Shawn Porter pressured his way to a big lead over Adrien Broner in their 144-lb. fight on Friday night, then got up from a 12th-round knockdown to post a unanimous decision victory. The Premiere Boxing Champions show on NBC featured the two former champions in somewhat of a crossroads fight and Porter had the clear upper hand.
Official scores were 118-108, 115-111 and 114-112. InTheCorner.Net scored it 115-111 for Porter.
From the outset, Porter (26-1-1, 16 KO’s) pressured Broner and “The Problem” got off to his customary slow start. A pattern emerged where Porter’s activity and volume punching would meet Broner’s precise counter-punching in rounds that could possibly be difficult to score.
But it was just too much of Porter’s pressure-cooker attack. Broner (30-2, 22 KO’s) picked his spots to return crisp shots and made a case for being more effective. However, he was doing an inordinate amount of holding to smother Porter’s attack. It took until the 11th round for referee Tony Weeks to deduct a point for the illegal tactic, but Broner employed the holding more than any offensive strategy.
It was a perfect contrast of styles. Porter brought a workman-like effort against the flashy Broner and the blue-collar work built a big lead. He repeatedly chased Broner to the ropes, then around the ring and threw combinations while Broner blatantly grabbed his arms to tie up.
Porter also had success tagging Broner as Adrien backed straight up from the onrushing attack with his head high.
After the 11th-round point deduction, Broner needed a miracle in the 12th. And he nearly got it. His first punch in the opening seconds of the final round was a perfect, clean left hook that put Porter down, hurt. Porter pressed and moved enough the rest of the round to keep from getting tagged again and made it to the final bell. It was a 10-8 round for Broner which cancelled out the 10-8 mark for Porter in the 11th.
With the other rounds favoring Porter in a big way, it was a unanimous decision for the Akron, OH fighter.
There continues to be great boxing in and around the weight classes that these two normally fight in. Porter gets another big win and gets back in title contention while Broner will still be marketable, despite being exposed tonight. Of course, Floyd Mayweather is out there, but Miguel Cotto and Keith Thurman have had impressive wins recently. Danny “Swift” Garcia is still undefeated. The list goes on and on. It’s a great time to have boxing airing on multiple networks, including tonight’s NBC showing.
