More times than not, a matchup pegged to be an epic encounter doesn’t always live up to the hype, regardless of the sport. Errol Spence Jr vs Shawn Porter for the unified welterweight championship (WBC and IBF) titles absolutely lived up to the hype plus more. From bell to bell, the the pace remained frantic with Spence Jr receiving the split decision victory (116-111, 116-111, 112-115.) Analyst and journalists alike stated this bout could be the fight of the year.

The 12-Round Battle

As expected, Porter pushed the pace throughout the matchup. Spence was methodical in is performance, landing his shots where he wanted. Through the first half of the contest the fight appeared even with both fighter having their moments of being in control. Porter kept the pressure on and Spence kept landing precise shots until the turning point in the 11th round. Spence caught Porter with a devastating left hook which sent Porter’s glove to the ground, ruling as a knockdown. In an extremely close back and forth battle, Porter made the first and only fatal mistake of the contest.

Porter (left) reeling from his 11th round knockdown from a big left hook by Spence Jr. (image courtesy realcombatmedia.com)

The Stats and Aftermatch

CompuBox showed that Spence Jr took the most number of strikes in his career (172) but landed nearly 50 more with a total of 221 landed strikes on Porter. The number of strikes thrown between the two totaled 1,489 with Spence Jr throwing 745 and Porter throwing 744. 184 of Spence Jr’s strikes landed were power punches and 113 of those were to the body, showing Spence Jr’s ability to hunt for and wear down the body. Porter only out-landed Spence Jr in two of the 12 rounds (4th round and 7th round.)

After the fight both fighters had nothing but respect for the other which was earned through battle. “Shawn Porter is a rough and awkward fighter,” Spence Jr stated. “I didn’t get off what I wanted to. He’s a true champion. He made it tough.” Porter was quoted as saying, “He’s a strong kid. We both came in here to do the job. He got the split decision. I take nothing away from him I knew it was going to be a dog fight. I think he knew it was going to be a dog fight. He was victorious and I congratulate him and his team.”

What’s Next?

So what’s next for these fighters? It already looks like their is talk of Spence jr battling WBC “silver” champion Danny Garcia (35-2) after the turn of 2020. Garcia defeated Adrian Granados in April 2019 for the “silver” championship which is a version of an interim title. The only difference is a “silver” championship cannot inherit the “full” championship should the title be vacated. Garcia lost against Porter for the vacant WBC title in September 2018 via unanimous decision. Spence Jr had made it clear he would love for his next opponent to be WBA champion, Manny Pacquiao. We shall see very soon which way Spence Jr will go.