The Saturday night title defense fight for the WBC Welterweight title was won by Shawn Porter over Yordenis Ugas in California. Porter won the fight by splits decision.
Porter, the WBC champ had been hampered in the fight by a large cut over his right eye in the final round as he fell to the canvas. However, referee Jack Reiss came to his aid and called it a slip and the American was able to keep his belt with scores of 116-112 and 115-113 with the third judge giving out the score of 117-111 in Cuban’s favor.
In a close fight, Porter had to wait patiently as he looked for openings while trading jabs and right hands with Ugas.
In the fifth round, both fighters suddenly got energized as they exchanged heavy punches at close range. However, Porter’s pace dropped in the sixth after Yugas managed to keep him at bay with his busy jabs.
After Porter got an ugly cut over his right eye, he became more aggressive than before and landed a left bog hook in the 11th round. Yugas who was assured of a knockdown victory was standing in disbelief after the scorecards announced his loss.
Ugas said, “There is no doubt that I was robbed tonight of my win. After the first round, I pretty much figured Porter out and dominated the fight. In my opinion, he had no answer for me pushing him back as I dominated the fight.”
As for Porter, he says that he deserves this verdict as he now remains on course for the unification fights with WBA king Keith Thurman, IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. and WBO titleholder Terence Crawford.
Porter said to media after his scary win, “we got the win as expected and we are still the champions. Now we are looking forward as to what the future holds for us.”
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