Shawn Porter fell short against Errol Spence, but left it all in the ring.

The victory may have fallen from his reach, but Shawn Porter took the fight to Errol Spence at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. From the opening round, Porter (30-3-1, 17KOs) applied pressure and let his hands free against the undefeated IBF welterweight champion. He intended to make Spence (26-0, 21KOs) uncomfortable, and pushed him to engage into a different kind of fight.

“We put on a fantastic performance tonight,” said Porter. “I’ll thank him (Spence) again, and again; and again. He did a fantastic job. But I just want y’all to know that, ain’t nobody ever going go at him the way I went at him. And y’all just saw it.”

“Showtime” proved to be Spence’s toughest opponent to date, and took him to deep waters as they slugged it out continuously throughout the fight. The former WBC champion demonstrated his heart and chin as he sustained the pace even after taking some hard shots. “The Truth” was tagged with several hooks by Porter himself, but never appeared hurt by the blows.

It was in the eleventh round where in the middle of another exchange, Porter’s glove touched the canvas on a left hook from Spence. Though he was able to recover and continue pushing until the last bell.

“I felt comfortable a majority of the rounds,” said Porter. “Really the one round I didn’t feel comfortable in obviously was the round my hand touched the canvas. But other than, that I felt very comfortable through this fight.”

That knockdown may have made the difference in a closely contested and action packed slugfest. Spence went on to become the new unififed IBF and WBC welterweight champion by split decision. Two of the judges scored it 116-111 for Spence, with the third scoring it at 115-112 in Porter’s favor.

“For me to say that was a robbery, you’re not gonna hear me say it sorry,” said Porter. “My dad (and trainer, Kenny Porter) can say it, Barry (Hunter) can say it. Everybody else can say it, but that ain’t gonna come from me.”