NEW YORK: Shawn Porter did not live up to his nickname, Showtime.
What mattered to Porter, though, was that he earned another title shot at Keith Thurman.
Porter stopped Andre Berto in the ninth round of a sloppy, often inartistic WBC welterweight elimination bout Saturday night at Barclays Center. Porter was in control for much of the bout, which resembled a street brawl more than a prize fight. There was some wrestling, lots of clutching, even a near chop-block, and lots of blood, mainly from head butts.
“I got to clean up those head butts,” Porter admitted.
He will need to for a rematch with Thurman, who outpointed Porter at this arena last June.
“I was just up here wishing he said yes — that’s the fight I want next,” Porter said.
In the end of this one, it was Berto’s inability to get off the ropes against the relentless Porter, who figures to get that title shot before year’s end.
“We tried to use the whole ring but sometimes in the heat of the battle, I’m a fighter and Mr. Berto is a fighter as well,” Porter said. “Those head butts were just the two of us going in and fighting.”
Porter, 29, of Las Vegas, had lost two of his last four fights, including last June at this arena to Keith Thurman. The former champion was well ahead when the fight was stopped at 1:31 in the ninth as Berto stumbled around. Porter outlanded Berto 60-12 in last two rounds.
Overall, 51 of Porter’s 138 landed power shots were to the body.
Porter is 27-2-1 with 17 knockouts. Berto is now 31-5.
“I got a lot of head butts, and he did, too,” said Berto, who won the WBC title in 2008, had five successful defenses, then lost it to Victor Ortiz by decision in 2011. He also was the IBF champion and was the loser to Floyd Mayweather in “Money Man’s” final fight.
“Shawn is a tough competitor. We had a good, competitive fight until the head butts got to be a little too much for me.”
Thurman, who beat Danny Garcia in March at Barclays Center, was on hand to see the win by Porter, who previously has held the WBO and IBF crowns. Porter will need to be sharper and better defensively against Thurman.
“Me and Berto are different fighters,” Thurman said. “’There were a lot of head butts, but I know to watch out for that. Berto is a little more flat-footed than me and that played in Shawn’s favor.”
Referee Mark Nelson often stopped the fight to have doctors look at each boxer’s eyes. Porter, 147 pounds, was cut first and bled profusely near his left eye in the second round. But it also was one of his best rounds, and he knocked down Berto (146 1-2 pounds) with a left-right combination — his sharpest of a mostly clumsy showing.
In the undercard, unbeaten Jermell Charlo knocked out Charles Hatley just 32 seconds into the sixth round to retain his World Boxing Council super welterweight title in an all-American showdown.
Charlo landed a flurry of punches to open the sixth round, the decisive one a stunning right hook to the chin that caused the challenger to fall forward to the canvas, prompting an immediate stoppage.
“I knew Charles Hatley goes down sometimes and gets back up — he’s a warrior and won’t go down easily,” Charlo said. “I knew I had to be a lion in there.”
Charlo improved to 29-0 with 14 knockouts while Hatley fell to 26-2 with one drawn.
Asked after the triumph whom he might like the fight next, Charlo said was interested in a unification bout against compatriot Jarrett Hurd, the International Boxing Federation champion.
Charlo’s unbeaten brother, Jermall, vacated the IBF crown in the 154-pound weight class two months ago to advance into the middleweight ranks, Hurd winning a February fight to claim the crown.
Charlo, making his first title defense, had not fought since last May, when he won the crown with an eighth-round knockout of US Virgin Islands fighter John Jackson.
The bout was a matchup of Texas rivals, but Houston’s Charlo, 26, dominated Dallas-based Hatley, 31.
Charlo, who suffered a cut over his left eye in a second-round clash of heads, knocked Hatley into the ropes with a hard right at the end of the round and flattened the challenger once before the knockout blow.
Hatley, who saw a nine-fight win streak snapped, had not fought for 17 months, since knocking out Australian ex-champ Anthony Mundine in November 2015.
The fight was on the undercard of an all-US welterweight matchup at Barclays Center between former champions Shawn Porter and Andre Berto.