(Photo credit: Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions) By Allan Fox: Former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) was too busy for former three division world champion Adrien Broner (30-2, 22 KOs) tonight in defeating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in their fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final scores were 114-112, 115-111 and 118-108.
Apart from an 12th round knockdown that Broner scored with a left hook, it was a pretty one-sided fight with Porter just being way too busy for Broner, who was constantly holding, shoving and fouling. Referee Tony Weeks finally got tired of Broner’s holding in the 11th round and took off one point. You can make an argument that Weeks should have taken off additional points for holding, and one for Broner hitting Porter when he had his back turned towards him.
Broner fought reasonably well in the first five rounds, but he completely fell apart in the second half of the fight from the pressure that Porter was putting on him. It was nonstop pressure. The only thing Broner could do was grab Porter in a clinch each time he came forward. Porter did a good job of fighting through the clinches to land body and head shots.
Porter didn’t just give up when he was held like had last year when he fought Kell Brook, who held him constantly to stop him from throwing punches. This time, Porter kept working while being held and showed the judges and the referee that Broner was just trying to stall out the fight with his holding.
With Broner all over him with his grabbing and holding, Porter did a superb job of throwing body shots. It was clearly hard for Porter to get his shots off with Broner clinching nonstop, but he did a good job of still throwing whatever he could.
This loss for Broner is a crippling blow to his career. He’s already been beaten by Marcos Maidana in 2013, and now he’s got another loss on his resume. Broner was hoping to be the one to take over for Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he retires from boxing at the end of the year, but after this performance there’s tremendous doubt whether Broner will be that guy. Even if Broner were given a controversial victory tonight, he fought so poorly with his grabbing, shoving, and fouling. He just looked like a dirty fighter unable to fight hard enough to get the victory the clean way. It’s unclear why Broner didn’t stay in the trenches and trade with Porter in the 2nd half of the fight, because Broner’s running and holding undermined his efforts.
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