By Allan Fox: #4 WBA, #4 WBC, #5 IBF, #9 WBO welterweight contender Shawn Porter (25-1-1, 16 KOs) will be in the ring facing former three division world champion Adrien Broner (30-1, 22 KOs) in a catch-weight fight at 145 pounds on NBC on Premier Boxing Champions in 12 days from now on June 20th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Broner has a nice three fight winning streak going for him since his defeat at the hands of Marcos Maidana in 2013. Broner moved down to the light welterweight division after that fight, and he’s done well against the limited opposition he’s faced.
But for this fight, Broner will be moving back up to 147 to face a guy that started his career out at 154 in 27-year-old Porter. Broner could have problems in this fight if he doesn’t focus on his defense like he did in his last bout against John Molina. Broner must limit the amount of shots that Porter gets in on him, because he could wind up tasting the canvas once or twice if he doesn’t.
Broner, 25, is the more popular fighter of the two, and he has a lot to gain and a lot to lose depending on the outcome. The titles aren’t as important for a fighter like Broner compared to him just winning and looking impressive. His goal is to become the guy that takes the baton from Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he retires from the sport in the near future. This means that Broner must not only win but look good in doing so no matter who he’s facing.
Thus far, Broner has looked good in two out of his last three fights. He impressed against John Molina and Emmanuel Taylor in beating them. But Broner looked bad in his fight against Carlos Molina in 2014 in winning a 10 round decision.
Porter will be looking to try and pressure Broner and overwhelm him with punches in the same way that Marcos Maidana did in 2013. This is a tough style match-up for Broner because Porter does a lot of the same things that Maidana does, but he’s not as big or as strong as the Argentinian fighter. But Porter is capable of throwing as many punches as Maidana, and that could give Broner problems. Broner has improved since the Maidana fight, but it’s still going to be tough for Broner if he doesn’t use some movement to negate Porter’s pressure.
The Broner-Porter card also has welterweight Errol Spence facing a tough opponent in Roberto Garcia, and former light heavyweight world champion Beibut Shumenov battling tough cruiserweight contender BJ Flores.
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