th where plenty of dancing and ring talk took place. At one point he leaned over the ropes to have a full conversation with someone as the round wound down. The bout ended with Broner scoring a late and highly contestable stoppage in the last minute of the fight. Many observers felt that stoppage was premature and that the TKO was gifted to Broner; in fact, most would go to say the entire fight was gifted to him as an opportunity to win a title belt.

Not much was known about his opponent Allakhverdiev previous to the bout. He's a 32-year-old light welterweight with a modest 19-2 records with 9 KOs by. He beat a faded Nate Campbell back in 2011, and a could-have-been-great fighter in Joan Guzman. Other than that, there isn't much notable about Allakhverdiev that made him a promising match up for Broner. Given that Allakhverdiev was ranked 5th by the WBA and Broner had never competed in the 140lb class previous to Saturday night, it was surprising to say the least that he earned a title shot the first fight back from his loss in June.

Post-fight, Broner reverted to his old tactics as he fumbled through a joke about Caitlyn Jenner while calling out one of Floyd Mayweather's fighters, Ashley Theopane.

"Bring him to come see me and I bet I bring the girl out of that boy like Bruce Jenner," said Broner.

It seems as though the "New Adrien Broner" was short lived.

On the other side of the country, Argentina's Lucas Matthysse and Ukraine's Viktor Postol faced off for Garcia's former 140lb WBC claim. Analysts heralded Matthysse as one of the hardest hitting fighters in the division and the most likely heir to Garcia's throne. He had lost against Garcia two years ago, though the bout was well contested. Going into the bout, Postol was the betting underdog, despite being ranked higher by the WBC. Matthysse had the bigger name, had fought the better competition, and had an impressive 34KOs in 37bouts. By common estimations, the belt was Matthysse's for the taking.

But it would be the taller, bigger Postol that emerged victorious. He used his longer reach to keep Matthysse on the outside and boxed effectively through the majority of the bout. Matthysse would show some life during the middle rounds, but eventually faded down the stretch. In the 10th, Postol landed a clean right hand that put the Argentine down for the remainder of the fight. To many viewers' surprise, Matthysse voluntarily stayed down for the count, but would later reveal in post-fight interviews that the choice was made out of protecting his eye.

"I felt a pop in my eye," Matthysse said. "I preferred to take care of my eye. I could have gotten up but I preferred to stay down to protect my eye. Nothing happened for me tonight."

For Matthysse, the loss means more than just a world title, but also a potential shot against Manny Pacquiao, as Matthysse was billed as one of the front-running choice of opponents for the Filipino when he returns in February. Bob Arum, who promotes both Pacquiao and Postol, said it's unlikely he'd pit Postol against the former champ due to the Ukrainian's lack of name recognition, but is more than happy to set up a unification bout against Terrance Crawford, the WBO 140lb titlist that he also promotes. This could lead to a unification of sorts in the division, an always-desired step towards consolidating the confusion that is often seen in rankings set by various governing bodies.

Broner, who is now apparently also thrown into that mix, could be an interesting option as well, but with him being busy calling out unranked fighters and being, well, Adrien Broner, it's unlikely a bout between Saturday night's winners will happen in the near future. Plus, with Broner's association with Al Haymon, Postol and Crawford's association with Bob Arum, and the politics that is boxing, a unification is just that much more difficult.

What's happening in the 140lb division is now symptomatic of boxing in general. A somewhat defined champ begins to consolidate the belts, only to move onto a higher weight class for higher-paying, higher-profiled matches shortly after. The belts get scattered amongst a litter of contenders with each one making a legitimate claim to being "the champ" (for instance, there are now four champions at 140lbs), and the dance starts all over again. Let's hope it doesn't take too long for a champion to emerge, and when he does, he sticks around for a while.