The distance (boxing) 19, 1987. While the International Boxing Federation, which had recently broken away from the WBA, continued to hold onto the position there was no documented medical evidence to show a 15-round fight is more dangerous than a 12-round fight, they eventually voted to shorten their championship distance to 12 rounds as well on June 3, 1988. The last heavyweight 15-rounder title fight was on October 16, 1987 between Mike Tyson and Tyrell Biggs. The last middleweight 15-rounder title fight was a World Boxing Board title match on June 7, 1997 in which Jose Alfredo Flores won a split decision over
Philip S. Porter Philip S. Porter Philip S. Porter (1925 – August 7, 2011) was a martial artist in the United States. Porter began his martial arts career as a boxer in 1943 at age 18. He was later a member of the West Point Boxing Team and, in 1950, Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the Western Area of the Air Training Command, USAF. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1948, and served in the U.S. Army and Air Force for 25 years, retiring as a major in 1967. Porter started training in Judo, JuJitsu, and Karate