BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Known for his mauling style that is often called dirty, Shawn Porter spent the past few months predicting he would show Danny Garcia something he had never seen before.
In a battle of former 147-pound champions, Porter did just that on Saturday by mixing an awkward storm of boxing and brawling to edge Garcia in a thrilling unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBC welterweight title in front of 15,038 fans at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Porter (29-2-1, 17 KOs), 30, targeted Garcia's body throughout and used constant feints to freeze and confuse his opponent in a classic example of high-speed chess that produced a standing ovation from the crowd. He took home judges' scores of 116-112 and 115-113 (twice). CBS Sports also had it 115-113 for Porter.
"I tell people all the time, 'I don't make predictions,'" Porter said after the fight. "I made a prediction and a hard one to live up to. I said I wasn't leaving New York without this belt, and I'm not leaving New York without this belt."
Both fighters had entered the bout having lost hard-fought decisions to current WBA champion Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) over the past two years. But Thurman, who hasn't fought since edging Garcia by split decision 17 months ago, was stripped of his WBC title due to inactivity following shoulder surgery.
Thurman was booed throughout the night when he was shown on the big screen above the arena. IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. (24-0, 21 KOs), however, was showered with cheers including after the fight when he entered the ring to congratulate Porter and hype up the potential of a must-see unification bout between the two in 2019.
"The same way that you called Danny out, I'm going to call you out," Spence told Porter, referencing Porter's interruption of Garcia following his February knockout of Brandon Rios that put the wheels in motion for Saturday's fight.
"Do I look worried?" Porter responded rhetorically.
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Garcia (34-2, 20 KOs) controlled the early rounds with clean and hard counter shots as Porter began in an uncharacteristically passive style by not using his jab and circling from the outside. But once Porter made an adjustment in Round 4 and began to vary his style, the more he began to make Garcia think and lower his output.
"I knew he was going to be accurate," Porter said. "The game plan for me was to be accurate from the outside and show we could beat him without roughing him up on the ropes. He tried to out hustle me, mostly at the end of rounds. He did a tremendous job."
Porter outlanded Garcia 180-168, according to CompuBox, while Garcia held a 139-134 advantage in power shots in a 12-round fight that ultimately could've gone either way.
"I thought I did enough to win," Garcia said. "It was a close fight. The judges didn't give it to me. I busted my head on the inside, plus a couple headbutts on my nose. It is what it is, this is boxing. I have to sit back, relax and see what's next for me."
The majority of the late rounds were as close as they were fun as both fighters let it all hang out and traded heavy blows in the center of the ring. In many ways, the fight was reminiscent to the style, ebbs and flow of Shane Mosley's victory over Oscar De La Hoya in their epic 2000 welterweight title bout.
Porter closed in style by dominating the final round and mauling Garcia, edging him on all three scorecards.
"There was some things missing tonight and those aren't going to be there in the next one," Porter said. "It wasn't' necessarily about making it wild. My dad [trainer Kenny Porter] wanted me to stay consistent with the body work and stay consistent with the pressure."
Before Saturday, Porter last held a welterweight title in 2014 until he lost it to Kell Brook. It was Spence who stopped Brook in 2017 to win his first world title. Now, Spence looks forward to proving himself against Porter.
"I think I'm the best welterweight in the division," Spence said. "I'm the truth, and I guarantee you I come home as unified champion. I definitely want that fight against Porter.
"It was a good fight. Shawn looked like himself. I didn't see anything different in his style so we should combine to make an incredible fight. I'm ready for whoever's next: Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter or Keith Thurman. I want any and all of them."
Campbell's Garcia vs. Porter scorecard
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 Total Garcia 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 9 9 113 Porter 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 10 10 115
Garcia vs. Porter live coverage
CBS Sports was with you for every punch from the bout in Brooklyn. If you are unable to view those updates and highlights, please click here.
Thanks for stopping by.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Known for his mauling style that is often called dirty, Shawn Porter spent the past few months predicting he would show Danny Garcia something he had never seen before.
In a battle of former 147-pound champions, Porter did just that on Saturday by mixing an awkward storm of boxing and brawling to edge Garcia in a thrilling unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBC welterweight title in front of 15,038 fans at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Porter (29-2-1, 17 KOs), 30, targeted Garcia's body throughout and used constant feints to freeze and confuse his opponent in a classic example of high-speed chess that produced a standing ovation from the crowd. He took home judges' scores of 116-112 and 115-113 (twice). CBS Sports also had it 115-113 for Porter.
"I tell people all the time, 'I don't make predictions,'" Porter said after the fight. "I made a prediction and a hard one to live up to. I said I wasn't leaving New York without this belt, and I'm not leaving New York without this belt."
Both fighters had entered the bout having lost hard-fought decisions to current WBA champion Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) over the past two years. But Thurman, who hasn't fought since edging Garcia by split decision 17 months ago, was stripped of his WBC title due to inactivity following shoulder surgery.
Thurman was booed throughout the night when he was shown on the big screen above the arena. IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. (24-0, 21 KOs), however, was showered with cheers including after the fight when he entered the ring to congratulate Porter and hype up the potential of a must-see unification bout between the two in 2019.
"The same way that you called Danny out, I'm going to call you out," Spence told Porter, referencing Porter's interruption of Garcia following his February knockout of Brandon Rios that put the wheels in motion for Saturday's fight.
"Do I look worried?" Porter responded rhetorically.
Respect box? Subscribe to my podcast -- In This Corner with Brian Campbell -- where we take an in-depth look at the world of boxing each week.
Garcia (34-2, 20 KOs) controlled the early rounds with clean and hard counter shots as Porter began in an uncharacteristically passive style by not using his jab and circling from the outside. But once Porter made an adjustment in Round 4 and began to vary his style, the more he began to make Garcia think and lower his output.
"I knew he was going to be accurate," Porter said. "The game plan for me was to be accurate from the outside and show we could beat him without roughing him up on the ropes. He tried to out hustle me, mostly at the end of rounds. He did a tremendous job."
Porter outlanded Garcia 180-168, according to CompuBox, while Garcia held a 139-134 advantage in power shots in a 12-round fight that ultimately could've gone either way.
"I thought I did enough to win," Garcia said. "It was a close fight. The judges didn't give it to me. I busted my head on the inside, plus a couple headbutts on my nose. It is what it is, this is boxing. I have to sit back, relax and see what's next for me."
The majority of the late rounds were as close as they were fun as both fighters let it all hang out and traded heavy blows in the center of the ring. In many ways, the fight was reminiscent to the style, ebbs and flow of Shane Mosley's victory over Oscar De La Hoya in their epic 2000 welterweight title bout.
Porter closed in style by dominating the final round and mauling Garcia, edging him on all three scorecards.
"There was some things missing tonight and those aren't going to be there in the next one," Porter said. "It wasn't' necessarily about making it wild. My dad [trainer Kenny Porter] wanted me to stay consistent with the body work and stay consistent with the pressure."
Before Saturday, Porter last held a welterweight title in 2014 until he lost it to Kell Brook. It was Spence who stopped Brook in 2017 to win his first world title. Now, Spence looks forward to proving himself against Porter.
"I think I'm the best welterweight in the division," Spence said. "I'm the truth, and I guarantee you I come home as unified champion. I definitely want that fight against Porter.
"It was a good fight. Shawn looked like himself. I didn't see anything different in his style so we should combine to make an incredible fight. I'm ready for whoever's next: Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter or Keith Thurman. I want any and all of them."
Campbell's Garcia vs. Porter scorecard
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 Total Garcia 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 9 9 113 Porter 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 10 10 115
Garcia vs. Porter live coverage
CBS Sports was with you for every punch from the bout in Brooklyn. If you are unable to view those updates and highlights, please click here.
Thanks for stopping by.
Shawn Porter backed up his words tonight on Showtime and is once again a world champion. Porter started the fight moving around the ring a lot, giving Garcia his preferred pace which made things difficult for him in the early going. That said, by the third or fourth round Porter seemed to realize that he needed to get back to what he’s best at and that made the difference in the fight.
Porter picked up the pace significantly by the mid-rounds and at that point just started outworking Garcia. It became a fight of Porter’s activity against Garcia’s well placed shots. The problem was that Garcia couldn’t get his punches often enough to keep up with Porter. By the end of the fight Porter threw nearly 300 more punches than Garcia and judges turned in official scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113 in favor of Porter. I also scored the fight 115-113 in Porter’s favor for BLH.
In the post-fight interview fellow welterweight titleholder Errol Spence crashed the ring, saying was doing the same thing to Porter that Porter had done to Garcia in his last fight. Spence called for a welterweight title unification with Porter and Porter answered be telling the crowd that will be the easiest fight to make in boxing.
Garcia (34-2, 20 KOs) said afterwards that he believed he did enough to earn the win but acknowledged that it was a close fight. He says he’ll get back to work and fight his way back to a world title. But tonight the WBC title belongs to Shawn Porter.
Shawn Porter (right) claimed a world title at welterweight for the second time
Shawn Porter became a world champion for the second time as a points win over Danny Garcia in New York earned him the WBC welterweight title.
Porter, who lost the IBF title to Britain's Kell Brook in 2014, grew into the bout against the fellow American.
His brawling style caught the eye late on for a unanimous 116-112 115-113 115-113 win to land the vacant title.
Afterwards, Porter said a bout with IBF champion Errol Spence Jr was "the easiest fight in boxing to make".
American Spence joined Porter, 30, in the ring and the pair embraced after saying they would be keen on a unification bout.
WBA world champion Keith Thurman - who gave up the WBC belt as he battled injury - was also ringside at the Barclays Center.
Thurman beat compatriot Porter in 2016 and defeated Garcia in his last outing in March 2017 to hold both the WBA and WBC titles, but has not been able to compete since.
Nietes misses out on fourth weight class title
In California, Donnie Nietes maintained his 14-year unbeaten record but failed in his bid to become a champion in four different weight classes after a draw with fellow Filipino Aston Palicte.
The pair were fighting for the WBO super-flyweight title, which will remain vacant after one judge scored the bout 118-110 for 36-year-old Nietes, another 116-112 for Palicte, 27, and the third had it at 114-114.
Nietes, who has not lost in 34 fights since 2004, had previously become the WBO strawweight champion in 2007, the WBO light-flyweight champion in 2011 and the IBF flyweight champion in April 2017.
