BROOKLYN, NY — In an ugly fight marred by headbutts, Shawn Porter scored a hard-nosed TKO stoppage over Andre Berto.
After a first round where both fighters jockeyed for position, the action picked up in the second round. Early in the second round, Porter charged forward and pinned Berto against the ropes. Once Berto had nowhere to go, Porter went to work. The Akron, Ohio native unloaded shots with both hands, finding success to the body and head of Berto. At some point during the inside exchange, a clash of heads caused a deep cut over Porter’s right eye. With about twenty seconds left in the round, both fighters threw right hands, but it was Porter’s punch that landed with impact, catching Berto high atop his head and sending him to the mat.
The following rounds played out like a street fight with Porter continuously bull-rushing Berto, forcing the action to take place inside the proverbial phone booth. Towards the end of the fourth round, both fighters received cuts courtesy of headbutts. Berto’s cut appeared just above his left eye and Porter’s fresh gash left him with slits over both eyes.
It was clear that Porter wanted to fight close, to fight nose-to-nose. Somewhat surprisingly, Berto seemed helpless to prevent Porter’s forward charges. In the past, Berto has uncoiled fight-ended uppercuts that would have been the perfect remedy to Porter’s head-down bull-rushes. Tonight, those punches never landed because they were never thrown.
Henceforth, the brawl continued through the middle rounds with Porter continuing to do his best work in tight spaces. Seemingly all of round eight was spent with Berto’s back to the ropes while Porter banged away at his body.
In the ninth round, Porter kept the heat on, firing away while charging forward. After a combination of punches, some of which got through Berto’s defense cleanly, a straight right sent Berto flailing backward where he was held upright by the ropes. Referee Mark Nelson scored a knockdown and administered a count.
In complete control of the fight, Porter kept his foot on the gas and continued to rain down punches on a defenseless Berto. At the 1:31 mark of the ninth round, referee Mark Nelson decided Berto had been punished enough and called a halt to the bout.
After the fight, Porter spoke about the headbutts. “I got to clean up those head butts. We tried to use the whole ring, but sometimes in the heat of the battle, I’m a fighter and Mr. Berto is a fighter as well, those head butts were just the two of us going in and fighting,” he said.
Berto, clearly upset about the headbutts also spoke after the contest. “I have to give him credit, but he’s a rough fighter. He has great skills but, at the same time, he’s going to be rough and try to handle me anyway he can…We had a good, competitive fight until the head butts got to be a little too much for me. But I thought it was a really good fight before that.”
With the TKO loss, Berto suffers his fifth professional defeat. Porter’s record improves to 27-2, 17KO.
Jermell Charlo made a statement. In what was arguably the biggest fight of his career, Charlo one-punch KO’d Charles Hatley to retain his WBC Welterweight Championship. It was a scary ending to a fight that seemed to be leading up to that dramatic moment from the get-go.
The opening round started slow with neither fighter landing any punches of significance. The fighters continued to jockey for position through much of the second round, but as it drew to a close Charlo unleashed a straight right that caught Hatley where the neck meets the collarbone and sent him stumbling backwards to the ropes. Charlo hustled toward the off-balance Hatley, but the bell sounded before Charlo could inflict any more damage.
Charlo, perhaps gaining confidence from how the previous round concluded, started round three aggressively. About a minute into the round, Charlo rocked Hatley with a huge one-two – the right landed flush on the side of Hatley’s head and set him crashing hard to the canvas. Hatley beat the ten count, regained his legs, and was able to escape further punishment for the rest of the round.
Rounds four and five saw Charlo turn up the heat and keep the pressure on. He controlled the pace and tempo of both rounds and continued to look for openings where he could unleash that straight right.
Charlo came out of the corner in round six like a man possessed. From the bell Charlo let both hands fly, unleashing a swarm of punches that seemed to overwhelm Hatley. Hatley decided to try and bang back with Charlo, but during an exchange near the corner of the ring Charlo delivered a murderous right that knocked Hatley out cold before his body hit the canvas. Referee Harvey Dock immediately stopped the bout. The official time of stoppage was :32 of round six.
“I used that jab to set up the right hand,” Charlo said after the fight. “I knew Charles Hatley goes down and he gets back up – he’s a warrior – and I knew I had to get in there and be a lion.”
With that spectacular KO victory, Charlo continues to win and do so in style. His record now reads 29-0, 14KO. Hatley, who was coming off two solid wins against veterans Saul Roman and Anthony Mundine, suffers his first defeat since 2012 and drops to 26-2-1, 18KO.
Home crowd favorite Amanda Serrano became boxing’s first female fighter to capture five world titles when she stopped her Dominican counterpart Dahiana Santana in the seventh round of their bantamweight title bout. Serrano fought slick fight, landing her punches and moving out of danger. Only once, early in round four, did Santana pose any threat of danger when she landed a hard left hook, which momentarily wobbled Serrano. Later in that same round, Santana would have a point deducted for holding.
In the seventh round, Serrano continued to apply pressure and after a seemingly mild flurry of punches, referee Benjy Esteves, Jr. decided Santana had endured enough punishment and stopped the contest at the 1:14 mark of round 8.
After the bout, Serrano spoke about what becoming the first female to win five world titles means to her. “It means everything to me…we’ve worked so hard for this moment. To be the first fighter to do so and the first Puerto Rican to do so…I’m so proud to be Puerto Rican,” she said, fighting back tears. “It feels so good to be Boricua, it’s in my heart…I can retire today and be the happiest woman alive.”
The history-making victory boosts Serrano’s professional record to 32-1-1, 24 KO. Santana’s record now stands at 35-9, 15KO.
The first of Showtime Extreme’s televised bouts saw two heavy-handed KO artists slug it out for six-plus rounds until Jose Miguel Borrego finally finished off John Delperdang via TKO.
Borrego controlled the action in the first round, continuously planting vicious shots to both sides of Delperdang’s exposed torso. During the one-minute interval between the first and second rounds, both fighters’ must have decided it was worth taking a shot to land one. The ensuing rounds saw a perpetual give and take that at times had the early arriving Brooklyn crowd on it’s feet.
Borrego’s most successful punch of the night was his left uppercut – a punch that he landed at will throughout the fight – and a punch that caused Delperdang’s nose to break and leak blood from round three on.
Few and far between, Delperdang’s best moments came courtesy his left-hook, which he was able to land periodically during the middle rounds.
Although the middle rounds saw some explosive exchanges between the two fighters, the tide turned for good in round six when Borrego continued his onslaught of uppercuts, mixed with sharp combinations that Delperdang had no answer for.
In the seventh round, Borrego sensed blood in the water and kicked up the pressure. Borrego was on Delperdang from the bell, landing at will and backing his opponent to the ropes. Borrego stalked his Delperdang from one end of the ring to the other until he was able to land a fight-ending uppercut that caused referee Eric Dali to step between fighters and call a stop to the bout. The time of stoppage was 2:01 of the seventh round.
Borrego wins for the second time on US soil, both by stoppage, and improves his record to 12-0, 11KO. Delperdang has now lost two consecutive bouts and his record now reads 10-3, 9KO.
In the night’s third contest, Brooklyn’s Jason Sosa scored a crowd-pleasing TKO win over Emmanuel Valadez. Sosa started the fight composed and aggressive, fighting on his terms and forcing Valadez back on his heels. Midway through the opening round, Sosa landed a crisp left hook that found Valadez’s chin and dropped him to the mat.
Sosa continued to wear down his foe over the next round a half until he fired an overhand right that rocketed over Valadez’s defense and sent him crashing to the canvas. Before Valadez had a chance to beat the ten count, referee Alan Harkins stopped the bout at the 1:55 mark of round three.
With the win, Sosa remains undefeated and bolsters his record to 8-0-1, 3KO. Valadez still has yet to the go the distance in any of his seven professional fights. His record drops to 3-4, with all four losses coming by knockout.
Joseph Williams improved his unblemished record to 12-0 with a third round TKO victory against battle-tested veteran Felipe Romero. Williams controlled the fight from the onset, applying pressure and varying his punches, scoring freely behind his jab.
Midway through the third round Williams landed a heat-seeking right that sent Romero stumbling from one corner to another. As Williams walked down his prey to inflict more punishment, Benjy Esteves Jr. jumped between fighters and called a halt to the contest at the 2:43 mark of the third round. Williams joins the likes of David Benavidez, Oleksandr Usyk, and Krzysztof Glowacki as fighters who have TKO’d the hard-nosed Mexican. The loss drops Romero’s record to 19-13-1.
Staten Island’s Kenny Robles defeated Latorie Woodberry via first round TKO. It was the second time Robles has scored a victory over Woodberry in 2017. They first met at the Barclay’s Center in January where judges awarded a unanimous decision victory.
This time, after being touched early in the fight’s opening minute, Robles turned up the pressure and after landing a series of punches, staggered Woodberry. Robles never let up and Woodberry never recovered. Referee Eric Dali jumped in to stop the contest at the 1:53 mark of the opening round.
Robles moves to 2-0, 1 KO, with both wins coming against Woodberry in Brooklyn. Woodberry’s record now stands at 1-4-1.
Former Haitian Olympian, Richardson Hitchins scored a four round unanimous decision victory over Alex Picot. Hitchins controlled the bout from start to finish and seemingly scored at will, but will likely be disappointed that he was unable to stop his Puerto Rican counterpart. Hitchins starts his career 2-1, 1KO, while Picot falls to 2-3-1.
