Formella: Brave, but no chance against Porter
Sebastian Formella loses World Championship elimination against Shawn Porter.
It was the big chance for "Hafen-Basti" Sebastian Formella, but in the end the American former world champion Shawn Porter was a size too big for the Hamburg native. Over twelve rounds, the two-time former champion from Cleveland in the US state of Ohio gave the brave Formella, whose IBO welterweight title was not on the line, no chance in a world championship elimination fight yesterday, Saturday. At the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, the active and offensively strong Porter took every round from the three judges at ringside.
In the first few rounds, Porter barely gave the underdog from Hamburg a chance to breathe. Moving forwards and with a strong jab, he put Formella under constant pressure, but despite his strong opponent, the brave "Hafen-Basti" didn't let himself get rattled and even managed to land a few good hands. However, Porter was not deterred by this and became more dominant from round to round. Formella had to take a lot of hits in the second half of the fight in particular - but the welterweight, who was undefeated until that evening, never had to go down despite taking 304 punches. With a performance of will, Formella ultimately made it the full distance of twelve rounds.
"I had too much respect at the beginning," said the defeated Formella after the fight, proud of his spirited performance. His promoter Erol Ceylan added in an interview with the Hamburger Morgenpost: "Basti sold himself well and deserves respect. He tried to fight, but Porter is absolutely top class. The air is very thin there. Basti will learn a lot from this. I'm proud of him. We can carry on like this."