(Photo credit: Idris Erba/Mayweather Promotions) By Dan Ambrose: With only five days to go before Saturday’s fight, former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (25-1-1, 16 KOs) isn’t pleased that Adrien Broner (30-1, 22 KOs) isn’t doing much talking about the 144 pound catch-weight and the 10 pound rehydration clause for the fight that came from Broner’s side for their fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Broner vs. Porter fight will be televised on NBC this Saturday as part of the Premier Boxing Champions.
The catch-weight is going to likely negatively affect Porter, as he normally comes into his fights at 147, and then rehydrates up in weight to near the 160s. In this case, Porter won’t be able to weigh-in more than 154 due to the rehydration clause. That could wind up hurting Porter more than the 144 pound catch-weight because it means he’s going to need to keep his weight lower than usual for the day of day.
Porter previously fought at junior middleweight earlier in his career, but he moved down to welterweight in order to fight guys his own height. But it’s still not easy for him to get down to 147, and now he finds himself having to weigh-in at 144 and not gain more than 10 pounds. It’s putting Porter in a very tough situation.
“We’ve known for weeks now that the contracted weight is supposed to be 144,” said Porter at today’s international media conference call. “Here we are doing everything we need to do as professionals to be on weight, be on point, be 100% and the ‘kid’ who chose to make the contracted weight 144 wishes not to talk about the contracted weight, wishes not to talk about any rehydration clause, wants to avoid any conversation involving weight limits or anything like that.”
With all the criticism WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto received for his 157 pound catch-weight handicap that he used to defeat Daniel Geale recently, it’s not surprising that Broner doesn’t want to take about the catch-weight because it makes him – or any fighter that requests them – look bad in the process.
Porter feels that if Broner wants to fight a welterweight like himself, then he should be willing to fight at the full weight for the division rather than insisting on a catch-weight handicap to gain an edge. It doesn’t sit right with Porter to have to drain down to meet the catch-weight that Broner asked. Obviously, the rehydration limit of 154 makes things even worse.
“And the more and more we talk about it, the more and more the animosity sets in because I’m a professional doing what I do at this high level for so long and my weight class is 147 for so long,” Porter said. “You want to move up into my weight, then move up! Don’t be scared. Don’t be worried. Don’t be afraid. Put your skill on the line along with your record. Put it all on the line at 147. Don’t put it at 144, then not want to talk about it.”
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