In a good, but far from great fight, Shawn Porter rallied from a slow start to win the vacant WBC welterweight title via a close, but unanimous decision over Danny Garcia in Brooklyn.
No knockdowns and I scored Porter a 115-113 victor.
The narrow victory showed just how close the welterweight division is just behind the pair that I think are the best in the division in Errol Spence and Terence Crawford.
Keith Thurman defeated both Porter and Garcia in fights that could have been given to either fighter and now Porter and Garcia participated in a similar fight.
What that tells me is that you could put any combination of Garcia, Porter, and Thurman in the ring and get a close and decent fight with the winner depending on the particular night.
I would make any of the three a competitive underdog against either Spence or Crawford.
In the co-feature, Yordanis Ugas became Porter's mandatory contender with a dreadful unanimous decision over Cesar Barrioneuvo.
It wasn't the fault of Ugas, but still, it was a long and tedious 12 rounds and despite his winning streak of late, I still think Ugas is a cut below championship level.
Over on HBO, the one-time mother ship of boxing devoted another card to the junior bantamweights with all three fights at 115 pounds.
Superfly 3 might not have been the action slate of the previous two events, but two of the three fights were solid enough.
Juan Francisco Estrada earned his rematch with Srisaket Sor Rungvisai with a unanimous decision over Felipe Orucuta in a better than expected, but a clear- cut victory.
The fight was close for eight rounds, but Estrada took command down the stretch as he won the final four rounds on my card on his way to a 117-111 win on my card.
Donnie Nietes appeared to have won the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title with a decision over Aston Palicte, which was closer than I expected (116-112 Nietes), but far from an entertaining fight.
The entertainment was still to come as one judge scored it a draw (not a good score, but arguable) and then another scored an insane 116-112 for Palicte card to have the fight end in an unpopular draw.
The worst part of this decision means that since this was for a vacant title, the WBO will order a rematch.
Hurray.
Kazuto Ioka, a former multi-division champion, returned from a brief retirement to make his American debut controlled McWilliams Arroyo and won unanimously on the judges cards
Ioka scored the only knockdown late in the third round and was never threatened in a lopsided, but competitive fight.
Ioka was the most impressive fighter on the card against the toughest competition and it will be interesting to see what's next for him.
I scored Ioka a 98-91 winner (8-2 in rounds, with the knockdown).
DAZN made its American debut with a free fight on Facebook as Amir Khan continued his comeback against Samuel Vargas, who was last seen by American fans being pounded by Danny Garcia.
The fight showed Khan's power (Dropping Vargas in the 2nd and 3rd), his soft chin (Dropped by Vargas late in the 2nd and had there been another minute in the round, Vargas may have pulled the upset) and his underrated boxing ability (he dominated Vargas thereafter) in notching a unanimous decision.
I had Khan a 98-90 winner, but struggling with a journeyman like Vargas makes me wonder how Khan is going to fare against the better fighters or the two fighters that he is rumored to be facing next- Kell Brook or Manny Pacquiao.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica had a big week in scoring ten points (two points for wins by Khan,Porter, Ugas, Estrada, and Ioka) to my six ( two points for Estrada's and Ioka's win and one each for wins by Khan and Ugas).
I lead the overall challenge 133-111.
Caught for coverage for now, I plan on a passings piece later tonight from the road office.
No comments:
Post a Comment