Errol Spence looking huge for Shawn Porter fight

By Boxing News - 06/25/2019 - Comments

Image: Errol Spence looking huge for Shawn Porter fight

By Mark Eisner: A huge looking Errol Spence Jr. and a much smaller Shawn Porter met with PBC on Fox this week to discuss their upcoming unification fight that is expected to take place in September. The 5’9 1/2″ Spence (25-0, 21 KOs) not only towered over the 5’7″ Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs), but he looked a lot heavier than him.

Spence needs to lose weight

IBF welterweight champion Spence is going to have to take off a lot of weight for him to get down to the 147 pound weight limit for the fight against WBC champion Porter. Spence admitted this week that he doesn’t have a nutritionist to assist him with his meals, but he has the money to hire one. He says he’s had problems making weight, but he can still do it. However, Spence is going to need to start dropping weight soon if he wants to make weight for the fight with Porter. Spence is looking as big as a house right now. Judging by Spence’s size, he’s not going to be able to continue to make the 147 pound limit for too much longer.

The contract is signed says Spence

“The contract is signed now. The date and venue is still to be decided, but it’s definitely going to happen,” said Spence to PBC on FOX about his fight against Shawn Porter.

Spence says he sees no difference between Porter and his last opponent Mikey Garcia. He thinks they’re about the same threat to him, and he’s confident that he’ll win the fight by a knockout. Spence says he wants to win the fight in an easier fashion than he did against Mikey, because he intentionally allowed that fight to go the full distance. Mikey was there to be knocked out in the ninth and tenth rounds, but Spence took it easy on him when he had him in trouble.

Porter: I wasn’t ducking Spence

“Everybody out there knows I wasn’t ducking him. Errol Spence knows I wasn’t ducking him,” said Shawn Porter. “He knows it was just a matter of time, as I have said before, and that time is coming real soon.”

The perception that Porter was ducking Spence came about due to Shawn’s decision to defend against his mandatory Yordenis Ugas last March. Porter could have gotten an exception from the World Boxing Council, and taken the unification fight with Spence instead. Rather than do that, Porter chose to fight Ugas, and that decision almost cost him his title. Ugas dominated Porter through 12 rounds, but lost a controversial 12 round split decision. Boxing News 24 saw Ugas winning by an 118-110 score. It was a totally one-sided fight, but the scoring from two of the judges was bad.

Spence reveals sparring with Porter

“It was at the Olympic training center, probably 2011 or 2012,” said Spence when asked when he sparred with Porter in the past.

Spence has come a long ways since he was fighting in the amateurs. For one, Spence is a lot bigger now than when he was fighting in 2011 and 2012. Spence was fighting a lot of fighters in their late 20s from the Eastern Bloc countries. Those guys had a big age advantage over Spence, but he did well against them.

Porter recalls sparring with Spence

“The one thing I do take from that; I remember at the time he was ready for the Olympics to do what he did out there,” said Porter in talking about when he sparred with Spence in the past. “I said I knew at some point he’d be ready for this moment now,” said Porter.

The sparring must have been interesting between the two fighters seven to eight years ago. Porter is a little bit older than Spence, so he might have had success against him back then. Spence had problems in the amateurs in losses to Andrey Zamkovoy [Russia] and Serik Sapiyev (Kazakhstan). The speed and the movement those fighters used against Spence made it difficult for him to land his shots. However, Spence’s pressure gave those fighters fits, especially in the third round. It’s interesting that Sapiyev and Zamkovoy didn’t turn pro after the 2012 Olympics. What a waste. Those guys would have been a good rivalry for Spence, and other top welterweights.

Spence says Porter is the same as Mikey Garcia

“It’s not really no difference,” said Spence when asked what’s the difference between Porter and Mikey Garcia. “Me personally, I’m going to be make it easier than the Mikey Garcia fight. I hear a lot of talking from him and his father [Kenny Porter], and how they’ve been talking,” said Spence.

There’s not much difference in size between the short 5’7″ Porter and the 5’6″ Mikey Garcia. Porter is an inch taller, and has a one and a half inch reach advantage over Garcia. The real difference between them is the weight. Porter is a lot heavier than Mikey, and he fights differently. Porter likes to lower his head and ram his opponents like a Billy Goat. This results in his opponents suffering a lot of cuts to their face and eyes. Since Porter has his head down when he’s burrowing in, he doesn’t suffer the cuts too often. He hits them with the crown of his head, and that protects him.

“So I’m definitely going to be looking to put on a showcase performance, and I’m looking to get a great performance and hopefully a stoppage,” said Spence.

Spence calling the Porter fight a “showcase” level match. In other words, Spence sees this as an easy fight where he can showcase his talent. Porter didn’t look happy when Spence was describing the fight as a “showcase fight,” but what could he do? You can understand where Spence is coming from. Porter, 31, looked like a faded fighter in his last title defense against Yordenis Ugas last March.

Porter: Spence knows it’s not going to be an easy fight

“I think he knows it’s not an easy fight,” said Porter about Spence. “I’m not going to talk about you like you’re not right here. You know this is not easier than Mikey Garcia. You know this is not going to be no wash. You’re going to have to get ready, and I’m going to be ready,” said Porter.

This could be an easier fight for Spence than his last one against Mikey, because he spent too much time boxing instead of slugging. Spence admitted after the fight that he wanted to prove a point that he could box with intelligence, because a lot of fans and members of the media were saying that he could only punch.

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