At the Dignity Health Sports Park, in Los Angelos, CA, Saturday over USA Fox presents PBC Brookly Boxing and Tom Brown’s TGB Promotions presented a WBC World Welterweight title bout.
In the Main Event WBC World Welterweight Champion Shawn “Showtime” Porter, 30-2-1 (17), of Las Vegas, NV, defended his title winning a split decision over the No. 6 ranked Cuban Yordenis Ugas, 23-4 (11), out of Miami, FL, over 12 rounds.
In the first round Ugas presses the fight while Porter moves around being the quicker of the two. He had to lose 2 pounds at the weigh-in. Ugas out of character started backing up before once again coming forward. Porter has too much speed for him.
Ugas hit Porter with a solid right on the chin. Ugas is having problems with the movement and hand speed of Porter. The temp is in the 50’s outdoors in CA which must have an effect on the boxers.
In the third round both fighters are missing with haymakers. Ugas is bleeding from the mouth from the quick landing hands from Porter. There is a lot of faking and Ugas is not throwing enough punches. In the fourth round Ugas being frustrated started showboating briefly wanting Porter to come inside.
In the fifth and sixth rounds Porter keeps using feinting and hand speed frustrating Ugas. In the seventh round Ugas landed a lead right on the chin. Porter dances around setting Ugas up for counter shots. In the eighth round Ugas misses more than landed with the allusive Porter. He landed one right in the round on the chin but Porter is in and out then coming inside with his hand speed landing.
In the ninth round Porter is bouncing around going in and out landing punches with Ugas shaking his head and hands. Porter continues to out land a frustrated Ugas. In the tenth round Porter landed a double left hook to the chin. Porter landed an overhand lead right to the head. Unentional blash of heads causes a small cut over his right eye of Porter.
In the eleventh round Ugas being frustrated threw Porter to the canvas. Ugas landed a right to the head causing Porter to grab him. Porter walked into a right hand from Ugas on the chin. Porter hit Ugas with a jab staggering Ugas at the bell.
In the twelfth and final round Ugas landed a punch on the shoulder of Porter who went down as referee Jack Reiss called it a slip. Ugas landed a right trying to get a knockout. Ugas misses his final two punches as the bell ended the bout.
Scores were 116-112 Porter, 117-111 Ugas and 115-113 and still champion Porter. This writer had it 120-108 not listening to the tv commentators.
In the Co-feature welterweight Francisco “Chia” Santana, 25-7-1 (12), of Santa Barbara, CA, lost to Abel Ramos, 24-3-2 (18), of Casa Grunde, AZ, over 10 rounds.
In the first round Ramos used his jab against the pressingSantana. Through the first half of the round Santana barely landed a punch. Ramos landed a double left hook to the head. Santana landed several body shots backing Ramos into a neutral corner.
In the second round Santana landed a flurry of punches. Ramos used his jab with an occasional right and left hook to the body. Ramos landed a lead right to the side of the head. Santana landed a counter left hook on the chin dropping Ramos.
In the third round Ramos came out using an effective jab. Santana landed a flurry of punches putting Ramos against the ropes. Ramos landed a lead right to the chin. Santana landed a right and left to the body and head. Ramos landed the final punch a left hook to the chin.
In the fourth round Santana continues to press Ramos who is countering him. Ramos backed into the ropes and Santana landed a good right uppercut to the chin. In the fifth round Ramos was able to counter with more punches in the round than previously.
In the fifth round Ramos kept Santana from coming inside with a good jab. Santana drew blood from the nose of Ramos with a combination. Ramos landed several border line body shots. Santana landed a combination having Ramos against the ropes.
In the sixth round Santana presses Ramos against the ropes with a flurry of punches. He gets the better of the two inside. Ramos hurt Ramos with a right uppercut hurting Santana to hold until the bell saved him. In the seventh round Ramos became the aggressor with Santana his hands high backing up with little offense.
In the ninth round Santana is back coming forward. Ramos is not holding off Santana this round with his jab. In the tenth and final round of a close fight Santana was coming forward again trying to keep Ramos against the ropes where he cannot use his reach. Ramos is countering well in the second half of the round. Santana is walking into punches from Ramos.
Scores 95-94, 97-92 and 98-92 while this writer had it 95-94.
Bantamweight southpaw Damien “Sugar” Vazquez, 14-1 (7), of Las Vegas, NV, suffered his first loss to former WBA Bantam champ Dominican southpaw Juan Carlos “The Machine” Payano, 21-2 (9), of Miami, FL, over 8 rounds.
In the first round Payano being held landed a half dozen body shots. Payano is much stronger than the young Vazquez. In the second round Vazquez came back throwing some power punches of his own landing more. In the third round Payano may have hurt his left hand in the previous round. Both fighters landed well against one another with combinations in mixing it up.
In the fourth round a accidental clash of heads caused a cut under the right tye of Payano which bothered him during a close round that Vazquez seemed to pull out. In the fifth round Vazquez wa warned several time for holding. Now Payano was cut under the left eye. Both fighters mostly fought inside with Payano getting the edge.
In the sixth round Payano landed a left to the chin hurting Vazquez who kept holding. Payano landed a right hook to the chin with a little more than a minute left in the round wih Vazquez still hurt. In the seventh round Vazquez had been warned in the sixth round by the referee to start throwing more punches. Payano’s face is covered with blood but he is too strong for Vazquez.
In the eighth and final round both mixed it up well.
Scores were 79-73, and 80-71 twice. This writer had it 79-73.
Big Nigerian Heavyweight “The One and Only” Efe Ajagba, 9-0 (8), out of Stafford, TX, stopped southpaw Amir “Hardcore” Mansour, 23-4-1 (16), of Wilmington, DE, at the end of 2 rounds and 2 knockdowns.
In the first round Mansour did all the punching mostly jabs but got hit with a long right on the chin and suffered a delayed knockdown falling forward. He got up sighting back with a bloody nose until he got hit with a left and down again under the ropes. He beat the count with the bell saving him from more punishment. Giving away 4″ in height Mansour had problems getting inside.
In the second round Ajagba used his height. Mansour landed a short right hook on the chin. Ajagba was too powerful. The fight was wisely stopped between rounds with the 46 year-old Mansour having taken too much punishment.
“Ronnie Shields my trainer helped me to get ready to fight outside for the first time. I had to put pressure on him. I now will go back home (Nigeria) until my next fight,” said Ajagba.
Welterweight 2016 Olympian prospect Eimantas Stanionis, 8-0 (5), of Kaunas, Lithuania, defeating southpaw Samuel “El Macho” Figueroa, 11-2 (4), of Anasco, PR, over 8 rounds in an all-action fight.
In the first round both fighters let it all hang out with southpaw Figueroa working with combination and Stanionis landing right uppercuts.
In the second round Figueroa landed a left to the chin but got countered by a hard right from Stanionis that rocked him. Inside both fighters are head to head with Stanionis landing right uppercuts to the chin. Stanionis landed a double left hook to the body followed by a right to the chin.
In the third round Stanionis is landing the harder punches inside rocking Figueroa with a right uppercut Figueroa moves better landing half a dozen punches. Stanionis suffered an abrasion under the right eye. In the fourth round Figueroa landed a triple jab. Stanionis landed hard body shots with both hands finishing with a right uppercut knocking the head of Figueroa. Stanionis landed a triple left hook to the body and head.
In the fifth round Stanionis had Figueroa against the ropes landing a flurry of body and head shots. Figueroa’s hands are much faster landing triple jabs and a combination. In the sixth round Stanionis landed four power punches to the body and head. Figueroa used his footwork to outbox Stanionis but when he stands in front of Stanionis he gets in trouble.
In the seventh round Figueroa just can’t keep Stanionis off with his fast but much less powerful punches. In the eighth and final round Figueroa needed a knockout but doesn’t have the power to do it. He is an excellent boxer but with this opponent he’s far behind.
Scores were 80-72 by all 3 judges. This writer had it 78-74.