By Jim Dower: Former world champions Danny Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) and Shawn Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs) both weight in successfully for their fight on Saturday night for the vacant World Boxing Council welterweight title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The 30-year-old Garcia weighed in at 146.75 pounds and looked slightly drained at the weight. Garcia, who tends to rehydrate a great deal after he weighs in for his fights, has looked drained the entire week. Porter weighed right at the welterweight limit at 147 pounds, and looked in fighting condition at that weight. Porter will put on a lot more weight as well after e rehydrates, but not as much as Garcia.
Porter vs. Garcia will be televised on Showtime Championship Boxing on Saturday. The start time for the telecast is at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. ET.
”It’s hard to put into words how bad I want this,” Porter said. ”The best way I can describe it in words is that I’ve never wanted anything more in my life. To some it’s just belt, but for me it’s my world. I’m not leaving Brooklyn without this belt. Shawn Porter will be victorious tomorrow night.”
This is going to be a good contest for both guys. Garcia has been saying that he’s the best fighter in the welterweight division for some time. This fight will give him a chance to prove it. Garcia lost to Keith Thurman last year by a 12 round split decision, but he and his trainer Angel Garcia believe that they deserved the victory. Garcia lost his WBC title in that fight. He’ll get a chance to win it back against Porter.
In other weights on the Garcia-Porter card on Showtime, former IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (25-1-1, 23 KOs) weighed in at 246 pounds for his 10 round fight against Adam Kownacki (17-0, 14 KOs). Kownacki, 29, weighed 263.25 pounds, which is a little high for him but not the highest weight of his career. Kownacki weighed in at 264 ¼ pounds for his fight against Jesse Barboza in June 2016. Kownacki blew Barboza out in three rounds. The 6’3” Kownacki tends to be on the heavy side for his fights. It doesn’t seem to matter if Kownacki is carrying around a lot of extra weight in the form of fat. He still does quite well.
Welterweight Yordenis Ugas weighed in at 146.75 pounds for his IBF eliminator against Cesar Barrionuevo. For his part, Barrionuevo weighed at 146 pounds. The winner of this fight will be the mandatory challenger to IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
