Shawn Porter wanted to get back on the winning track after the tough decision loss to Errol Spence Jr. last September for the WBC & IBF welterweight titles. He was able to do that on Saturday night.

Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) had a clean sweep of the judges scorecards (120-108) to get the win over previously unbeaten Sebastian Formella (22-1) and get the WBC silver welterweight title. He is the top contender in the WBC rankings and will wait for his shot to fight for the WBC world title once again.

There were a few expectations from fans coming into the fight against Formella as they believed that the German was no match for the WBC champion. Even though Porter did set personal records for punches landed in a fight (304), he was unable to knock down Formella over the course of twelve rounds. However, we did see a mixture of fighting styles from Porter as he utilized timely counter-punching skills, a forceful jab and work on the inside.

Formella did land a few right hands during the fight, but the response by Porter was too much for him to follow up. After six rounds it looked like survival mode for Formella as he was reluctant to take chances against Porter. There was a period in the tenth round where Porter threw a series of power shots in order to stop Formella, but it did not happen.

The strategy of Porter was to be active with his feet, and he stated that after the victory.

“The game plan was to use finesse and subtlety,” Porter said. “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.”

“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.”

The shutout victory puts him in position to fight the winner of the fight on November 21st between Spence and Danny Garcia, two fighters that Porter is familiar with. He won the WBC title against Garcia in 2018. Porter put a notice to both fighters that he will be a different fighter the next time he steps in the ring with either one of them.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Porter said. “There’s no telling what they’ll see from me in a rematch.”

Cover photo by Sean Michael Ham of TGB Promotions