PBC Jabs: January 3, 2019 — A look back at 2018

2018 was a big year for boxing and PBC is excited to bring you even bigger matchups in 2019! But before we begin our 2019 schedule we wanted to take a look back at last year to highlight some of our biggest moments.

On January 20th, Errol Spence Jr. defended his IBF welterweight title against Lamont Peterson. Spence stopped the former two-division champ via 8th round TKO.

Then, on February 17th, two-division world champ Danny Garcia returned to the ring with a bang, knocking out Brandon Rios in a 147-pound bout and positioning himself as a top candidate for knockout of the year.

We saw some great heavyweight action as undefeated heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder retained his WBC world title against previously unbeaten Cuban contender Luis Ortiz by 10th round TKO, delivering a fight-of-a-year candidate.

A week later on March 10th, Mikey Garcia won his fourth world championship by defeating previously unbeaten 140-pound IBF titleholder Sergey Lipinets by unanimous decision.

On April 7th, we had another fight of the year candidate as Jarrett Hurd became a unified 154-pound champ by defeating Erislandy Lara by split decision.

A few weeks later on April 21st, Gervonta Davis became a two-time world champ by stopping Jesus Cuellar by third round TKO to claim the WBA 130-pound title. Also that night, former 154-pound world champ Jermall Charlo made a huge statement at 160 pounds by knocking out Hugo Centeno Jr. to claim the WBC’s interim middleweight title.

A month later on May 19th WBC light heavyweight champ Adonis Stevenson and former two-division titleholder Badou Jack fought to a highly-competitive majority draw. Also that night, featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. defended his WBC title against top-ranked challenger Joseph Diaz Jr. via a unanimous decision victory in his home state. 

Things heated up in the summer as featherweight world champ Leo Santa Cruz defeated Abner Mares by unanimous decision after 12 action-packed rounds in a title rematch of their exciting 2015 fight.

Then, just a week later welterweight champ Spence Jr. defended his IBF title with a first-round KO of Carlos Ocampo in a homecoming fight at the Dallas Cowboys practice facility.

And to close out the summer on July 28th, four-division world champ Mikey Garcia unified the lightweight division with a UD win over Robert Easter Jr.

On September 8th, Shawn Porter defeated Danny Garcia in a battle of former welterweight champs to claim the vacant WBC title.

On December 1st heavyweight titleholders Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury fought to a split-decision draw in an epic showdown on Showtime pay-per-view with Wilder engaging as another fight of the year contender.

And finally, PBC presented its first FOX show since its new TV deal with the Charlo twins headlining. Tony Harrison shocked Jermell Charlo to win the WBC junior middleweight title by unanimous decision. Then, middleweight champ Jermall Charlo defended his WBC interim title with a UD win over Russian contender Matt Korobov. 

That’s all for our recap of 2018! Be sure to tune in to FS1's Inside PBC Boxing on January 8th as we reveal your picks for Prospect of the Year, Knockout of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year.

Thank you for watching our 100th episode and season 1 finale of PBC Jabs! We’ll see you again soon as we continue to bring you the best in boxing!