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.