Yordenis Ugas on losing his WBC welterweight championship bid to defending champion Shawn Porter by split decision: "I always accept the decision of the judges. Referee Jack Reiss is one of the best in the sport. I hope to have the courage to recognize this mistake that denied me the opportunity to become a world champion last night. [Editor's note: likely Ugas, whose first language is Spanish, meant "I hope he, the referee, has the courage..."]. I only see a clean, solid blow that knocked down Shawn. And it could be that it was a close fight. But for me the judges did not steal [it from] me. In close fights there is no robbery. The referee made an incredible mistake in not giving him a count in round 12 that I had won 10-8 and that decision cost me my world championship. I am sad... Hey Shawn you are a champion (congratulations). Thank you for the big fight we did. I wish you the best for you and your family."
Ugas has a valid point. Judge Max DeLuca scored it 115-113 for Porter, including a 10-9 twelfth round for Porter. The other two judges gave round twelve to Ugas. If Reiss had called a knockdown, that almost certainly would have flipped DeLuca's twelfth round to 10-9 Ugas, if not 10-8 Ugas. If DeLuca scored round twelve 10-8 for Ugas, his scorecard becomes 114-113 Ugas, and Ugas would have taken Porter's title by split decision. Ugas desereved to win the round, and even a 10-9 score in his favor by DeLuca would have made the fight a draw (with Porter retaining the title).
Therefore, the question of the day is when Porter went down in round twelve, should it have been a knockdown or a slip? Ugas threw a wild right hand as Porter was backing up. On the replay, it appears that the inside of Ugas' hand caught the back of Porter's head. Porter went down to one knee and was not hurt. As Reiss walked over to step between the two boxers, it looked like Reiss pointed to his own foot, indicating a slip. Although the blow was of questionable legality because of the angle at which it landed, Porter did not slip. It appears then, that the better ruling would have been to call it a knockdown. It was a very difficult call for Reiss to make without a replay, and reasonable people can differ not only on the scoring of the knockdown, but the scoring of other rounds. Overall, Porter was credited with 144 punches landed, compared to 128 for Ugas. What we can clearly say is Ugas deserves a world title fight in his next fight, be it a Porter rematch, or against one of the losers of the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes, meaning WBA champ Keith Thurman or the winner of next week's IBF title fight between Errol Spence and Mikey Garcia. Ugas, Porter, Thurman, Spence, Garcia and Pacquiao all fight under the Premier Boxing Champions banner.
