Thurman outpoints Porter to defend WBA welterweight belt

So, yeah, Floyd Mayweather is still relevant, and on people’s minds.

“One Time” and “Showtime” delivered as advertised, with the powerful sharpshooter buckling Porter multiple times, while the swarming and smothering Porter barreled forward to bully Thurman into the ropes. Porter was firing wide shots to the kidneys any chance he got. You got caught the time before that.’ He’s going to have to keep pushing and push through that, and get me before I get him.

Most observers felt the fight could have gone either way, and there were many who believed a draw would have been a fair outcome.in the end all three judges had it identically at 115-113 in favor of Thurman, who showed a lot of prescision and resiliency throughout the fight.

Both fighters landed precise combinations and also missed wildly.

It was a tremendously exciting fight, just the kind of fight that belongs on prime time broadcast TV. While the record will now say Thurman remained the undefeated welterweight champion of the world, he was not the champion of Brooklyn last night.

Afterward Hurd stated, “Molina is a great fighter”.

In the 14th round gutty and determined Leonard threw a left hook to Hearn’s body followed by a desperate right hand to his head which hurt him. Porter scored a solid shot to the body to accentuate his winning effort in the round.

The tenth had Thurman trying to regain his foothold when a terrific left hook of his sent Porter reeling back to the red corner, where a toe-to-toe slugfest ensued for the reminder of the round.

CompuBox credited Thurman with landing more power punches, though (203 of 405 to Porter’s 177 of 460).

Supporters of Porter in the crowd of 12,718 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center booed the decision, and the fight was close throughout.

All three judges had it 115-113 for Thurman. The Florida native shouldn’t take Porter lightly, but he can control the tempo of the fight with his effective jab that sets up his power punches.

Thurman and Porter are each more decorated on the welterweight level than either Garcia or Vargas, who either came to the division recently (Garcia) or were simply fortunate to pounce on a vacant title (Vargas) without relevant street cred thanks to the sport’s insipid political nonsense. But I knew that defense would be the key to victory.

Asked if he wanted a rematch, Porter said “the fans want a rematch” and the crowd roared its approval.

“I think I won the fight, ” Porter said, “but I’m satisfied because the competitor came out tonight”. Thurman would need to run from Spence all night long because there’s no way he could stand his ground the way he was doing at times against Porter. “I would give him a rematch, man”. “But we’re happy to be making, instead of just a normal performance, putting on a great performance, even if we both had to wait for it”.

The attendance for the fight was 12,718 and most of the seats were filled by the start of the first televised fight.

Swift Jarrett Hurd (18-0, 12 KOs) made his case for facing the top competition in the 154 pound super welterweight division with a late stoppage win over Oscar Molina (13-1-1, 10 KOs) of Mexico. When Robert Guerrero gave me a hematoma in the third round, I went nine more rounds.

However, Hurd regained control in round five and never relinquished it, scoring nearly at will during the second portion of the bout and keeping the pressure on the beleaguered Molina with accurate hooks and straight rights.