By Chris Williams: Shawn Porter’s father/trainer Kenny Porter says they’ve received the “green light” from PBC to start negotiations with Terence Crawford for a unification fight, according to @StevESPNKim. Now, Shawn and Kenny are both waiting for Crawford’s promoters at Top Rank to phone them so that they can begin the negotiations for the fight.
Porter, 31, has made the first move to try and get the Crawford deal made, and now it’s up to Top Rank. If Crawford faces Porter and loses the fight, then all that time Top Rank put into his career may have been wasted.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has been banging on about how Crawford is the #1 welterweight in the world, and yet he’s fought no one with any talent. The best guy Crawford has fought at 147 is Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
Top Rank needs to decide whether to let Crawford fight Porter
The overanxious manner in which Kenny is pushing for the fight with Crawford may scare Top Rank off, because they’re too confident. With all the mismatches that Crawford has been put in by Top Rank, it’s got to be worrisome for them now that Porter wants the fight.
“So, I just spoke to Kenny Porter, he says his side has been given the green light to try and make a deal for a fight with Terence Crawford,” said @StevESPNKim. “So that’s the first step right there.”
Porter has got the permission to cross to the other side of the pond to fight the Top Rank promoted Crawford, and now it’s up to Bob Arum. Does he want to let Crawford fight someone in a 50-50 fight for the first time in his career or does he want to continue with that sad mismatches?
Kenny has been talking to the media for the last week, letting them know that Porter (30-3-1, 17 KOs) is ready to face Crawford, and they’re waiting for Top Rank boss Bob Arum to phone them. The fact that Arum contacted Kenny suggests to some that he’s not interested in letting Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) fight him right now.
Arum frequently name-dropped Porter’s name during WBO welterweight champion Crawford’s lead up to his December 14th defense against Egidijus Kavaliauskas. and said he wanted to make the fight. Arum said he felt that former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Porter was the best available fighter at 147 for Crawford to fight outside of Errol Spence Jr. who is out of commission for the time being.
Team Porter makes the first move in a possible 2020 welterweight matchup with @TerenceCrawford (via @StevESPNKim) pic.twitter.com/9jBfHgISQk
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) December 21, 2019
Kenny: Tim Bradley went overboard in challenging PBC fighters to fight Crawford
“I think he definitely directed it at the welterweights, but I just think he went overboard with it,” said Kenny Porter to Behind The Gloves about ESPN commentator Tim Bradley saying that Terennce Crawford is “begging” the PBC fighters to face him. “There was too much sauce on it so to speak, but I got no problem with the phone call. I’m waiting on the phone call,” Kenny said on him waiting for Crawford’s promoters at Top Rank to call him to work out a deal.
“Tim, ask Bob [Arum] to give me a call. Tim [Bradley] you don’t have to do that much,” said Kenny in response to Bradley’s speech that he made during Crawford’s fight on ESPN against Egidijus Kavaliauskas on December 14. Bradley dared the PBC welterweights to face Crawford. “All you’ve got to say is, ‘Bob, give Ken a call,’ that’s it. He hasn’t got to do so much.
“He [Bradley] was jumping up and down,” Kenny continued. “I told my son [Shawn], ‘I think Tim just came up off the ground. He was so hyped up about the situation,'” said Kenny.
It might be a good idea of Kenny not to invest too much time and energy waiting on Top Rank to make the fight with Porter, because it probably won’t happen. I mean, look at Crawford’s career resume. It’s woeful in terms of the opposition he’s faced. He’s never fought any of the lions at 140 or 147. The only division that Crawford fought the best was at lightweight when he beat Yuriorkis Gamboa, but he had a huge size advantage over him
Crawford didn’t have a hard time against Kavaliauskas – Kenny
“Let’s talk about Bud [Crawford] for a second,” said Kenny said. “I know people didn’t expect him to fight that way [against Egidijus Kavaliauskas]. And so because they saw something they didn’t expect, they may have thought that he had a hard time. He didn’t have a hard time.
“He knew exactly what he was going to do, and when he was going to do it was a matter of time,” said Kenny on Crawford’s decision to slug with Kavaliauskas instead of using his noral safety first style of fighting. “But people aren’t used to seeing him fight that way. They’re used to seeing him dissect a guy, piecing a guy up, and then taking a guy out. But that night, he said, ‘The hell with it, I’m going after this guy, and he did.
“Shawn and Bud both have the ability to communicate with each other, because they’re friends and get this thing started,” said Kenny. “But Bob [Arum] is in control of a lot of things as well. He can make that phone call. So obviously, Tim has some control. So, Tim, give Bob a call, and have Bob give me a call,” said Kenny.
Crawford sure did look like he had a hard time in beating Kavaliauskas on December 14, as he was hit a lot. For example, in the early rounds, Kavaliauskas dropped him, but the referee ruled a slip. The fight would have been a different story if Kavaliauskas hadn’t gassed out, and stopped punching in the midway point in the fight.
Angel Garcia: Why isn’t Bradley fighting Crawford?
“I didn’t watch it but I saw the highlights on Instagram and stuff like you post like boxing pages post it, and he did well,” said Danny Garcia’s father/trainer Angel Garcia to Fighthype on Crawford’s win over Kavaliauskas. “I didn’t like what Bradley was saying after when he was saying all the 147 and PBC guys are a bunch of chickens. Not chickens, but they need to put their pants on and all that.
“Top Rank, how come they never built up any other 147?” asked Angel. “So why didn’t they build a bunch of 47s so that they could fight each other? We can’t get into politics. PBC, Top Rank, we can’t get into politics between them. But when you start talking about fighters that are innocent, because these guys are innocent,” Angel said about the PBC fighters.
“At the same time, why don’t he [Bradley] come out of retirement and fight Terence Crawford?” said Angel in asking an obvious question. “Why don’t he come out of retirement, Bradley and fight. He wants it so bad and he’s anxious. Why don’t he fight him? He could fight for them. Or he could do this too,” said Angel.
There’s no chance at all that 36-year-old Tim Bradley is going to come out of his 3-year retirement to face Crawford. Bradley would lose, and look bad in doing so.
You can argue that ESPN commentator Tim Bradley is being a team player by trying to encourage PBC fighters to face Crawford. After all, it potentially helps ESPN if Crawford has access to all the PBC welterweights.
‘Top Rank should have Lomachenko fight Crawford’ – Angel
“Since they only focus on 30 and 35. They got a bunch of 30s that they’re building them up for Lomachenko, I guess,” said Angel about Top Rank’s focus on the super featherweight and lightweight divisions instead at 147. “So why don’t they do this: put Lomachenko at 147, and him and Terence Crawford can fight.
“I’m talking about the big stars, Lomachenko and him [Crawford],” said Angel in pointing out Crawford needs a big name from Top Rank’s stable. “Then Lomachenko would be a four division world champion like Canelo. I’m giving them ideas, but they’re not listening to me. They’re calling those guys chicken and s–, and saying put your pants on, but they do got their pants on. They just ain’t got the zippers up yet,” said Angel.
Top Rank won’t ever have WBA/WBC [F]/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko move up two weight classes to face Crawford at 147. They’re trying to build both fighters into superstars, and if they put them in with each other, they’ll cut off one of their revenue streams. Besides that, Lomachenko is too small to fight Crawford at welterweight. Lomachenko is taking punishment as it is at 135, and talking about wanting to move back down to 130.
Crawford is beatable
“I heard he was kind of clich forward,” said Angel about Crawford being hurt by Kavaliauskas. “That’s what I heard, but I didn’t see it. But if they didn’t call it, it doesn’t count. At the end of the day, it’s what the ref says. They’re all from the same class of 2008, and they’re all from the same era. Nobody is superman in this s—.
“You can be a great fighter, but everyone has their day,” said Angel in pointing out that Crawford is beatable like any fighter. “Everybody can be beatable. I’m not saying that now because Danny has got two L’s. I’m not sugar coating them, but a lot of them were controversial. His [Danny Garcia] L’s were controversial [in losses to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter], but we’ve moved on.
“The question is, when the day comes that he [Crawford] finds himself with an L, will he bounce back? That’s the thing,” said Angel. For Terence Crawford. You’re talking about the knockdown. He would have been fought [a PBC fighter]. It’s hard to get into the politics, because we’re PBC,” said Angel.
It also can hurt Crawford if he loses to ALL or most of the PBC fighters, because they have far more talent than guys he’s fought thus far. It goes without saying that the PBC fighters would likely beat everyone that Crawford has ever faced as a professional.
Angel Garcia it’s about loyalty to PBC
“So Al [Haymon] took care of us,” said Angel in talking about Premier Boxing Champions adviser Al Haymon. “He was nice to us. I’m not going to backstab people that were nice to me. I’m not going to go sign with someone else with a man that was good to me. I don’t care how much money you got, because my word is loyalty.
“I’m loyal. So a lot of things is honor, bro,” said Angel about him being loyal to PBC. It’s honor than politics. But us going without permission from a guy that helped me and helped my son, and just going over, it’s like smacking someone in the face. That’s not honesty. That’s not loyalty.
“So it’s not that anyone [from PBC is scared of Crawford],” said Garcia. “There’s no other fighter that is scared of another fighter. Nobody is scared to fight nobody. It’s just loyalty. And it’s like how Bradley was to Top Rank. It’s loyalty. He fought all through his career with Bob Arum. So he’s loyal to them,” said Angel in taking a swipe at Bradley in pointing out he’s a hypocrite.
The loyalty aspect is clearly what is keeping the PBC fighters from crossing the pond to face Crawford on ESPN. Moreover, it doesn’t make sense for PBC fighters to face Crawford on another network, because they’re with Fox and Showtime. Additionally, Crawford lacks a big fan base, and his fighting style is negative. He likes to fight out of the southpaw stance, he moves a lot, and he’s a counter puncher. Unfortunately, those are 5 strikes that Crawford has going against him, and it makes it all but impossible for him to get the fights he wants against PBC fighters.