Shawn Porter Beats Julio Diaz, Badou Jack Draws With Periban in Vegas

LAS VEGAS-Shawn Porter won the rematch with Julio Diaz by unanimous decision in a fight that looked a lot closer than the scores indicated on Thursday.

Porter (22-0-1, 14 Kos) used his shorter stature to force Diaz (40-9-1, 29 Kos) to rely more on body shots before a large crowd at the MGM Grand Convention Center. The judges preferred his bull rushes to the Diaz body shots, giving Porter the win after 10 rounds in the welterweight fight. It was a rematch of their fight that took place last December in L.A. which ended in a draw.

Diaz caught Porter with a left hook to the open the fight. The smaller Porter did some good body work as both had their moments in the first round.

The shorter Porter kept a low profile and did not allow Diaz to connect too often with his vaunted left hook. Though a few landed, the perfect punch was never landed by Diaz and Porter landed his overhand rights repeatedly.

Neither fighter was ever in danger of going down.

After 10 rounds all three judges scored it for Porter 98-93, 97-93 twice. Porter wins a minor title.

Badou Jack & Marcos Periban

Las Vegas super middleweight Badou Jack (15-0-1, 10 Kos) and Mexico City’s Marco Periban (20-1-1, 13 Kos) fought to a majority draw after 10 brutal back and forth rounds. Jack seemed to start slow as Periban jumped to a lead, but soon the inaccuracy by the Mexican fighter began to slow him down as he tired a bit. Jack simply never fired enough punches until the last four rounds to begin his march. It was a little too late. One judge Jerry Roth saw it 96-94 for Periban and the other two judges scored it 95-95.

Other bouts

A battle between Houston junior middleweights saw Jermall Charlo (16-0, 12 Kos) stop Rogelio De La Torre (10-4, 6 Kos) in the seventh round. Charlo connected in almost every round but De La Torre’s chin withstood the abuse. The overhand right by Charlo was the damaging blow especially in the fifth and sixth round. Finally, an overhand right followed by a left hook and another right floored De La Torre. Referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight at 1:50 of the seventh round despite the protest of the fallen fighter.

Former U.S. Olympian Errol Spence Jr. (8-0, 7 Kos) had no problem with Mexico City’s Jesus Tavera (5-4), who posed no danger. A left hand body shot dropped Tavera, then a combination floored the Mexico City fighter again. Referee Russell Mora stopped the fight at 2:33 of the first round of the middleweight fight. Spence needs much stiffer competition.

It was only a pro debut but Diego “Golden Kid” De La Hoya (1-0) lit up the boxing ring with blazing fast combinations that resembled his uncle Oscar De La Hoya in winning by knockout. Puerto Rico’s Luis Cosme (8-4) had 12 pro fights while De La Hoya of Mexicali, Mexico was on his maiden voyage. After three rounds of sizzling combinations De La Hoya unleashed a 12-punch barrage that stopped Cosme at 1:53 of the third round. If De La Hoya has his uncle’s chin he could go very far. Like his uncle, he wasn’t fighting someone 0-3, debut or not. De La Hoya is a junior featherweight.

Akron’s Robert Easter (7-0, 7 K0s) wasted little time in knocking down Iowa’s Lance Williams (6-2, 6 Kos) three times in the first round and ultimately stopping him for good at 2:43 of the round. A left hook floored Williams and he continued. Then two more times he submitted to fiery combinations from Easter until referee Jay Nady stopped the lightweight fight.

A junior middleweight fight for a regional WBC title resulted in a no contest when Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (13-0-1) and Oxnard’s Hugo Centeno (19-0) clashed heads resulting in a bump and a cut alongside Centeno’s eye. The ringside physician gave Centeno a quick test to determine his vision and he obviously could not count the proper fingers. The fight was stopped at 59 seconds of round four and no winner was declared.