Porter ends the Broner mystique,Ward chops up Smith-Boxing Challenge

On a night with three significant fights from three different promoters on three different networks AT THE SAME TIME-one things was for sure,the myth that Al Haymon and his PBC had built in anticipation of his venture was punctured for good in Las Vegas as Shawn Porter took a clear cut unanimous decision over Adrien Broner in Las Vegas.

Before I begin,I'm not including the vacant IBF Middleweight title bout between David Lemieux and Hassan N'Dam from Montreal as I have not seen it and (for now) I've been able to dodge the result until later when I can hopefully watch it.

Shawn Porter's unanimous decision over Adrien Broner not only saw a incredibly disliked fighter give the crowd what they hoped for,but it hit the PBC where it hurt-business.
The infant company had hoped to use Broner as their "heel" that people watched to see lose (See Floyd Mayweather for a more talented example) and would be able to build viewership for his bouts.
They may have created the heel side,but the fighter may not have been as talented as thought by many.
Shawn Porter is a good fighter and a former champion,but if Adrien Broner was truly as good as thought-this was a fight that should have been impressively won.
Instead in a somewhat entertaining,if sloppy affair,Broner was exposed as a fighter that truly is a "tweener"-not enough of a boxer to control a bout against the top of a division and not enough of a puncher to keep said fighters off of him.
Broner did score the only knockdown of the fight with a hook to start the final round,but Porter wasn't severely hurt and the fight went to the scorecards,where I wondered aloud (and on Twitter) about how the scores were going to be found for Broner.
To my surprise,two of the cards were close to mine (115-111 Porter) with another that seemed to be way too wide for Porter.
Three quick thoughts on this fight.

1) Shawn Porter has redeemed himself for his loss of his IBF title to Kell Brook with an energetic and unexpected win.
Porter will likely get himself more fights and he has two that I'd like to see happen.
I wouldn't be against a Brook rematch,the first was a competitive fight and a second fight might be worth going after,but the other would be for Keith Thurman and his WBA title.
I've been critical of "one time" for fighting B level fighters and not getting them out with "one shot".
Shawn Porter would be the best fighter that Keith Thurman has ever fought and would go a long way to pulling a 147 pounder to the top on the PBC side....

2) How good does England's IBF champ Kell Brook look now after Porter's win?
Brook has stopped both fighters in his two defenses and none of the PBC fighters appear interested in fighting him including Amir Khan (a massive money fight in the UK) anytime soon.
Brook has work to do,but you certainly have to put him in the mix for the best post-Mayweather welterweight battle.

3) Where does Adrien Broner stand now?
Broner isn't strong enough to beat the best 147 pounders,yet is going to have a rough time staying at 140 pounds to make the weight.
Even at 140,Broner's options are limited with WBC champ Danny Garcia (PBC) moving up to welterweight and the vacant title filled with the winner of Lucas Matthysse-Victor Postol (neither PBC) which makes the WBC title unlikely.
Garcia hasn't officially given up the WBA title,but if he does,their "regular" (don't get me started on this) champ Jessie Vargas will likely to be promoted to full status and Vargas is with Top Rank.
WBO champ Terrence Crawford is with Top Rank,so he's out and the IBF title is vacant,but Broner might not be ranked high enough at 140 for them.
Broner is at a crossroads in his career and PBC might be at a loss for what to do with him.
Wins over John Molina types such as after his loss to Marcos Maidana seem to be a waste of time,yet another big fight loss might ruin him for good.
Difficult times for the PBC and the fighter that they could have been counting on to be their flagship....

Meanwhile out in Oakland,Andre Ward chopped his opponent Paul Smith up as Smith's corner tossed in the towel in  round nine.
The perpetually dull Ward had added inactive to his name over the last four years and selected Smith as the foe to chip the rust off against,but was such a underdog that HBO,who invested time with Ward as a color commentator that lacked color,refused to show the bout and Showtime turned Ward down when he approached them with HBO's permission.
That forced Roc Nation to time buy on BET for the bout to have television at all.
Roc Nation wastes time on air with rappers,hip hop artists and anything else to take away from the fact that they have two fighters in their stable to pay attention to-When one of those is Andre Ward,you have problems.
Ward won every round,but proved little and I'm not sure what Ward has in his future.
Ward talks a lot about fighting top guys,but the facts show that over the last four years,he has three wins-over Jello-jawed Chad Dawson,Edwin Rodriguez and now Paul Smith.
Not exactly Bob Foster,Archie Moore and Michael Spinks there,but with an unwillingness to leave Oakland,which is the only place that he draws and exorbitant pay demands for a fighter with limited drawing power,Ward's future is uncertain.
Ward talks about Gennady Golovkin,but he'll likely price himself out of that fight,doesn't want to go to England for a rematch with Carl Froch,which would be a high demand ticket there but nowhere else and doesn't appear thrilled with a leap to 175 for Sergey Kovalev.
Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest,if we see more fights like last night in Ward's future,

R.L.Malpica and I each earned one point for Ward's win and both missed on Shawn Porter victory,so the boxing challenge stands at 74-73.
Back later as soon as I can watch Lemieux vs N'Dam....