R1- They are feeling eachother out, albeit at a decently quick pace. Brook is the aggressor, and seeing Spence get backed up is not something we are used to seeing. I personally felt that Brook was beating Spence to the punch in the battle of the jabs, and seemingly landed enough 1-2’s to overshadow the few lefts that Spence snuck in towards the end.

R2- It’s impressive how Brook, who has an excellent jab himself has been able to take away the jab of Spence, who has shown one of the best jabs in all of boxing through recent years. Aside from outpacing him, Brook is impressively angling his jab over Spence’s to effectively counter him. The uppercuts and left hooks are effectively landing through or around Spence’s guard. Spence has a bit of success on his behalf, but he was definitely outgunned in this round and it was clear he was new to this level of comp. Fun round, and a great one for Brook.

R3- I honestly question compubox’s assessment of Brook only landing five jabs up to this point. Despite that, this is the best that Spence’s jab has looked in the fight thus far. For some more role-reversal, Spence is doing some good countering, particularly with lefts over the top and a well-timed right hook that Brook walks into when moving left on the ropes. In the final minute, a clean “chocolate brownie” from Brook seems to hurt Spence, as he holds a good portion of the round, allowing Brook to push him back without picking back up on his own momentum. While Brook seemed to land the best shot of the round, he failed to capitalize on it at all, and Spence overall did more work in the round.

R4- While the jab has been a prominent weapon for both thus far, each seems to abandon it in exchange for some high level trading instead. A lot of it takes place on the inside, allowing Spence to do some good work to the body in the first half. He also catches Brook coming in with a nice left cross. The right hand of Brook is still doing good for him, particularly with an uppercut that snaps back Spence’s head in the pocket. A late combination from Brook allows him to stop Spence’s momentum and swing the round in his favor in my opinion. A close and great round.

R5- From the outside, Brook is tagging Spence with 1-2’s, and on the inside, he is hitting him with solid uppercuts to the head and body as well as walking him into the ropes during the clinches. Spence gets in numerous lefts in the closing portion starting when Brook briefly turns southpaw, but Brook was still in control of most of the round.

R6- Plenty of good back and forth action occurs in the round, with both men having success. Spence comes out with the jab, only for Brook to halt his momentum with a counter jab and then blast him with a 1-2 combo. A blocked shot manages to get Spence off balance, but he catches Brook with a counter before he can capitalize. Spence lands several counter lefts and body shots, but Brook gets the edge towards the end by landing multiple clean rights and uppercuts, and also maintains effective aggression throughout the round by constantly pushing Spence back.

R7- Despite this fantastic start through the first half by the champ, the young challenger would start to take from here. Whether he is walking forward or using it as a defensive device on the backfoot, Spence is having a lot of success with the jab. Of course, he is landing several straight lefts to the body and head behind the jab as well. The body work is still pivotal for Spence as well, allowing him to dominate the sequences of infighting. Rather than trying to gain the upperhand, Brook tries to halt Spences inside work by continuously pushing him back during the clinch. With Brook noticeably ducking his head over and over in the clinch, Spence is tagging him repeatedly with left uppercuts. Good bounceback round for Spence.

R8- Spence definitely appears to be the fresher of the two, as he is consistently beating Brook to the punch in the exchanges, casually walking forward and pinpointing the straight left with success. Brook has a good moment towards the middle where he switches southpaw and lands a three-punch combo, but Spence puts up a stiff guard and walks through his punches in order to attack his body again. Brook lands a good right hand near the end, but it doesn’t overshadow the duo pairs of hooks that Spence landed square on each side of his jaw moments prior. As Paulie pointed out, the right eye of Brook, which notably was the same one injured by GGG. Another good round for Spence.

R9- When Brook is given a break to get tape repaired on his glove, the swelling above and below his left eye is revealed to be huge. Spence spends the round stalking, targeting the left eye with a power jab, and catching Brook several times with chopping lefts during attempts to clinch.
It was clear in this round that Brook was breaking down, especially when Spence chases him around the ring in the last 30 seconds, brutalizing his body.

R10- In what was a dominant round for Spence in the 9th, it only gets more one-sided from here. Spence is immediately on the prowl, putting power behind the jab, countering or getting under then in to land body shots whenever Brook tries to hold. Brook is clearly in survival mode here. A large flurry from Spence backs Brook into the ropes and causes him to drop to a knee. Bloodied, bruised, and broken, Brook gets up. The left eye is in hideous shape, such that I’m shocked that the ref, who had been doing a good job throughout never asked for the ringside doctor to check it out after the count. Brook certainly didn’t have to get up, but he’d show nothing but more heart and guts throughout. Firing back as often as he can, despite not much force or coordination (he threw himself off balance several times) being behind most of his shots, Brook tries to fight his way out of danger. However, nothing is able to keep off Spence, who is still assaulting him with power punches, including that shotgun jab to the head and body. Awesome round. Obviously a dominant round from Spence, but a great display of heart from Brook as well.

R11- They quickly go from trading jabs to trading combinations, and Spence is able to overwhelm Brook quickly. Brook lands a right that snaps back the head of Spence, but Spence goes on to bombard him with an array of 1-2’s and right hooks. The lefts when up close are hitting the previously broken eye socket of Brook, while the jabs and right hooks are hitting the newly broken left eye. This eye injury in particular clearly bothering Brook, as he is squinting and pawing at it, and even turns away when the ref seperates them from a clinch. Moments later, he takes a knee and gets counted out. Spence gestures after his last fight that he wanted the belt, and now he gets it, handing his Brook his second knockout loss in a row, and his very first loss at welterweight. This was a high-level back and forth battle between two top guys, and was overall one of the best bouts of 2017 in a match that lived up to its hype. Brook did super well in the first half and still had his moments in rounds that were bad for him, especially with his counterpunching. He showed the skills, power, and heart as to why he was champion at the time. Spence proved that he was made for world level as well. While this was a great victory for Spence overall, the eye injury (that GGG paved the way for) and the possibility that Brook was a bit drained upon jumping back down to 147 from 160 indicate that Brook was not at full capacity. Some say that Brook would have won with no asteriks, which is possible. However, seeing how the body attack of Spence slowed him down during the second half, I think he honestly would have hustled his way to a close decision. Spence showed a piston-jab, an excellent ability to apply pressure, elite stamina, and a sharp ability to counterpunch as well. While many including myself believe Brook could and should have retired upon this loss, he’d go on to record some more wins and get one more title shot before ultimately riding off into the sunset upon defeating career rival, Amir Khan. As for Spence, he’d do a great job holding this belt, succesfully unifying it twice, and is hopefully about to try to again for the undisputed crown.