2021 Feb 20

Adrien Broner vs. Jovanie Santiago

10 rounds, junior welterweights

Adrien Broner (33-4-1) is finally back in the ring this saturday when he takes on Jovanie Santiago (14-0-1). It will be over 2 years ago since Broner last fought and inactivity can be very hurtful for fighters or any athletes. In his last fight he lost a clear decision to Manny Pacquiao and took a beating over 12 rounds. Broner is a very talented fighter despite all his struggles outside the ring. Lets remember, he is a 4 division World Champion and there was a time when he was coming up where the expectations of him were skyhigh. Now there are no more expectations of him as both fans and insiders view him as past his best, despite him only being 31 years old. He feels hungry again and you can tell that he has taken this training camp very seriously because there is a big difference between losing to the top guys and then losing to unknown fighters such as Jovanie Santiago. It would be disastrous for his career if he was to lose this fight and he seems to understand that. We expect Adrien Broner to be at his very best in this fight. We will see a rejuvenated Adrien Broner. So who is Jovanie Santiago? First of all, he has a nice resume unbeaten with 14 wins and a draw. Almost half of the guys he has beaten has a losing record and he has never beaten anyone good. The best win he has came in his last fight against another unbeaten guy named Juan Zegarra who also had a nice looking record of 16-0. Zegarra´s record consisted mostly of journeymen and novices and when he took a step-up against Jovanie he was knocked out. So this will be a major step-up in competition for Santiago when he enters the ring against Broner. The bout will be contested at welterweight where Broner has often given up size to bigger fighters but Santiago is also a super lightweight going up so they will be even in size.

Broner is just way too talented for a guy like Santiago and you can expect the best version of Broner to show up, the version that knows what a loss at this point of his career would mean. Broner beats down and knocks out Jovanie Santiago. The Pick is Adrien Broner to win by ko/tko for a price of +105 (2.05 decimal odds)

The Pick: Adrien Broner by ko/tko
Odds: +105 (2.05 decimal odds)
Units: 2
Start time: 9pm ET / 6pm PT