Errol Spence Jr vs Shawn Porter

Errol Spence Jr and Shawn Porter met at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on September 28, 2019, to unite the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council welterweight championships. Spence, the unbeaten IBF champion, entered with 25 victories, 21 by knockout, and was making the fourth defence of the title he had won from Kell Brook in Sheffield. Porter, a former IBF champion and the reigning WBC holder, brought a record of 30 wins, two defeats and one draw. Both men weighed 147 pounds. A crowd of 16,702 attended, with former champion Floyd Mayweather Jr among those at ringside, and Jack Reiss refereed the scheduled 12-round contest.

The opening round was cautious by the standards of what followed. Spence, boxing left-handed, held the centre while Porter moved around him, darting forward occasionally but giving the taller man few stationary targets. Spence’s most effective work came to the body late in the round. Porter increased his activity in the second, entering behind feints and releasing punches in clusters before Spence could establish his preferred distance. A right hand caught Spence off balance and sent him stumbling backwards, although he remained on his feet and did not appear hurt. Spence answered with straight lefts, but Porter’s speed and awkward entries were already preventing him from settling into a regular rhythm.

The pace rose sharply in the third. Porter rushed into range with hooks from both hands, while Spence stood his ground and countered with harder, straighter blows. Much of Spence’s attention was directed below Porter’s elbows, but several punches landed near or beneath the belt, and Reiss stopped the action to issue a warning. Porter continued to force the exchanges in the fourth, driving Spence towards the ropes and landing hooks to head and body. Spence replied with compact punches underneath, but Porter’s greater activity and irregular movement gave him the better of the round. He landed 26 punches, more than Spence had previously absorbed in any single round as a professional.

Spence began to find greater accuracy in the fifth and sixth. Porter remained the busier man, but his advances brought him into range for the champion’s short left hands and right hooks. Spence repeatedly struck the body, attempting to reduce Porter’s movement and discourage his sudden rushes. In the sixth, he forced Porter towards the ropes and worked with both hands, although Reiss again intervened, this time warning Spence for leaning across the challenger’s back during a clinch. Porter continued to change direction, feint and spring forward with his jab and hooks. His work was untidy at times, but it prevented Spence from controlling the bout from long range.

The seventh and eighth were contested almost entirely at close and middle distance. Spence continued to score heavily to the body, placing his shots more accurately, while Porter produced the more conspicuous attacks to the head. In the eighth, Spence landed a strong straight left that moved Porter backwards, followed later by a right to the head. Porter responded immediately, refusing to concede ground and catching Spence with a firm counter-right. Porter’s face showed the effect of the body blows, but Spence was also marked and had been made to work at a pace he had not previously encountered in his professional career.

Porter began the ninth with renewed force, landing an uppercut and a right hand which snapped Spence’s head backwards. Spence answered with a hard combination and continued to drive punches into the body whenever Porter came close. Neither man could hold command for long. The tenth followed the same course, with both working through prolonged exchanges in the centre and along the ropes. Spence released a sustained combination, but Porter absorbed it and came forward again. During the round Spence suffered a cut beside his left eye, apparently caused by a clash of heads. It was the first cut of his professional career, though it did not seriously impair his vision.

The contest remained closely balanced when Spence produced its decisive moment in the eleventh. Porter was moving forward and beginning to throw when Spence struck him with a short, sweeping left hook to the chin. The punch turned Porter’s head and caused his right knee and glove to touch the canvas. Reiss correctly administered a count. Porter rose quickly, plainly shaken but fully aware of his position, and immediately resumed the attack. He forced Spence backwards for much of the remaining time, but the knockdown had made the round a clear 10–8 in the IBF champion’s favour.

Porter pressed with urgency throughout the final round, landing a solid right hand midway through it and attempting to recover the points lost in the eleventh. Spence met him punch for punch in several exchanges and found the cleaner openings as Porter lunged forward. Both remained active until the final bell, after which neither showed confidence that the decision was secure. The punch totals illustrated their sustained output: Spence threw 745 and Porter 744. Spence’s superior accuracy gave him 221 scoring blows against Porter’s 172.

Judges Rey Danseco and Steve Weisfeld each scored the contest 116–111 for Spence, while Larry Hazzard Jr returned a card of 115–112 for Porter. Spence therefore won by split decision, retained his IBF championship and took Porter’s WBC title. The wide margin on the two cards did not convey how fiercely many of the rounds had been disputed, but the verdict itself was supportable. Porter had succeeded in denying Spence the orderly boxing match he wanted, yet Spence’s body punching, cleaner work, and eleventh-round knockdown provided the stronger claim. Porter had forced him into an unfamiliar contest; Spence had proved capable of winning it.

Going into this, Spence was being spoken about as the complete welterweight. He had travelled to Sheffield and stopped Kell Brook, then boxed Mikey Garcia out of sight. Porter was respected but treated as the awkward opponent who would make things untidy before Spence eventually took over. That badly underestimated him.

Porter did what good professionals do: he denied Spence the fight he wanted. His feints, sudden rushes and physical work stopped Spence from establishing that smooth southpaw rhythm. He made Spence fight at close quarters and, for long periods, beat him to the attack. It was not always pretty, but Porter was far more intelligent than people gave him credit for.

Spence deserves credit because he adjusted without panicking. His body punching was the best work in the fight. While Porter produced the busier, more noticeable bursts, Spence landed the straighter and heavier shots underneath. The short left hook that dropped Porter in the eleventh was perfectly timed and ultimately separated them.

I had Spence winning narrowly. The decision was right, but those two scores of 116–111 were too wide and did Porter no justice. He forced an elite champion into the hardest fight of his career and came within one knockdown of taking the belts. Spence proved he could win without looking polished; Porter proved he belonged with any welterweight of that period.