The 22 year-old, who lost his title on the scales this past Friday, looked visibly bigger than the Woodland fighter in the ring and used all his extra strength to grind down Escobedo, forcing his corner to step in.
Broner, using Floyd Mayweather’s successful defensive style, began the fight slowly before eventually scoring success from the fourth round and busted up Escobedo with regularity until the towel was raised to halt the fight at the end of the fifth.
Escobedo had no answer to the power of Broner’s shots and ‘The Problem’ is now certain to be in line for a shot at one of the world champions at lightweight after declaring his intention to move up last week.
The fight almost never took place as Escobedo, 30, protested Broner coming in at two separate check-weigh-ins three pounds over, but an improved purse persuaded the Californian to take part and the former lightweight duly fell to his fourth defeat from 30.
In chief support, Keith Thurman Jr. improved to 18-0 with a sixth round TKO victory over Orlando Lora as ‘One Time’ continued his march towards a world title shot at the welterweight limit.
