Boxing Challenge: Crawford Stamps Legacy in Porter Stoppage

     In Las Vegas, Terence Crawford earned the biggest victory of his career when he ended a very close fight in the tenth round to defend his WBO welterweight title via TKO over former WBC and IBF champion Shawn Porter.

The two fought evenly for most of the first nine rounds before Crawford knocked down Porter twice in the tenth round and when Porter arose from the second knockdown, his father and trainer, Kenny Porter, stopped the fight to some controversy as many thought Porter could have continued.

I think that Porter may have been able to continue but what was the point?

Porter was going to give a 10-7 round away when he was down on points anyway and against a fighter that is known as the best finisher in the game, Kenny Porter made the right call.

For Crawford, arguably the best fighter in the game, he establishes a legacy as the most avoided fighter of his era and as the best welterweight in the world, unless you believe that Errol Spence holds that title.

While almost every boxing fan would love to see Crawford-Spence, Crawford has interesting alternatives such as young studs Vergil Ortiz or Jaron Ennis or even a move to 154 against Jermell Charlo or Brian Castano.

As for Porter, who announced his retirement at the end of the evening and who knows how long that will last, he can rest assured that he will be remembered by fans and historians far better than Keith Thurman, who won a close decision over Porter, Danny Garcia, who Porter won a close decision over, and maybe even Spence, who for all of his talents dodged Crawford by constantly using the fallback phrase "wrong side of the street" as his reason for not fighting him because Porter didn't say no to any fighters at any time- Those types of fighters are always remembered well.

I haven't seen the three fights in boxing challenge action with the following results

Esquiva Falcao won a technical decision over Patrice Volvy when the fight was stopped in the sixth round.

Janibek Alimkhanuly stopped Hassan N'Dam in the eighth round

Artem Dalakian retained his WBA flyweight title with a ninth-round stoppage of Luis Concepcion.

In the boxing challenge, I scored five points to Ramon Malpica's four and moved my lead to 154-136.

Boxing Challenge: Povetkin Pulverizes! Smith Shocks! PBC ZZZZZZ

Two surprises on a big boxing Saturday, one surprise was the winner and how it happened and the other occurred with the dominance of the victory during a bout that was expected to be even entering the fight.

We start outside London at the palatial home of Mr.Eddie Hearn with a minor heavyweight title on the line, but more importantly, the top heavyweight in the world, not named Fury or Joshua, facing a top-level opponent and his chance to face Fury at risk.

Dillian Whyte had been admired for his willingness to face any top opponent during his rise to the near-top of the division and for four rounds against former WBA champion and long-time contender Alexander Povetkin, Whyte looked every bit the part of a dangerous threat to either WBC champion Tyson Fury or the holder of all three of the other titles and the last person to defeat Whyte in Anthony Joshua.
Whyte knocked Povetkin down twice in the fourth round and looked to have Povetkin stung in the fifth round before he dropped his hands slightly as they exchanged punches at close quarters and Povetkin uncorked a short left uppercut that dropped Whyte onto his back along the ropes with the referee immediately signaling an end to the fight.
Whyte exercised his rematch clause after the fight, so the two will square off in the fall or winter 2021 and I'd suspect that Whyte will be favored after dominating all but one second in the first fight, but Povetkin has the puncher's chance to repeat.
Povetkin's career has shown that he has been unable to defeat the "super heavyweights" losing to Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko but defeating everyone else that is closer to his size.
And while this win at 40 years old won't help him against the much larger Joshua and Tyson Fury, it will enable him to continue to get fights for quite some time and Povetkin will always have a chance to pull a win from the flames.

Top Rank and ESPN+ took over in the evening with a card from their Las Vegas "bubble" with the main event that looked very even with former WBO light heavyweight champion Eleider Alvarez matched against Joe Smith in a semi-final to crown a new WBO champion after Canelo Alvarez vacated that championship.
It looked to be a very tight fight with Alvarez expected to box against the rock-fisted Smith, who hasn't always thrown enough punches in his defeats to Sullivan Barrera and Dmitry Bivol.
Instead, Smith threw lots of punches, won every round on my card by refusing to allow Alvarez to keep away from his attack, and then ended the fight with an impressive right and left that sent Alvarez to the apron and despite a nice effort to reach his feet, Alvarez was counted out.
For Smith, the win showed a new dimension for the second-hardest puncher in the light heavyweight division (after Artur Beterbiev) and he'll be a strong favorite in the finals against the winner of the Maxim Vlasov-Umar Salamov semi in the finals.
As for Alvarez, "The Storm" may have found his level as a top ten fighter, but below the top five and after two losses in a row, Alvarez might be a fighter in decline.

Rob Brant dominated Vitaly Kopylenko, imposed an impressive mouse under the left eye of Kopylenko, and forced Kopylenko to inform referee Jay Nady that his vision was handicapped and that he would not be able to continue after the end of the fifth round.
For Brant, it was an impressive win, but considering Kopylenko's limited skills and style, Brant's speed overwhelmed him in the victory but did little to prove that anything would be different in the contracted third fight against Japan's Ryota Murata.
Brant upset Murata by decision in their first fight in October 2018 but lost the rematch by second-round knockout in July 2019.

And then there's PBC- I always imagine Bea Arthur opening the door with "Then there's Maude" when I write that phrase as it seems I do often when writing about PBC, with another weak card, this one from Los Angeles as former welterweight champion Shawn Porter won every round over Germany's Sebastian Formella on every card in winning a unanimous decision and winning a minor title as well as the mandatory spot for Errol Spence's WBC title.
One couldn't quibble with Porter's performance other than maybe not scoring a knockout over an opponent that was easily below his level, but Porter never became lazy or clownish as he continued to move forward all night.
Give some credit to Formella, who was trying all evening and didn't fight merely to survive, but he was out of his league and should not have been in a title eliminator, against a fighter of the caliber of Shawn Porter, and in the main event on national network television.
Just think both Fox cards coming up have similar main events as well.
Ugh.

The co-feature saw the world's tallest junior middleweight in 6'6  Sebastian Fundora, who stopped veteran Nathaniel Gallimore in six rounds.
Gallimore, who owns a victory over WBA and IBF champion Jeison Rosario, has basically been a gatekeeper type for the PBC-dominated division and usually shows a good chin along with making a decent fight, but against the lanky Fundora, he was unable to get any offense going at all.
Fundora, who can look heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in the eye, is going to give junior middleweights a unique look that no other fighter can prepare for, but he isn't a typical jab and dance man from the outside.
Fundora might be best served to do that from the outside against the best of the division, but against fighters such as Gallimore, Fundora has been able to stand on the inside and attack effectively.
I had Fundora ahead after five rounds, 49-45, and I would be interested to see Fundora's next step up in competition.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica gained some ground on me with five points to my three with Ramon scoring an extra point for Rob Brant and Sebastian Fundora's stoppage wins.
The total is currently 94-86.

Boxing Challenge: Spence unifies over Porter

I haven't watched the full PBC card from Los Angeles, but the main event will definitely be in the running for the fight of the year and when you read/hear from the PBC about this being a classic, unlike so many of their others- this one was just that.

Errol Spence was a lopsided favorite to unify his IBF championship with that of the WBC title with a victory over Shaun Porter and Spence came through with a victory to do so, but the unexpected difficulty and the resulting terrific battle was a surprise to almost everyone.
Spence's split decision victory was the proper one and give Spence plenty of credit for battling through what proved to be the sternest test of his career from Porter, but I do wonder if Spence couldn't have made this fight easier with just a few changes.
I suppose the question that perhaps eventually answered is this one- Was this a great fight because Shawn Porter forced Errol Spence to fight his fight or did Errol Spence make a tactical decision to do so, therefore allowing Porter to have his best chance to win, but gave fans a far more exciting fight than expected?
I had the fight dead even through ten rounds and the eleventh was even until Spence's counter left on the chin of the charging Porter scored a knockdown, which essentially gave Spence the fight on my card and I had Spence winning round twelve as well in a round that featured many furious exchanges between the two combatants.

It was a terrific fight and I was only disappointed by one point after the bout.
We might be farther away from Terence Crawford against Errol Spence than ever before.
Spence had stated entering the fight that he would fight Crawford, but his desired fight against WBA champion Manny Pacquiao would come first.
After the fight, Spence seemed to indicate that should Pacquiao choose another foe rather than Spence for his next fight, he would face Danny Garcia in a fight that I cannot imagine many being excited about.
When you consider that few of the PBC's top fighters fight more than twice a year, should Spence face Danny Garcia next, you would think that his other fight would be against Pacquiao should Manny take that fight or after the unexpectedly difficult fight against Porter, a rematch could be slotted as the other fight for Spence in 2020 and push Crawford to early 2021 at its earliest.
Only in boxing can fans eventually lose by watching a great fight.

David Benavidez won the WBC super-middleweight title that he never lost in the ring over Anthony Dirrell when the fight was stopped from Dirrell's corner as Benavidez pounded Dirrell in the ninth round.
I had Benavidez well ahead (79-73) when the fight was stopped and Benavidez badly cut Dirrell in the sixth round which led to Benavidez stepping the pace in dominating the seventh and eighth rounds before the final ninth.
I have been critical of Team Dirrell in the past in various fights, but give credit in this one as Dirrell could have chucked it in several times and instead battled on.
Still, I would have stopped the fight after the eighth and saved Dirrell from the pounding that he took in the ninth.
David Benavidez fights like a heavyweight as his style is a physical, walk the opponent down and pound on them until they surrender style and he's the biggest guy in the division physically, so he's going to be a tough out for anyone, but while I like Benavidez a lot, he's going to have problems against guys that move and the biggest fight at his weight with PBC is with IBF champ Caleb Plant, who uses just the kind of movement that could give Benavidez concerns.
Still, Plant is not a big hitter and unless he can box all night against the pressure of Benavidez, Benavidez will have more than an even chance for wearing Plant down in that potential bout, although I'm not betting on that fight happening anytime soon as Plant hasn't seemed interested in fighting decent opponents other than his title-winning match against Jose Uzcategui.

I haven't been able to see the two opening bouts, but the reports on Mario Barrios unanimous decision win over Batyr Akhmedov are approaching Hamburglar level robbery.
Barrios scored two flash knockdowns, but I've read that his face was badly lumped and from one observer commented that Barrios took the type of punishment in "winning" that you never recover from and despite still being undefeated and now holding a minor junior welterweight title, Barrios could be damaged goods, while Akhmedov, despite being dropped twice, seems to have won quite a few fans in his loss.

Editors Note: While Akhmedov generally kicked the hell out of Barrios from round five through the end of the fight, I wouldn't say that the win for Barrios was a robbery as many have written.
Here's why- I gave Barrios the first four rounds with the fourth at 10-8 with a flash knockdown, Akhmedov won the next seven rounds easily and was winning the final round before another flash knockdown.
Because Barrios was losing the round before the knockdown, I scored Barrios as winning the final round, but only by 10-9.
In rounds, Akhmedov wins on my card 7-5 and loses the point for the fourth round knockdown.so that results in a 114-113 card for Akhmedov, who dealt out vast amounts of punishment to Barrios, yet the two flash knockdowns made the fight closer on the cards than the action in the ring actually was and therefore not a robbery, although, in my opinion, the wrong guy won.

In the opener, veteran Josesito Lopez stopped even older veteran John Molina in the eighth round in a welterweight fight that will hopefully see Molina step away from the stage.
Lopez knocked Molina down twice in the first round with Molina barely surviving the initial round before Lopez dropped Molina again in the seventh before finishing him off in the eighth.
Most scorecards had Lopez winning every round, so Lopez will likely fight on in the PBC ( I wouldn't be stunned to see a rematch with Keith Thurman when Thurman returns from his latest injury hiatus).
As for Molina, the time is right for him to collect his gold watch and step aside before he gets hurt.

Friday afternoon from London, talented heavyweight Daniel DuBois knocked Ebenezer Tetteh down twice in the first round and finished him off then and there.
Tetteh was hardly a test for DuBois, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the competition improve for DuBois, who only needs to prove a sturdy chin to be of title timber as I think his skills are of that level.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me seven to six to cut my lead to 231-202.
We both scored two points from David Benavidez and Daniel Dubois and one from Errol Spence, but Ramon scored two from Mario Barrios and I scored one from Josesito Lopez. 

Boxing Challenge: Porter squeaks by Ugas

The Boxing Challenge weekend saw three champions successfully defend their titles, albeit with various controversies from two states and platforms.

From Carson, California at the don't call it StubHub Center, Shawn Porter squeezed by mandatory contender Yordenis Ugas by split decision to keep his WBC welterweight championship and hopes of bigger fights to come in the future alive.
Porter is known for his hard-driving, punishing style that wears fighters down as a strong fullback does in football and yet against Ugas, a taller, lankier fighter that uses range well, Porter decided to box from the outside, gave Ugas the best chance for the former Olympic bronze medalist to win and as noted, barely won on the scorecards.
I scored the fight even at 114-114, but sometimes a fight can be even on the cards and have the "feel" of one guy "winning" such as when I scored Usyk-Breidis last year even at 114 but noted that the same "feel" going the way of Usyk.
Using that "feel", I can see where observers can look at Ugas as the "winner", but in no way was this a robbery (hence the no Hamburglar picture) and their styles didn't really mesh together to make this a fight that was filled with exchanges that made a rematch palatable for anyone, at least right away.
The biggest question to me was this one-Did Porter fight differently because that was the gameplan or did he feel weaker with the near-miss on the scales and felt physically weaker?

In the other bout from Carson, undefeated heavyweight hitter Efe Ajagba ripped through aging Amir Mansour when the corner stopped the fight for Mansour after two rounds.
Ajagba scored two knockdowns in the first and pounded Mansour in the second causing the early ending.
Mansour tried to fight back, but Ajagba was too young and too big as he impressively passed his first test.

Moving to DAZN from Verona New York, the title bouts were very one-sided with the challengers combining to win two rounds on my cards with almost identical scores.
Dmitri Bivol won eleven out of twelve rounds and with the exception of appearing to be somewhat stung at the end of the eleventh round by Joe Smith, won about everything you could win in a fight to retain his WBA light heavyweight championship.
Bivol didn't knock down the rugged Smith but used his impressive boxing skills to dominate and control him otherwise in winning 119-109 on my scorecard.

My scorecard read 119-108 for Maurice Hooker in a unanimous decision win over Mikkel LesPierre, who took a licking in lasting the distance.
LesPierre showed grit in making the count after being crunched to the liver in a ninth-round knockdown but was not very competitive in the loss.
Hooker took four attempts to make the weight and by that could be well suited to consider a move to welterweight, but almost the top talent in that division resides with either PBC or Top Rank and Hooker should stay where he is to stay at 140 pounds.

Light heavyweight Callum Johnson might not have the skills of the top light heavyweights as he showed in being knocked out in his challenge to IBF champion Artur Beterbiev last year.
Johnson also showed in knocking Beterbiev down that he has serious power and if he lands, he can hurt even the top fighters in the division.
Seanie Monaghan is a limited fighter that is overmatched at the world-class level that can be very entertaining when matched properly.
Johnson is clearly a full step above Monaghan as he busted up Monaghan's face in the first round, dropped him twice in the second round with the bell saving from a likely stoppage and then finished him with booming punches seconds into the third.
Johnson has a punchers chance against anyone in the division, while Monaghan's level seems to be at the clubfighter watermark.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 9-7 with the two point difference being the decision wins by Dmitri Bivol and Maurice Hooker.
I regain the lead in the challengeat 50-49

Boxing Challenge: Porter decisions Garcia.

The boxing weekend saw another strange weekend all around, but let's start with Showtime's three-bout card that had the vacant WBC welterweight title on their marquee' as their main event with two former champions in Shawn Porter (IBF) and Danny Garcia (WBC) attempting to fill the title stripped from Keith "No Time" Thurman for inactivity.

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.

Boxing Challenge:The Rest of the Weekend

I only wanted to cover the Wilder-Stiverne fight as I had some things to write about the heavyweight division, so now it's time to catch up on the rest of the boxing weekend.

Dmitry Bivol continues to show promise as the next boss at light heavyweight with a one round destruction of Trent Broadhurst to retain his WBA title.
Bivol didn't figure to be tested by Broadhurst and he wasn't, but Bivol figures to have a sterner bout in his next defense against Sullivan Barrera.

Also on the Bivol card in Monte Carlo:
Just as the Jamie McDonnell-Librado Solis rematch started to heat up, a clash of heads caused the fight to stopped in the third with a massive cut over McDonnell's eye.
Not sure if there will be a third fight, but there was nothing resolved after the controversial decision won by McDonnell in their bout.

Scott Quigg won every round on my card before the referee stepped in round six in a WBA eliminator over Oleg Yefimovich,
Quigg will be the mandatory contender to the winner of next year's Leo Santa Cruz-Abner Mares fight.

Undefeated heavyweight Agit Kabayel won a majority decision over veteran fringe contender Dereck Chisora.
I had Kabayel a 117-111 winner, but the official cards were far closer at 114-114 on one card and 115-113 on the other two for Kabayel.
Chisora might have lost a lucrative shot at Dillion Whyte rematch with the loss, while Kabayel might be able to move to the next level of the Euro contenders...

On the undercard of Wilder-Stiverne.
Shawn Porter won a unanimous decision over Adrian Granados with all three judges agreeing with my card of 117-111.
Granados was game in defeat, but being a natural 140 pounder rising in weight for the fight, he was just too small to handle the larger Porter, who retained his top contender status.

Sergey Lipinets won a more difficult than expected unanimous decision over Akihiro Kondo to win the vacant IBF junior welterweight title.
Kondo was better than advertised, but Lipinets earned a 115-113 nod on my card.
Lipinets may face Adrien Broner next in the latest of "last chances" for Broner.

In a WBC heavyweight eliminator, Dominic Breazeale stopped Eric Molina in the eighth round.
Originally, this was scheduled to determine the number one contender for Deontay Wilder, but this might be an eliminator to fight for the top spot in their next fight after lots of criticism from the boxing media.
Breazeale has had out of the ring issues with Wilder and might get the shot in Wilder's next optional defense.
This fight was not televised, so no scoring on this.

In the boxing challenge, I scored ten points to Ramon Malpica's nine on the weekend.
The difference was Agit Kabayel's win over Dereck Chisora as I picked Kabayel for a point while Ramon tabbed Chisora as the winner.
My ten came from two points from wins from Porter, Breazeale, and Bivol with one pointers from Lipinets, Quigg, Wilder, and Kabayel.

Ramon's nine came from two pointers from Breazeale, Bivol, and Lipinets with one pointers from Wilder, Quigg and Porter.
The challenge is at 169-151

Boxing Challenge-Thurman rallies past Porter,Joshua stops Breazeale

The boxing challenge saw R.L. Malpica and I each score three points over the weekend and make the total for the year 76-63.

The PBC made its debut on CBS and I thought it was a pretty strong one as Keith Thurman rallied late in the fight to earn a unanimous decision over Shawn Porter to retain his WBA welterweight title.

All three judges scored Thurman a 115-113 winner, which was identical to my score, in which Thurman won the final three rounds to earn the win on the TRS card.
Porter cut Thurman above the eye and then slowed in his attack and allowed Thurman to get back into the fight.
The bout was pretty action-friendly and I wouldn't be against an eventual rematch, but I'd like to see each man take another fight or two before a rematch.
I'd love to see Thurman unify vs WBC champ Danny Garcia (Both being with PBC, this should be easy enough to make) and Porter could have a mandated rematch if he could beat David Avenasayan and that to me looks like an excellent network-level card.
Thurman's win was less than popular with the live crowd and I have a theory on that.
Keith Thurman gives a lot of answers that appear programmed and some fans have a negative opinion of Thurman because of that.
He comes across as a bit plastic and when he wins a close fight, there is some blowback-Just a theory.

I was very impressed with junior middleweight Jarrett Hurd, who stopped Oscar Molina in the tenth to open the CBS card.
Hurd lost only one round on my card and set the tone in the first as he dropped Molina with an uppercut.
The stoppage seemed a bit premature for my taste, but Molina wasn't winning this bout anyway, so I wouldn't feel too bad about the end of the bout.
Hurd looks to be a promising prospect and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.

On Showtime-Anthony Joshua defended his IBF heavyweight title for the first time with a seventh-round knockout of a gutsy Dominic Breazeale.
Joshua hurt Breazeale in the second, but couldn't finish him off until the seventh, when he dropped the American twice before the end of the bout.
Breazeale was more competitive than I thought. but I had Joshua winning every round.
Joshua has the talented Joseph Parker of New Zealand as a mandatory contender, but it's unknown if Joshua will have an optional defense before a Parker bout.

The co-feature was not televised in the US, but was on the boxing challenge as George Groves defeated Martin Murray by unanimous decision to win the Yaqui Lopez award for most title shots without a win (just kidding), but more importantly, earn another title shot against one of the WBA champs at 168 as the WBA still is trying to clean their mess of multiple champions in each division up.
Reports were that it was a fun fight to watch, but I was unable to watch as of this writing...

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....

Spike's Premiere of PBC,Berto stops Lopez

Photo Credit-PBC

Spike's debut with the PBC was a mixed bag and we'll look at what I liked and disliked about the show shortly,but first the fights and the boxing challenge results.

In the main event that should have been hyped as "loser leaves boxing" Andre Berto knocked Josesito Lopez down twice in the sixth round and finished the show when the referee stopped the bout.
I thought the stoppage was a bit premature and had Lopez winning four of the first five rounds.
The win will likely keep Berto on the periphery of title contention,but I have a feeling that Berto might be overmatched against the best of the division.
In the better than expected co-feature,former IBF 147 pound champion Shawn Porter stopped Erick Bone in the fifth round.
The last minute replacement Bone fought hard and kept things competitive for four rounds until a body shot stunned Bone in the fifth.
Not sure what this proved for Porter on the rebound against a smaller,outgunned opponent,but Bone did try hard in a very difficult situation,

The boxing challenge saw me gain a point and snip the lead of R.L.Malpica to one point at 23-22.
We both earned four points for the Berto and Porter wins and knockouts.but I snared a bonus point for picking Porter's round correctly in the fifth.
The challenge continues tonight with two (maybe three) bouts on HBO...

We move on to the Spike production of their first card for Premiere Boxing Champions and a a few words on that.
When I saw the names involved with the Spike cards,I must admit to rolling my eyes a bit.
Dana Jacobson,who I had never been a fan of going back years to her days on the ill-fated Cold Pizza on ESPN, as host?
Scott Hanson from NFL Red Zone as the blow by blow man?
I admit to thinking,where is their boxing background? Are they fans or is this another example of television networks thinking anyone can cover boxing without even a minimal background?
Well,both were at least well-prepared for this one.
Hanson needs more experience on blow by blow and there was an occasional hiccup,but for a first try,he was more than acceptable,but the real surprise came with Jacobson.
I'm big enough (literally) to admit when I was wrong and I was on this night.
I had been very critical of Dana Jacobson in her ESPN days,but she was prepared,knew her stuff,didn't stumble over name pronunciation  (like happened all night on NBC's PBC telecast) and came across as classy and yes,even charming in her role as host.
Jacobson walked Thomas Hearns through their discussions with kindness and care and for that, I am grateful.
You see the "Hitman" is one of my favorite fighters ever,but the long career and punches taken have left the "Motor City Cobra" more than a bit hard to understand and his thoughts can sometime wander off point.
Dana Jacobson got the needed perspective out of Hearns and did it in a way that allowed Hearns to have his dignity.
Very well done and I'm glad to say I was wrong about Jacobson being the wrong hire for the position.

Not all was smooth though as I still had a few issues.

After two PBC shows,I'm still not a fan of the ring announcer.
I'm not a fan of him being outside the ring and he doesn't really build drama either..

I know Spike is trying to brand their Friday nights as a combat sports block with Boxing,kick-boxing and MMA,but it seemed like PBC's broadcast was more MMA than boxing.
The arena seemed more like a large television studio than a live venue and it didn't standout from the other Spike sports.

The sound was really off.
It was often hard to hear the announcers and in ring interviews and that needs to be addressed before the next show..

I think PBC made an error by keeping Spike's MMA commentator Jimmy Smith with this venture.
Not that Smith is bad,but I think Antonio Tarver is quite good and Smith's (or anyone else's) presence reduces Tarver's analysis time.
Considering that Scott Hanson will be learning on the fly,Spike might be better suited to go with a basic two man booth for now.
Smith may be a boxing fan (I don't know),but he clearly is more suited for MMA.

I give this a solid B+ with the surprises and in simple presentation,I liked Spike's performance better than I liked NBC's.
Sometimes bigger names does not mean better performance

Boxing Challenge: Brook upsets Porter

England's Kell Brook upset Shawn Porter to take Porter's IBF Welterweight title via majority decision in Carson, California.
Brook used a superior jab and a surprisingly strong inside game to clearly outpoint Porter (at least on my card, which was 117-111) over the 12 round distance.

It is easy to say this now that Porter has lost and especially since I picked him to win by KO, but watching the fight, one thing became clear-Porter's power is overrated against fighters that can punch hard enough to earn his respect.

Porter's recent wins over Devon Alexander and Paulie Malignaggi both followed the blueprint, fighters that couldn't hurt Porter or match his punch output.
Brook didn't follow the script and kept Porter off balance and outside the pocket, which resulted in a puzzled Porter...
Brook will likely look for a lucrative title defense against Amir Khan, likely in the UK, which would be a huge draw there.

R.L.and I each earned zero points for the Brook win, but we would both earn a point from Omar Figueroa's knockout win over Daniel Estrada in round nine to keep his WBC 135 pound belt, just when things were looking bleak.
A busted-up and cut Figueroa came out for round nine with his corner wanting to stop the bout, figuring that their fighter was ahead on the cards.
It turned out that he was, even though the fight was even on my card, and Figueroa dropped and then finished Estrada to end an exciting scrap.
Both R.L. and I picked Figueroa by decision,so we each earned a point.
Figueroa is expected to vacate his title and move to the talent-rich Jr.Welterweight division after his big win...

R.L earned two points to my one as Anthony Dirrell lifted Sakio Bika's WBC Super Middleweight title via unanimous decision.
R.L picked Dirrell by a unanimous nod, while I preferred Dirrell via split nod.
I had Dirrell winning 117-110, but if not for a point deduction, the fight would be a majority win as one card had Dirrell winning by a point.
It was a rematch of a draw between the two and followed a similar style of sloppy and dirty action from the first bout.
Dirrell clearly won, but his antics and acting over various fouls brought to mind his older brother Andre's routine in his bouts...

The Boxing Challenge now shows R.L. with a 59-56 lead over yours truly...