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The Hauser Report: Shawn Porter Ekes Out a Win Over Danny Garcia
Showtime televised a triple-header from Barclays Center on September 8 headlined by Shawn Porter versus Danny Garcia for the vacant WBC 147-pound title.
Showtime televised a triple-header from Barclays Center on September 8 headlined by Shawn Porter versus Danny Garcia for the vacant WBC 147-pound title. That belt became available when Keith Thurman, who narrowly decisioned both Porter (2016) and Garcia (2017), was forced to relinquish his title due to injury-induced inactivity.
Porter, who will turn 31 on October 7, had amassed a 28-2 (17 KOs) ring record in ten years as a pro. He won the IBF 147-pound belt in 2014 with a fourth-round knockout of Paulie Malignaggi, but lost it by majority decision to Kell Brook in his next outing. Since then, he had defeated Erick Bone, Adrien Broner, Andre Berto, and Adrian Granados but dropped a decision to Thurman.
Garcia (now 34-2 with 20 KOs) is seven months younger than Porter. He rose to prominence with an upset knockout of Amir Khan in 2012 that earned him the WBA and WBC 140-pound belts. One year later, he solidified his standing with a decision over Lucas Matthysse. His most formidable test came on March 3, 2017, when he lost a split decision to Thurman.
Porter and Garcia are trained by their fathers. But there’s a significant difference in the way that plays out. Kenneth Porter maintains a dignified public profile, while Angel Garcia often comes across as a boorish provocateur. Neither trainer was onstage for the July 30 kick-off press conference in New York or the final pre-fight press conference on September 6. In part, that was because the promotion wanted to avoid the type of racist homophobic rant that Angel has engaged in under similar circumstances in the past.
Initially, Kenneth Porter sought to emphasize the similarities between the fighters’ camps, noting, “All of us in the trenches in boxing come from the same place.” Pressed for more, he then said of Angel, “He has a kid that can fight. He’s a great fighter, but the father has never been on my radar. He never sat in on some of the courses that I took. He was never on the national teams I went up against or the international competitions. So that isn’t something that I’m concerned with.”
When asked about his relationship with Angel, Danny volunteered the tidbit, “Me and my dad go to strip clubs together. We throw money together.” Later, he added, “We’re not looking at it like your dad versus my dad. This is just Team Garcia versus his team. That’s how we always look at it.”
As for the fight itself, Shawn declared, “It will be action-packed and exciting. It always is when I fight.”
“I just feel like I’m the better fighter,” Danny countered. “And that’s it.”
There was an announced crowd of 13,058 at Barclays Center on fight night.
The first televised bout of the evening on Showtime was a heayweight match-up between Charles Martin (25-1, 23 KOs) and Adam Kownacki (17-0, 14 KOs).
Martin age 32, is on the short list of least impressive heavyweight beltholders ever. Two years ago, he fought Vyacheslav Glazkov for the vacant IBF title. Forty-eight seconds into round three, Martin stepped with his lead foot onto Glazkov’s lead foot and Vyacheslav went down awkwardly. Seconds later, as Glazkow was throwing a right to the body, he tumbled to the canvas and rose, limping bady. At that point, without a meaningful punch having been landed, the fight was stopped. A subsequent examination revealed that Glazkov’s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) had been torn clean through. Twelve weeks later, Martin fought Anthony Joshua in London for a wheelbarrow full of money and was knocked out in the second round. Other than Joshua, he has never fought a world-class opponent.
Kownacki, age 29, is a big, tough, often-out-of-shape fighter whose management has cherry-picked opponents from the list of usual suspects. He seems most comfortable in the ring when brawling. While he isn’t a big puncher, he takes a good punch. And the damage from his blows adds up. He wears down opponents over the course of a bout.
Kownacki weighed in to face Martin at 263-1/4 pounds, his most ever for a fight. Martin tipped the scales at 246. The 7-to-5 odds in Adam’s favor reflected the view that, while Martin might hit harder, Kownacki was mentally stronger and had the better chin.
It was a sloppy spirited action bout, entertaining and inartfully fought. Both men fought as though they didn’t know much about defense. Or if they did, they couldn’t put it into practice. Both fighters looked tired as early as round three, although Kownacki seemed ready to fight at the start of each stanza while Martin invariably looked as though he could use another thirty seconds of rest.
All three judges scored the contest 96-94 for Kownacki, which was a bit more generous to Martin that the action called for. Adam will now move toward a more lucrative fight while Martin slides further toward opponent status.
Kownacki-Martin was followed by a WBC welterweight “title elimination bout” between Yordenis Ugas and Cesar Barrionuevo. That encounter devolved into twelve rounds of boredom marked by jeers and boos from the crown and ended in a 120-108, 120-108, 119-109 decision for Ugas.
Then came Garcia-Porter.
Porter, a 3-to-2 underdog, looked sluggish in the early going. The swarming aggression that normally characterizes his ring style wasn’t there. One reason for that might have been effective counterpunching from Garcia, who also managed to hold and tie Shawn up whenever Porter got inside. The action heated up in the second half of the fight when Shawn began fighting with more intensity.
It was a hard bout to score with the judges in agreement on only four of twelve rounds (round 1 for Garcia; rounds 4,6, and 7 for Porter). That led to a 116-112, 115-113, 115-113 verdict in Porter’s favor. This writer scored the fight even at 114-114.
One gets the sense that Porter will use his victory over Garcia to press for a fight against an elite opponent; possibly Errol Spence. “When you have a belt, Shawn has said, “everything comes to you. This is what I do, and I love it.”
Photo credit: Tom Casino / SHOWTIME
Thomas Hauser can be reached by email at thauser@rcn.com. His next book – Protect Yourself at All Times – will be published by the University of Arkansas Press this autumn. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.
The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.
Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.
The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.
An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.
Moses Itauma
Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.
His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.
Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.
Bohachuk-Davis
In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.
Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.
Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.
Fisher-Allen
In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.
Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.
In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.
He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.
Other Bouts of Note
In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.
A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.
In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.
McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.
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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.
The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.
Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.
The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.
That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.
The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)
Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)
Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.
Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).
Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.
The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.
Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.
Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.
We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”
The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.
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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.
Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.
Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.
Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.
There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.
It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.
Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.
At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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