By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) made a name for himself last Saturday night in destroying a still very good Paulie Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KO’s) in a 4th round TKO victory on Showtime. The victory showed clearly that Porter is one of the best fighters in the 147lb division, and he’s ready for bigger fights against the big names in the division.
Porter’s promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions says he likes the idea of matching him against WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the future, and he thinks it would be a great fight.
“We’ll discuss it [Porter vs. Mayweather] with team Porter and why not? Me as a fan, after we’ve seen what he’s done with Devon, who is an outstanding boxer, and what he’s done with Paulie, who is an outstanding boxer and Floyd is the best boxer from a boxing point of view,” Schaefer said via Sky Sports. “I’d love to see the match-up with someone as young, as aggressive, as relentless as Porter.”
I totally agree with Schaefer. Porter would be a perfect opponent for Mayweather’s September fight after he takes care of WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana on May 3rd. There’s been talk of Mayweather possibly facing Amir Khan if he beats 32-year-old veteran fighter Luis Collazo on May 3rd on the Mayweather-Maidana undercard, but Khan still would need a solid victory over a relevant fighter before he should be put in with Mayweather.
Even if Khan beats Collazo, his record in his last 5 fights would be 3-2, and that’s pitiful for someone getting a fight against Mayweather. None of Khan’s wins will have been against good, young quality fighters. I think Schaefer needs to have Khan face Porter, and then the winner of that fight would then get the fight against Mayweather.
If Khan can get past Porter, he would clearly deserve to share the same ring with Mayweather, but you can’t say that if Khan beats Collazo. If you look at Collazo’s resume, he’s not beaten any notable opposition in at least 7 years. I don’t count a rusty Victor Ortiz as being a good opponent because he’d been out of boxing for almost 2 years when Collazo beat him last January.
If Mayweather wants to fight only the best then Porter is the perfect opponent for him next September. A fight against the pressure fighter Maidana will be a good tune-up for Mayweather to get him ready for what he’ll be facing in taking on the pressure fighter Porter. Maidana is a bigger version of Porter with a little more power, but not as good on the inside.
Mayweather would need to shift gears to beat Porter, because he couldn’t stand in place using the shoulder roll to deflect all the incoming punches that Porter would be throwing. Mayweather also couldn’t let himself fight with his back against the ropes against Porter, because he’s got a habit of leaning on his opponents with his big upper body and not letting them have space to throw punches.
Comments are closed.