Shawn Porter retained the WBC Welterweight title with a razor thin 12-round split decision over Yordenis Ugas at the Dignity Healthy Sports Park in Carson, California.

It was a close fight that saw many rounds with Porter trying to dive in and create offense, yet Ugas would land the cleaner punches.  It seemed that Ugas had the advantage, although punch stats showed a 144-128 advantage for Porter.

Porter, 146.8 lbs of Akron, OH won by scores of 116-112 and 115-113.  Ugas, 146.5 lbs of Santo de Cuba, CUB won a card 117-111.

Porter is 30-2-1.  Ugas is 23-4.

“The crowd was expecting a big brawl, but that’s not the way this fight needed to go tonight,” said Porter. “The style that we used left the fight close. As the clock ticks, you have to do what’s working. Tonight the foot movement was working and it made Ugas have to reset.”

“I showed tonight that I belong with the elite fighters at welterweight,” said Ugas. “All I can say is that I’m ready to fight any of the top names in the division. I’ll be back.”

“I was on my toes all night,” said Porter. “I was very focused the entire fight and just listening to my corner. We wanted to out box him and eventually turn it on and press him. But my dad did not think that was the smartest way to win the fight. We fought this way for 12 rounds and no one has ever seen that from me before.”

“There’s no doubt about it, I was robbed tonight,” said Ugas. “After the first round I figured him out and dominated the fight. He had no answer when I was pushing him back. I dominated the fight in my opinion.”

“We fought a good smart fight tonight,” said Porter. “I was consistent and I thought we won a majority of the rounds. We got the win, we’re still champion and we’re looking forward to what is next.”

Abel Ramos had to survive a knockdown to comeback and win a 10-round unanimous decision over Francisco Santana in a welterweight fight.

At the end of round two, Santana dropped Ramos with a hard left hook.

Ramos began to bleed from his nose in round six.  Ramis came on in the 2nd half of the fight and took most of the rounds down the stretch.

Ramos, 146.5 lbs of Casa Grande , AZ won by scores of 98-92, 97-92 and 95-94 to raise his record to 24-3-2.  Santana, 146.5 lbs of Santa Barbra, CA is 25-7-1.

Ramos landed 268-934 punches.  Santana was 221-800.

“He caught me on a flash knockdown in the second round,” said Ramos. “I didn’t see the punch coming and he caught me a little bit off balance. As soon as I got up, I was good.”

“I was very surprised by the scorecards,” said Santana. “I thought I did enough to win. It was very competitive but I was landing more significant punches. I knew he was a warrior who would come back to fight after the knockdown. I don’t know what else to do at this point, but I’ll always keep my head held high.”

“I thought I won the fight,” said Ramos. “I landed more punches. I felt like I was landing all night and I was doing good clean work throughout the fight.”

Efe Ajagba stopped Amir Mansour after two rounds of their scheduled eight-round heavyweight bout.

Ajagba dropped Mansour twice in the 1st round.  the initial one came from a hard right, and the second came moments later from a left hook.  Ajagba continued to land power shots and the fight was stopped after the 2nd frame.

Ajagba, 240 lbs of Nigeria is 9-0 with eight knockouts.  Mansour, 225 lbs of Salem, NJ is 23-4-1.

“I’ve never fought a southpaw in the pros before,” said Ajagba. “Ronnie Shields has taught me a lot and given me the plan on how to fight a southpaw and how to use my right hand against them.”

“I want to be the best heavyweight in the world,” said Ajagba. “That’s my dream. I’m going to go home and work hard and prepare for the next fight.”

Juan Carlos Payano won an eight-round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Damien Vazquez in a bantamweight bout.

In round four, Payano was cut under his right eye. The next round he was cut on his left cheek ares. In round six, Vazquez was wobbled and cut over his right eye.

Payano, 117.8 lbs of Le Vega, DR won by scores of 80-71 twice, and 79-73 and is now 21-2. Vazquez, 117.6 lbs of Thronton, CO is 14-1.

Eimmantas Stanionis won a eight-round unanimous decision over Samuel Figueroa in a welterweight fight.

Stanionis, 149.2 lbs of Lithuania, won by scores 80-72 on all cards, and is now 8-0. Figueroa, 149.4 lbs of Maygeliz, PR is 11-2. Stanionis outlanded Figueroa 256-146.

CARSON, Calif. (February 19, 2019) – Undefeated bantamweight prospect Damien Vazquez battles former world champion Juan Carlos Payano in an eight or 10-round attraction while unbeaten welterweight prospect and 2016 Lithuanian Olympian Eimantas Stanionis will face once-beaten Sammy Figueroa in an eight-round fight on Premier Boxing Champions Prelims on FS1 Saturday, March 9 live from Dignity Health Sports Park, formerly StubHub Center, in Carson, California.

Prelims begin at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT and lead into a PBC on FOX and FOX Deportes show that’s headlined by WBC Welterweight World Champion Shawn Porter making his first title defense in primetime against mandatory challenger Yordenis Ugas.

Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by TGB Promotions, are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased at AXS.com.

Born in Colorado and training in Las Vegas, Vazquez (14-0, 7 KOs) is the younger brother of former three-time champion Israel Vazquez. The 21-year-old has fought professionally since 2013 and picked up two wins in 2018. He most recently won his first 10-round fight with a unanimous decision over then unbeaten Luis Gollindano last April.

Payano (20-2, 9 KOs) became a world champion in 2014 when he defeated Anselmo Moreno by technical decision before defending and then losing the title in a pair of exciting fights against Rau’shee Warren. Originally from the Dominican Republic, but training in Miami, Payano put together three-straight victories before losing a title challenge to unbeaten Naoya Inoue last October.

After representing his native Lithuania at the 2016 Olympics, Stanionis (7-0, 5 KOs) relocated to Southern California where he has trained while compiling his unbeaten record. The 24-year-old took a step up in competition last time out and dominated tough veteran Levan Ghvamichava to earn an eight-round unanimous decision last August on FS1.

The 28-year-old Figueroa (11-1, 4 KOs) returns to action for the first time since defeating Ismay Eynullayev in March 2017. The Puerto Rican fighter had picked up wins over previously unbeaten foes Javontae Starks and Fernando Paliza before suffering his only defeat to Miguel Cruz in May 2016.

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ABOUT PORTER VS. UGAS
Shawn Porter vs. Yordenis Ugas is a Premier Boxing Champions on FOX and FOX Deportes event that will see WBC Welterweight World Champion Shawn Porter defending his title for the first time against top-ranked contender Yordenis Ugas Saturday, March 9 from Dignity Health Sports Park, formerly StubHub Center, in Carson, California.

Televised coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and features a duel between two hard-hitting brawlers as Abel Ramos and Francisco Santana meet in a 10-round welterweight match in the co-feature, while heavy-handed slugger Efe Ajagba steps up to face experienced veteran Amir Mansour in an eight-round heavyweight attraction in the televised opener.

For more information: visit www.premierboxingchampions.com, http://www.foxsports.com/presspass/homepage and www.foxdeportes.com, follow on Twitter @PremierBoxing, @PBConFOX, @FOXSports, @FOXDeportes, @TGBPromotions, and @Swanson_Comm or become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PremierBoxingChampions, www.facebook.com/foxsports & www.facebook.com/foxdeportes.