Spence vs Porter results: Joey Spencer stops Travis Gambardella in third round

Joey Spencer kicked off tonight’s action from Staples Center in Los Angeles, stopping Travis Gambardella in the third round.

Our Spence vs Porter live coverage continues here!

Spencer, a 19-year-old junior middleweight prospect from Linden, Michigan, is someone that PBC are very high on. The obvious reason for this is he’s a handsome kid that has some decent skills that he’s developing, and tonight he looked a little more aggressive and dialed in than he has in his last two fights, which both went the distance.

Gambardella (5-1-2, 2 KO), a 29-year-old fighter from Massachusetts who hadn’t fought in 11 months, was here as a sacrifice, and that’s about how it played out. He had zero offense in this fight, and he was overwhelmed by the power of Spencer (9-0, 7 KO) early on, going down twice in the first round and then again early in the second.

The stoppage was a little odd, as referee Ray Corona just sort of stepped in as soon as Gambardella took a decent shot in the third, but the fight was so one-sided and had become so pointless that it’s hard to complain. Gambardella might well have been able to go the four round distance, but there was no need for the risk. He wasn’t doing anything to actually challenge Spencer or compete, mostly just doing what he could to keep from being knocked down again or finally out.

To illustrate how totally uncompetitive it was, Spencer landed 48 of 119 (40%) total punches, to just 6 of 56 (11%) for Gambardella.

“I think he probably could have continued, and I would have liked to see him continue, but obviously I’m very happy,” Spencer said after the fight. “I felt like this was my best opponent yet. I came in knowing it was going to be a tough task. I thought maybe he was going to come forward more off the bat.”