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Welterweight Champion Shawn Porter Retains Belt

Welterweight Champion Shawn Porter Retains Belt in First Defense Amid a Controversial Split Decision

While it was a chilly fight night in the Dignity Health Sports Park outdoor arena in Carson, California, the crowd became heated when Welterweight World Champion “Showtime” Shawn Porter  seemed to survive several bouts by dancing out of the way of top-ranked contender Yordenis Ugas.  Between a few slips by Porter and several unexciting rounds, the crowd booed the champion and rallied around the contender by chanting his name.

After a slow start, Round 5 set the arena on fire when the gladiators aggressively went toe-to-toe.  Ugas landed 53 punches compared to Porter’s 45.

In the end, on March 9, 31-year old Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs) won his first WBC title defense in a split decision against 32-year-old Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs). Two of three judges scored Porter at 116-112 and 115-113. The third judge had it 117-111 in favor of Ugas.

“The crowd was expecting a big brawl, but that’s not the way this fight needed to go tonight. That style that we used left the fight close. We got the win, we’re still champion and we’re looking forward to what is next,” said Porter. “I was very focused the entire fight and just listening to my corner.”

Porter talked about his only disappointment of the night. “I was a little frustrated I couldn’t get to the body as much as we had planned,” he said.  “As the clock ticks, you do what is working.”

Kenny Porter commented his son by stating, “Shawn was doing a beautiful job.”  According to the champ, “ It may have thrown the judges a little bit.  I thought we fought a good, smart fight.  We fought very consistent.”

Porter was asked about the critics questioning if he really thought he won. “ I have to take a look at the fight to determine how many rounds Ugas won but right now I don’t think it was very many,” he responded.

When responding to a question about fighting in the cold weather, Porter said, “My team is great.” In between rounds, Porter’s corner draped a blanket around his shoulders. “When you are in the midst of the fire that adrenaline is pumping, you don’t feel anything outside of what you’re brain is thinking.”

Ugas who won the bronze at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing  felt he won 8 or 9 rounds.

“There’s no doubt about it, I was robbed tonight. After the first round I figured him out and dominated the fight,” said Ugas. “He had no answer when I was pushing him back. I dominated the fight in my opinion.”

At the post-fight conference, the consensus among the Ugas team was he 100% won the fight.  “I pushed the pace the whole fight.  I was backing him up. He didn’t throw no punches. I landed the cleaner, harder punches,” he said.  “This hurts boxing.”

Ugas and his camp felt that Porter’s slip was a knockdown in Round 12.

“It was a very close fight,” said Lennox Lewis, the undisputed world heavyweight champion. “Both fighters boxed well  but it’s really down to the judges. When you are coming to take a belt you have to do a little bit more.”

Ugas spoke with confidence, “I showed tonight that I belong with the elite fighters at welterweight. All I can say is that I’m ready to fight any of the top names in the division. I’ll be back.”

The fight highlights tell a story of a good fight and a difficult decision.

The co-main event featured an exciting 10 rounds of boxing between 147 pound fighters Abel Ramos who outboxed Francisco Santana.  Despite Santana sending Ramos to the canvas in round 2, Ramos returned aggressively, landing 174 punches to Santana’s 158 in the seventh round and continued to dominate over Santana.

“He caught me on a flash knockdown in the second round. I didn’t see the punch coming and he caught me a little bit off balance,” said Ramos. “ As soon as I got up, I was good.”

After going the distance, the judges, Alejandro Rochin, Fernando Villareal, Lou Moret, scorecards were tallied at 95-94, 97-92, and 98-92, declared Ramos the winner in an unanimous decision.

“I was very surprised by the scorecards. I thought I did enough to win,” said Santana. “It was very competitive but I was landing more significant punches.”

 

Marie Y. Lemelle, MBA, journalist, and public relations and boxing event consultant.

SERGEY KOVALEV REGAINS TITLE

FRISCO, Texas — Sergey Kovalev’s ability to still compete like, well, Sergey Kovalev, was in serious doubt entering Saturday night.

The last time Kovalev was in the ring, he was dropped three times and brutally knocked out by Eleider Alvarez. He elected to go straight to an immediate rematch amid whispers that he was a shell of his former self, a boogeyman who vanquished opponents before they even entered the ring.

Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 knockouts) again switched trainers after a defeat, this time linking up with Buddy McGirt. He again made excuses, just like he did after consecutive losses to Andre Ward, and blamed overtraining on the three defeats. None of the optics bode well for Kovalev, but none of it mattered.

He stuck to the game-plan devised by McGirt, a hall-of-fame fighter, and utilized his excellent jab to keep Alvarez at bay and avenge his defeat from six months ago with a unanimous decision victory Saturday at Ford Center in the main event of Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+. One judge scored it a shutout, 120-108; the other two scorecards read 116-112.

“We worked a lot on my jab,” Kovalev said. “Right now, I am working with Buddy the way I was when I was an amateur. After this, I want unification fights.”

This time, Kovalev didn’t fade down the stretch. Instead, he prospered as the fight wore on. “Krusher” stunned the Canadian several times in the final round to punctuate the upset victory.

While Kovalev boxed and moved, Alvarez (24-1, 12 KOs) instead searched for one fight-changing shot that never materialized. The 34-year-old Colombian was looking for the right hand over the top and connected flush on a number of occasions, but Kovalev absorbed the shots and didn’t waver.

The 35-year-old Russian outhustled Alvarez over 12 rounds and connected on more than double the punches (213 to 111). Kovalev made his name on power-punching, but he displayed impressive boxing ability, just like he did in outboxing Bernard Hopkins in 2014.

Alvarez caught many of Kovalev’s punches with his high guard, but he was far too inactive to win the judges over. When he plowed forward and exerted his superior size and strength, Alvarez found success, but he couldn’t consistently hold his ground.

“I don’t see myself as a loser tonight, but I do give him credit, especially in that 12th round,” Alvarez said. “I think that he went out and proved that he wanted to win.”

Kovalev’s resurgence came one month before he’s due in court. He was arrested in June and charged with felony assault for allegedly attacking a woman he met at a party in Big Bear, California. Even though the alleged incident came two months before his first meeting with Alvarez, the arrest didn’t come to light until a TMZ Sports report published on January 18.

His longtime promoter, Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, told The Ring she felt more comfortable about her fighter’s innocence after being made privy to some of the evidence.

“I think he was distracted by that in August, he hadn’t been charged yet,” Duva said. “Now he knows that he has a good lawyer. He’ll get his chance to defend himself and he will.”

Top Rank holds options on Kovalev and the promotional company is deep in the loaded light heavyweight division. Dmitry Bivol fights exclusively on DAZN, but the other two titleholders in addition to Kovalev — Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Artur Beterbiev — compete on ESPN. Super middleweight titleholder Gilberto Ramirez, who is promoted by Top Rank, is moving up to light heavyweight for his next fight, so there’s a bevy of options for Kovalev.

“He’s never going to be what he used to be. When you quit like (he did in the rematch against me), there’s a piece of you that’s left there in the ring. But he’s good enough to deal with a lot of guys in the light heavyweight division,” said Ward, who worked the ESPN+ broadcast as a commentator. “He’s in every one of those fights. He can win every single one of them. He was enough left in the tank.”

Kovalev’s psyche appeared badly damaged by the pair of knockout defeats, but he proved Saturday that he possesses the mettle to rebound from a soul-crushing defeat. At 35, he’s no longer the devastating puncher who ran roughshod over the 175-pound division, but he’s still pretty damn good.

Kovalev isn’t finished just yet — far from it. McGirt reinvented another Main Events fighter, the legendary Arturo Gatti. It seems he’s done it again.

OSCAR VALDEZ RETURNS FROM LAYOFF

FRISCO, Texas — Oscar Valdez has endured grueling bout after grueling bout, so at long last, he was due for an easy touch.

He earned it after fighting through a fractured jaw in his last outing, a decision victory over Scott Quigg in March. Valdez called that two-month recovery on a liquid diet one of the hardest things he’s ever endured.

It’s behind him now, though, and fully healed, he returned Saturday on ESPN with a seventh-round stoppage of Italian foe Carmine Tommasone to retain his WBO featherweight title. Valdez scored four knockdowns and battered his overmatched opponent through each and every round.

A right uppercut on the chin finished Tommasone off at nine seconds of Round 7. Tommasone’s lip was sliced, and his right swollen and cut.

With a comeback win under his belt, Valdez, 28, hopes to return to top-level competition in his next bout, whether it’s a unification fight with Josh Warrington or a matchup with former champion Carl Frampton.

“To be honest, I didn’t really think about the jaw,” said Valdez, The Ring’s No. 4 featherweight. ” … The jaw’s 100 percent, ready for whoever. … 2019, we started it well and the sky’s the limit.”

Valdez (25-0, 20 knockouts) ditched longtime trainer Manny Robles and linked up with Eddy Reynoso, best known for his work with middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. The move was made with an eye on longevity. The Mexico native is one of the sport’s best action fighters, but he realizes that his reckless, face-first style won’t lend itself to durability through the years.

He made good on his promise to box more from the outside, albeit against limited opposition. Valdez pumped a jab in Tommasone’s face and carved him up to the body.

A counter-right hand planted Tommasone (19-1, 5 KOs) on the canvas in Round 4. Valdez followed up with another knockdown that round (produced by a left hook to the body), before scoring one a piece in the sixth and seventh frames.

Tommasone was beaten up, but not all was lost on this night. He proposed to his girlfriend following the bout, who accepted.

RICHARD COMMEY WRECKS ISA CHANIEV IN TWO ROUNDS

FRISCO, Texas — Richard Commey knew that a victory would not only net him his first world title, but also a lucrative meeting with Vasiliy Lomachenko.

There was some consternation heading into Saturday’s title tilt that April 12 might be a quick turnaround for the victor. Commey ensured that wouldn’t be an issue — at least on the surface (but more on that later).

He walked through Isa Chaniev in a fight televised by ESPN and stopped his foe after depositing him three times on the canvas. Referee Laurence Cole halted the contest at 39 seconds of Round 2 and now, Commey will look forward to the biggest fight of his career: a meeting with the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.

First, Commey will undergo an X-Ray on his right hand. The Ghanaian told reporters at ringside he felt a knuckle pop on the punch that caused a knockdown in the opening round. If he’s clear to fight in two months, he’ll meet Lomachenko at Staples Center in a fight streamed on ESPN+.

“I’m very happy that I won this world title,” said Commey, who entered the bout rated No. 3 by The Ring at 135 pounds. “It’s everything for me, this is what I’ve worked so hard for.”

Commey (28-2, 25 knockouts) stood toe-to-toe with Chaniev at the opening bell. They exchanged shots on the inside, and it was Commey’s heavier hands that were more effective. Chaniev (13-2, 6 KOs) was floored in Round 1, and when he rose, he was clearly on unsteady legs.

A left hand blasted Chaniev, 26, early in Round 2 to produce a second knockdown. Moments later, Commey, 31, pounced and banged the Russian with a left uppercut, right hand combination that ended matters.

Commey’s only two pro defeats both came in 2016, and many media members believed he deserved the nod in each fight. First, he dropped a split decision to Robert Easter in his only other bid for a title. Next up was Denis Shafikov, who outpoined him in the same manner.

Lomachenko is rated No. 1 by The Ring pound-for-pound, but he’s best suited for 126 pounds. Commey, a physical specimen, will enjoy a considerable size advantage. It’s shapes up as a tough challenge for the two-time Olympic gold medalist.

“That’s one guy who is very, very competitive with Lomachenko,” Arum said. “He hits like a mule, he’s a big guy. Lomachenko will embrace this kind of challenge. It’s a challenge fighting a guy who can really hurt you. … That’s what he wants.

“(Manny) Pacquiao was 122 (pounds) and he went up and he was always smaller than his opponents. He’s much better than Manny Pacquiao. Lomachenko is the best technical fighter I’ve ever seen.”

There’s no doubting Loma’s marvelous ring skills, but he’s displayed some vulnerability in his two fights at 135 pounds. Commey said he’s “never really thought about” Lomachenko, but assuming he’s medically cleared, he’ll need shift his focus in a hurry.