Shawn “Showtime” Porter, former IBF Welterweight title holder from 2013 till 2014, holds 27 wins, 17 knockouts and 2 losses and 1 draw. His last loss came on June of 2016, to the hands of unified welterweight champion, Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0). Porter’s known for his high work rate, strong chin and his aggressive pressure fighting.

Andre “The Beast” Berto, 31-5-0, who is a former two time welterweight world champion. Berto won the National Golden Gloves in 2001 in light middleweight, 2003 in welterweight and he would go on to represent the United States in the 2003 World Championships, winning a bronze medal. Berto’s last bout was against Victor Ortiz (31-5-2), where Berto surpassed all expectations and won by a knockout in the 4th round, when Ortiz became unresponsive to the referee’s commands after he got up from the 2nd knockdown in the round.

I believe Berto was very active the 1st round, since Porter was examining his opponent. The first round was Berto’s. The following round, Porter became more and more comfortable, began to pressure Berto, keeping him on the ropes and even knocking down Berto. Round goes to Porter. The next rounds, 3rd till 6th round, was given to Porter, since Porter kept pressuring Berto and Berto was on the ropes 90% of the time. Berto came out strong in the 7th round though, landing a right hook to Porter’s jaw, when Berto was on the ropes. 7th round, for Berto. The 8th round was all Porter, again, pressure fighting Berto and Berto on the ropes. In the 9th round, the referee stopped the bout because Berto didn’t throw a single punch. All in all, my unofficial score of the fight was 78-73, in favor of Porter, the obvious winner and aggressor of the fight. Even though the fight was a dirty fight, with head clashes and resulting in constant bleeding, the bout was nonetheless very exciting.

Porter, is now the mandatory for Thurman’s WBC World Title belt. Porter is now looking to avenge his second career loss against Thurman, which Thurman admits is only a matter of time, just “signing paperwork”.