Broner Cages Vacant WBO Belt With Rodriguez KO

Last night at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, OH, local man Adrien Broner vaulted into the top class at super featherweight with a third round KO of Vicente Martin Rodriguez to annex the vacant WBO title.

Argentine native Rodriguez wasted no time in displaying his intention to bring the fight to Broner but the 26 year old from La Salada was unable to make the American stand and trade.

Broner patiently studied the visitor and the 22 year old showed excellent defense and footwork to nullify the efforts of Rodriguez in the early going.

Once study hall was over, Broner went to work, finding the holes in Rodriguez’s defense with sharp counters and beefy body shots.

The third saw the Cincinnati man take the reigns, bombing Rodriguez with big right hands hands before landing a counter left hook right on the chin to drop the opponent on the seat of his pants where he was counted out at 1:43 of the round.

Broner stays undefeated at 22-0 (18), capturing at world title on his first try while Rodriguez, who had previously faced mostly domestic level competition and never operated at world class level, falls to 34-3-1 (19).

There were two even more explosive results on the undercard as a pair of top American prospects blasted out their rivals with no difficulty.

Featherweight southpaw Gary Russell Jr, 19-0 (11), well handled the aggressive challenge of Mexican campaigner Heriberto Ruiz, 47-12-2 (29), before turning out the lights with a short right hook at 2:12 of the first round.

Heavyweight hopeful Deontay Wilder, 20-0 (20), kept his KO streak alive with a single clubbing right hand that pole-axed 39 year old David Long, 11-2-2 (7), at 1:17 of the first frame.