Porter triumphs over Garcia to win WBC welterweight title
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 09 Sep 2018
Brooklyn - Shawn Porter edged out Danny Garcia in a stirring championship contest at welterweight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Porter accumulated scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 to win by Unanimous Decision to defeat Garcia and snagged the vacant WBC (World Boxing Council) belt.
After a slow and losing start, the former IBF (International Boxing Federation) welterweight champ upped his game in the 4th round and pressured Garcia who was successful with his trademark left hook counters in the first three rounds.
Porter, 30, of Akron,Ohio, stayed low to avoid those counters. He doubled his jabs, went to the body and then scored upstairs on a puzzled Garcia.
The fight was close as Garcia?s heavy hands were always a threat to the forward-moving Porter. The former WBC welterweight champ from Philadelphia was landing heavy in between his opponent?s onslaught.
But as the fight moved on, Garcia grew frustrated of Porter?s wily movements and annoying pressure and he was unable to find an answer except for some occasional hooks that did nothing to derail Porter.
?The game plan for me was to be accurate from the outside and show we could beat him without roughing him up on the ropes,? said Porter who landed a total of 180 punches to Garcia?s 168.
?This title means a lot to me. It meant a lot to boxing and I wanted to be a part of that.?
Garcia suffered the second loss of his career - both in championship fights at 147. He explained that he was busy defending himself against Porter?s attacks and that halted his output.
?He was throwing a lot. I had my defense tight so it wasn?t effective. I thought I landed the clearer shots. I thought I won this fight,? said the defeated fighter who only landed 29 jabs versus Porter?s 46.
Garcia was unable to back his pre-fight prediction of a stoppage under nine rounds and it was Porter who turned out to be the accurate forecaster despite his hesitancy to do so.
?I tell people all the time I don?t make predictions. I made a prediction and a hard one to live up to. I said I wasn?t leaving New York without this belt and I?m not leaving New York without this belt.?
Shawn Porter was on the button.
Kownacki decisions Martin in a brawl
Heavyweights Adam Kownacki and Charles Martin opened the live television event with an exciting ten round brawl.
Kownacki edged Martin with a Unanimous Decision score of 96-94 in all three of the judges? scorecards.
The Polish-American fighter started strong and poured heavy punches on the one time heavyweight champion. Martin, who held the International Boxing Federation heavyweight belt briefly, was sluggish in the early rounds but held fort and never went down under pressure. He fared well in the closing rounds but that was never enough to overcome Kownacki?s early lead.
Kownacki improved to 18-0 (14 KOs) while Martin dropped to 25-2 (23 KOs)
Ugas defeats Barrionuevo in a snoozer.
After the well-received bout between Kownacki and Martin, fans at the venue heckled and booed the 12 round
World Boxing Council welterweight eliminator between Yordenis Ugas (23-3, 11 KOs) and Cesar Barrionuevo (34-4-2, 24 KOs).
Ugas and Barrionuevo failed to sustain the excitement of the previous bout and fans went grew restless and impatient during the title eliminator.
Both fighters showcased no meaningful action for the crowd to appreciate the fight and Barrionuevo presenter no danger against Ugas who won with lopsided scores of 119-109, 120-108, 120-108 for the right to fight the winner of tonight?s main event as per the WBC?s rules.
You can reach the author at rrmaze24@aol.com and @Freemazon910 on Twitter.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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