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Was Yordenis Ugas robbed against Shawn Porter?

Yordenis Ugas has his feelings on the outcome last night, but was the decision really bad?

Yordenis Ugas v Ray Robinson Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images

The fights kick off, come to a close, and we get the same old, same old.

“Robbery.”

“Those judges should never work again.”

“Boxing sucks.”

OK, in the main event which ran Saturday night on FOX, pitting Shawn Porter, in defense of his WBC 147 belt, against Yordenis Ugas, the cries and the bewailing were not overwhelming night of and the day after.

But many folks didn’t like the judges’ rendering after 12 rounds, as they gave Porter, the 31-year-old Las Vegas resident and Ohio native, one of the biggest names at welter, the win.

Ugas right after used the “R” word.

“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.”

In these situations, some of us like to do a little backtest check on ourselves; we check out the CompuBox assessment of punches thrown and landed, knowing full well that isn’t gospel and that yes, humans who are not infallible are responsible for entering data to keep that tally.

By that measure, it looks plausible that Porter (30-2-1; had a beyond hard time making weight, so we wonder how long he stays at 147) earned a tight decision. No, he wasn’t very busy, which was noted by commenters on social. Neither man was — Porter went 144-515, to 128-449 for the 32-year-old loser, who drops to 23-4.

Quickie takeaway on those numbers: volume is the best tie-breaker, arguably. Eight times out of 10, the guy who throws more will win.

But, let’s if we can try to clarify how bad this decision was — or, indeed, if it was bad at all!

Check out Ugas’ post to social media the day after. After he slept on it, this is how he saw things:

Now, regarding that take: my eyes tell me that he punched/pulled down Porter, and that shouldn’t be scored a clean blow knockdown. Switching scores without a knockdown and giving Ugas the 12th would have given him the win on De Luca’s card, but Morrow would have had it 114-114, so the cards would have resulted in a draw.

My outside looking in advice to Ugas and others coming in on the B side: assume you are coming to the ring two points down. Not because of corruption, necessarily, it’s just the way of the world. People, including boxing judges, go with what they know. They know Shawn Porter — they may even like his demeanor and hold him in high regard. Thus, they can be subconsciously biased for him.

He’s the champ. He has more backers, he has more persons with vested interest in him. He’s going to get benefits of the doubt, it’s the way of the boxing world. Trainers and fighters must enter their fights with eyes wide open, seeing the sport for how it is, not how they wish it to be, to give themselves the best chance of winning. Not sure Ugas did that.

That’s the main bottom line here. Also, save that “R” word, robbery, for real-deal heists, CJ Ross specials.

Listen to Woods’ Everlast podcast here

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