PORTER WINS IBF WELTERWEIGHT TITLE, BUT TAPIA LOSES IN 6TH ROUND TKO
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 08 Dec 2013
Porter.
It was a mixed day for former sparring partners of ?Fighter of the Decade? Manny Pacquiao with undefeated Shawn ?Showtime? Porter winning the IBF welterweight title from Devon Alexander at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and previously unbeaten Glen Tapia suffered a 6th round TKO at the hands of tough James Kirkland in a junior middleweight clash at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
In a fight that was marred by excessive grappling, Porter connected with some solid punches more often to score a unanimous twelve round decision with two judges scoring it 116-112 and the third judge 115-113.
Boxing Scene said Porter rocked Alexander in round three but after referee Harvey Dock warned both fighters for holding, Porter staggered Alexander twice more to finish a big round.
A fierce exchange in round four saw Alexander bloodied around the right eye but the champion fought back in the next two rounds.
After referee Dock halted the fight to have the doctor check a cut over Porter?s right eye, and after being cleared to continue, Porter ripped into Alexander forcing the champion to engage in a slugfest.
With the win, Porter kept his unbeaten record and improved to 23-0-1 with 14 knockouts while Alexander dropped to 25-2 with 14 knockouts.
Over in Atlantic City James Kirkland (32-1, 28KOs) came back from a long layoff to stop previously undefeated Glen Tapia (20-1, 12KOs) in six rounds.
Tapia had promised to entertain the fans with an aggressive performance and although there were fireworks from the start it was Tapia who was stunned and taking a beating in round two.
Tapia and Kirkland stunned each other with some big shots in round three with Tapia starting to bleed from his nose and mouth and began to fade in the next two rounds and although the ?Jersey Boy? connected with some solid punches. The experienced Kirkland withstood the aggression and kept fighting back. Both fighters eyes were beginning to swell at the end of the round.
The ring doctor was on the verge of stopping the fight in round five with Tapia taking a bad beating and when Kirkland continued to hammer Tapia on the ropes the referee called a halt.
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