LAS VEGAS _ Enough with the imitator, Manny Pacquiao seemed to say in his convincing victory over Adrien Broner on Saturday night at MGM Grand.
Bring on the real thing: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
In a display of power in which he proved to be the faster puncher than a foe 11 years his junior, Pacquiao retained his World Boxing Association secondary welterweight belt with judges delivering him a unanimous-decision victory. The scores were 117-112, 116-112 and 116-112 for Pacquiao in his first fight as a 40-year-old.
With the retired Mayweather watching his protege Broner from ringside, Pacquiao, in his 70th pro fight, kept the former four-division champion backpedaling, pounding him with body shots and flurries that hurt Broner, especially in the seventh and ninth rounds.
Pacquiao said he wants a rematch with Mayweather, who turns 42 next month, if the 50-0 fighter will come out of retirement. When ringside interviewer Jim Gray asked Mayweather if he will meet that challenge, Mayweather offered no reply.
Confronting the power punches of unbeaten Marcus Browne was one thing. When an accidental head butt opened a gash of more than an inch on his forehead, Badou Jack had no chance.
Browne (23-0) became the new WBA light-heavyweight world champion Saturday night at MGM Grand by unanimous-decision scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 119-108.
"He's a real tough competitor, but I came to shake," Browne said.
Jack (22-2-3) was immediately transported to a local hospital after losing the fight and blood from the cut that was opened in the seventh round.
Browne, from Staten Island, N.Y., first hurt the slow-starting Jack with a combination to the body and head in the fifth. In the seventh, when the heads clashed, the cut on Jack's forehead opened widely between the eyebrows, almost immediately streaming blood toward his eyes.
"I was too slick, too sharp today," Browne said. "He was coming with his head all night ... I was telling Tony (Weeks, referee), 'Watch his head.' That's what he gets."
A right uppercut by Browne in the eighth reopened the cut, and Jack was sent backward again. Distracted by the blood, wiping it with his left glove, Jack also was dealing with the left-hander's power punches and crisp jabs.
Desperate in the 10th, Jack landed hard body blows and found Browne with a right to the head. His mask of blood, however, distracted from the success.
A ringside doctor inspected Jack's cut after Weeks called for a break in the 11th round, but allowed the action to resume.
On the undercard, fighting for the World Boxing Council bantamweight belt brought out the best in France's Nordine Oubaali and three-time U.S. Olympian Rau'Shee Warren, who produced quality toe-to-toe exchanges, especially in the fourth and seventh rounds.
Oubaali prevailed by unanimous decision, with the judges giving him victory by scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 117-111.
"This was my dream," Oubaali said. "I put on the pressure. I had the speed."
Trained by former light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr., Oubaali (15-0) relied on his activity and ability to land power punches with both hands to win the rounds.
Cincinnati's Warren (16-3) unleashed a combination to the head to open the 11th, but Oubaali weathered it and answered with hard lefts to the head.
The new champion credited his "speed and power" advantages.
Former two-division world champion Hugo Ruiz defeated fellow Sinaloa, Mexico resident and former bantamweight title challenger Alberto Guevara by unanimous decision in a featherweight pay-per-view opener.
Ruiz (39-4) dominated the action as revealed by the 100-89, 99-90, 99-90 scorecards.
One of the 99-90 scores was turned in by judge Adelaide Byrd, who was given her first assignment in a pay-per-view bout by Nevada since her greatly criticized 118-110 card favoring Canelo Alvarez in his September 2017 draw against then-middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
Ruiz, 30, was due to fight unbeaten prospect Jhack Tepora of the Philippines, but Tepora missed weight by more than five pounds Friday, causing promoters to summon Guevara, who lost his 2012 title shot to Leo Santa Cruz.
Lightweight George Kambosos Jr. of Australia defeated Rey Perez of the Philippines by three unanimous-decision scores of 80-72.
Kambosos (16-0), who trains in Hollywood and was cornered by Pacquiao conditioning coach Justin Fortune, let Perez (24-11) know what was coming by backing him to the ropes with a right to the head in the first round.
He stung the replacement opponent with rights in the next two rounds and closed the fourth with a hook that sent Perez reeling, as well.
