Spence wins in fight of the year war with Porter

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

Errol Spence gets the win, but Shawn Porter made it an amazing war. Get the details here.

Errol Spence def. Shawn Porter, SD (116-111, 112-115, 116-111)

Over the course of 12 rounds, Errol Spence and Shawn Porter absolutely went to war. The common thought going in was that Porter would try to get inside and make it a dogfight, while Spence would try to keep it at range and make it a boxing fight. That’s what both tried, but it was Porter who was able to impose his will more, making the fight mainly a gritty, inside battle.

Many of the rounds were incredibly close, with both landing and momentum swinging back and forth. It wasn’t until the 11th round that either man took a clear advantage, as Spence landed a perfect, clean left hook in that round that dropped Porter for the lone knockdown of the fight. Porter came back hard in an attempt to win back the round, but he couldn’t quite get there.

In round 12, Spence came out fighting hard, looking to end things and avoid the notoriously unreliable boxing judges, but Porter made it to the final bell.

Once the scores were read, it was Spence taking the close split decision win.

With that, he advances his record to 26-0 and claims both the IBF and WBC Welterweight titles. Porter drops his overall record to 30-3-1.

In the post-fight interview, it was stated that Danny Garcia would be the next challenger to Errol Spence, though it’s unclear if Garcia was asking for a fight, or if he is actually the next challenger. Garcia is 35-2 and the former WBC champion.

Terrific fight overall, and one that will undoubtedly be in discussion when we talk about year end awards.