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Steve KimESPN
Former two-time welterweight titlist Shawn Porter dominated Sebastian Formella to win a one-sided unanimous decision Saturday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. All three judges saw it as a clean sweep for Porter, 120-108.
Formella (22-1, 10 KOs), of Germany, did his best to box and stave off the hard-charging Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs), but by Round 3, he was feeling the pressure and was getting hit with numerous body shots.
“He was a tough fighter,” said Porter, who had his father and sparring partner, Kenny Porter, in his corner. “After about six rounds, my dad told me that he’s going to keep taking these punches, so I just needed to keep the pressure on him.”
Porter’s attack was withering and relentless. There were times when it seemed as though Formella was starting to break down physically, but to his credit, he was resolute and found ways to survive the onslaught from Porter, who wasn’t shy about unleashing left hooks to the body along with uppercuts inside.
“The gameplan was to use finesse and subtlety,” Porter said. “I went in there looking for the shot and ready to take the openings. I wanted to be aggressive, but not too aggressive, because we knew he would run. We worked on cutting off the ring and I think it all worked out tonight.
“For me, it made sense to fight up on my toes. It’s a different type of rhythm and a lot of guys don’t know when I’m coming and going. I think it mixed things up for Formella tonight. We worked on fast jabs, powerful jabs, directing the jab, and today, he couldn’t tell which one was coming. I was popping his head back and of course also going to the body.”
It was a great offensive performance for Porter, who landed 304 punches (a career high) while throwing 785, outpacing the 148 punches landed (out of 586) from Formella, who scored a moral victory by hearing the final bell.
This bout was a WBC/IBF title eliminator for the right to face unified champion Errol Spence Jr., who defeated Porter via split decision last September in a highly contested unification bout in Los Angeles.
“I’m still here, baby, I ain’t going nowhere,” was Porter’s postfight message to both Spence and Danny Garcia.
On the undercard, rising junior middleweight Sebastian Fundora stopped Nathaniel Gallimore in six rounds. At 6-foot-6, Fundora steadily wore out Gallimore with a varied offensive attack that simply overwhelmed Gallimore.
Gallimore, who has a victory over current unified junior middleweight titlist Jeison Rosario and a loss by decision to former titlist Julian Williams, was no match for Fundora.